Pieter van Houten

Multi-Level Relations in Political Parties A Delegation Approach

Most political parties operate on several territorial levels, but we have only limited theoretical understanding of multi-level party dynamics. This article presents a delegation framework for studying the interaction between the national leadership and regional branches in state-wide parties. Assuming a principal—agent relationship, the national leadership can obtain benefits from delegating tasks to a regional branch, but also faces possible costs in doing this. The rules and conventions regulating the multi-level interaction in parties are possible mechanisms by which to control the actions and policies of regional branches. These include formal party rules, informal party procedures and conventions, and state laws affecting party organizations. The framework provides an agenda and hypotheses for empirical research, research that should focus on crisis situations in parties, on what regional branches cannot do (instead of just documenting the activities of branches), and on the role of parties in shaping state laws and regulations.Most political parties operate on several territorial levels, but we have only limited theoretical understanding of multi-level party dynamics. This article presents a delegation framework for studying the interaction between the national leadership and regional branches in state-wide parties. Assuming a principal—agent relationship, the national leadership can obtain benefits from delegating tasks to a regional branch, but also faces possible costs in doing this. The rules and conventions regulating the multi-level interaction in parties are possible mechanisms by which to control the actions and policies of regional branches. These include formal party rules, informal party procedures and conventions, and state laws affecting party organizations. The framework provides an agenda and hypotheses for empirical research, research that should focus on crisis situations in parties, on what regional branches cannot do (instead of just documenting the activities of branches), and on the role of parties in shapi...

A National Party in a Regional Party System: The PSC-PSOE in Catalonia

The regional behaviour of state-wide political parties is a largely ignored topic, despite the widespread trend towards decentralization in Western Europe. This article presents a framework to study this phenomenon. It identifies strategic dilemmas and organizational and policy choices faced by regional branches of national parties, and suggests factors influencing these choices. A case study of the Socialist party in Catalonia (PSC-PSOE) provides a first test. This partys strategic choices and successes reflect the identified dilemmas, and have varied over time. Influential factors in these choices have been the decentralization of the Spanish state, dual identity patterns and regional party leadership.

Decentralization and State-Wide Parties: Introduction:

Most political parties are simultaneously active at multiple territorial levels of government. Besides the national level, which is typically most salient, most parties operate at one or more sub-national levels, and – within the European Union – at the European level.1 This straightforward, but largely ignored, observation raises important questions about how parties deal with their multi-level activities. For example, how do parties organize themselves across different levels? And how do they design and coordinate their electoral strategies across different – national, sub-national or supra-national – elections? The trend of political decentralization in recent decades has made these issues even more pertinent than before. As reflected in the focus of most of the contributions to this issue, this trend is especially clear in Western Europe. Countries such as Spain, France, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom have all, to varying degrees, decentralized powers to sub-national levels of government. Decentralization, however, has also occurred in other parts of the world, often in conjunction with processes of democratization. The result of this trend has been the emergence or increased importance of the subnational level as an arena of political decision-making and political competition, as was already the case in federal states such as the United States, Canada, Germany and India. Political parties, especially those operating across the whole territory of a state (‘state-wide parties’), are important actors in these dynamics, as they both shape processes of decentralization and federalism and need to respond to political imperatives induced by the territorial structure of a state. The existing literature on political parties and party systems has paid only limited attention to the territorial organization of parties and their activities in multi-level political systems. Territorial, or centre–periphery, cleavages have been acknowledged as important factors shaping the nature of party systems (Lipset and Rokkan, 1967), but the impact of such cleavages on the organization and strategies of state-wide parties has mostly been ignored. Duverger (1959: 52–60) identifies the degree of centralization as a crucial characteristic of party organizations, influenced mostly by the historical origins of a party (cf. Panebianco, 1988) and its financing method for election PA R T Y P O L I T I C S V O L 1 5 . N o . 2 pp. 131–135

The role of a minority's reference state in ethnic relations

This article presents a model of the triangular relationship between minority, majority, and the minoritys reference state which is a feature of many ethnic relations. The presence of a reference state can overcome a potential commitment problem between minority and majority if it is perceived to be both militarily strong and moderately irredentist. Empirical material from Croatia, Transylvania, Estonia and Crimea suggests the plausibility of the model. Russias role as a reference state is particularly interesting.

Regionalist Challenges to European States: A Quantitative Assessment

Regional autonomy demands are widespread in Western Europe and are often seen as a significant challenge to the authority of the European ‘nation states’. This article formulates and tests possible explanations for variation in such demands in six Western European countries. As suggested by the existing literature, several cultural and economic characteristics of regions are associated with autonomy demands. To account for further variation and differences in specific demands, however, it is necessary to focus on the nature of party competition in a region. Autonomy demands will be strong if several regionally organized parties compete against each other and more restrained if regional and national parties are in competition. This suggests that regionalism is generally less consequential for existing state structures than often presumed. It seriously challenges state structures only under certain political conditions.Regional autonomy demands are widespread in Western Europe and are often seen as a significant challenge to the authority of the European ‘nation states’. This article formulates and tests possible explanations for variation in such demands in six Western European countries. As suggested by the existing literature, several cultural and economic characteristics of regions are associated with autonomy demands. To account for further variation and differences in specific demands, however, it is necessary to focus on the nature of party competition in a region. Autonomy demands will be strong if several regionally organized parties compete against each other and more restrained if regional and national parties are in competition. This suggests that regionalism is generally less consequential for existing state structures than often presumed. It seriously challenges state structures only under certain political conditions.

The World Bank's (post-)conflict agenda: the challenge of integrating development and security

Linkages between security and development, and the need for national and international organizations to integrate these areas and concerns in policy, are widely recognized. It is, however, less clear how to practically accomplish this. Different policies will address different security and development concepts and aspects, and choices on focus and priority need to be made. This can generate tensions and resistance within organizations, resulting in limited integration. A case study of the World Banks attempt to be more ‘conflict-sensitive’ demonstrates this dynamic. This attempt has had various positive aspects, but the integration of conflict concerns in its programmes and policies remains uneven and somewhat limited. While there is certainly room for improved integration, this should not be pursued beyond the point where the Banks comparative advantage is undermined and resources from its core mission of combating human poverty diverted.Linkages between security and development, and the need for national and international organizations to integrate these areas and concerns in policy, are widely recognized. It is, however, less clear how to practically accomplish this. Different policies will address different security and development concepts and aspects, and choices on focus and priority need to be made. This can generate tensions and resistance within organizations, resulting in limited integration. A case study of the World Banks attempt to be more ‘conflict-sensitive’ demonstrates this dynamic. This attempt has had various positive aspects, but the integration of conflict concerns in its programmes and policies remains uneven and somewhat limited. While there is certainly room for improved integration, this should not be pursued beyond the point where the Banks comparative advantage is undermined and resources from its core mission of combating human poverty diverted.

RESPONSE: The Promise and Limitations of Quantitative Studies of Ethnic Conflict

Shale Horowitz’s article raises interesting questions about the contributions and shortcomings of quantitative studies of the onset of ethnic conflict. At the outset, I should emphasise that, although I generally view the usefulness and contributions of quantitative work more positively than the author appears to do, I agree with much of the article. In particular, I strongly endorse the underlying premise that different tools and approaches can be useful in the study of phenomena such as ethnic conflicts and should be combined and “speak to each other”. Theoretical work, quantitative studies and qualitative analyses can all make essential contributions to the understanding of social phenomena. These tools all have their strengths and weaknesses, and we should try to use and develop them so that they complement each other. The focus of discussions such as this Ethnopolitics forum should be on the trade-offs inherent in any used tool or approach, and on how different tools can be used to alleviate or compensate their respective shortcomings. While acknowledging contributions made by quantitative work on ethnic conflict onset, Horowitz’s article focuses mostly on criticisms of this work. The most important criticisms are that many of these studies use inadequate units of analysis, that several commonly used indicators are inadequate proxies for theoretically relevant concepts, and that insufficient attempts are made to test several theoretically plausible claims and hypotheses. In this note, I make a few brief comments on these criticisms, and use these to make some broader points about the promise and limitations of quantitative studies of ethnic conflict. The first comment is that Horowitz has a very specific focus and propagates a specific theoretical framework (in terms of the proposed causal claims and hypotheses, and the underlying assumptions about the nature of ethnic groups) in his article. This is, of course, not a problem as such, but it impacts on his assessment of the quantitative studies cited in the article. Ethnopolitics, Vol. 7, Nos. 2–3, 321–324, June–September 2008

Book Review: Louise Davidson-Schmich, Becoming Party Politicians: Eastern German State Legislators in the Decade Following Democratization. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. ISBN 0 268 02585 1

their social democratic project. The jury on this is still out, as it is on the broader question of the prospects for social democracy in developing countries. Ultimately, however, this book is an antidote to fatalism. It is also very timely – the recent election of left-of-centre governments across Latin America offers the potential for further social democratic experimentation in the developing world. These are countries with different social structures and political systems, but are now set on a broadly social democratic course. These new governments have the opportunity to test the boundaries of what is possible and establish whether the social democratic success stories discussed here can be replicated or even surpassed elsewhere.