Political Parties and Legislative Party Switching

✍ Scribed by William Heller, Carol Mershon

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 331
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Political parties and democratic politics go hand in hand. Since parties matter, it matters too when elected politicians change party affiliation. This book shows when, when, and to what effect politicians switch parties in pursuit of their goals, as constrained by institutions and in response to their environments. The contributors examine diverse settings, from Europe to Israel, from the United States to Japan, from Russia to Brazil. They also integrate formal and empirical approaches in political science. The book demonstrates that taking party switching seriously enriches the understanding of political parties, legislative politics, policy making, and democratic representation.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Figures and Tables......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Part I: The Importance of Party Switching......Page 16
1 Introduction: Legislative Party Switching, Parties, and Party Systems......Page 18
2 Integrating Theoretical and Empirical Models of Party Switching......Page 44
Part II: Party Switching and Representation......Page 68
3 Switching Equilibria......Page 70
4 Party Switching and the Procedural Party Agenda in the US House of Representatives......Page 96
5 Party Switching in Brazil: Causes, Effects, and Representation......Page 124
Part III: Party Switching, Party Competition, and Policy Making......Page 160
6 Party Group Switching in the European Parliament......Page 162
7 Legislator Preferences, Party Desires: The Impact of Party Switching on Legislative Party Positions......Page 188
8 Timing Matters: Incentives for Party Switching and Stages of Parliamentary Cycles......Page 216
Part IV: Party Switching and the Dynamics of Party Systems......Page 246
9 Competition for Power: Party Switching and Party System Change in Japan......Page 248
10 Party Switching, Party Systems, and Political Representation......Page 280
11 Conclusions......Page 302
List of Contributors......Page 310
A......Page 314
B......Page 315
C......Page 316
E......Page 317
I......Page 319
J......Page 320
L......Page 321
M......Page 322
N......Page 323
P......Page 324
R......Page 327
S......Page 328
T......Page 329
V......Page 330
Y......Page 331