The Selection of Political Party Leaders in Contemporary Parliamentary Democracies
The Selection of Political Party Leaders in Contemporary Parliamentary Democracies This book explores the ways in which political parties, in contemporary parlia- mentary democracies, choose their leaders and then subsequently hold them accountable. The authors provide a comprehensive examination of party leader- ship selection and accountability both through examination of parties and coun- tries in different institutional settings and through a holistic analysis of the role of party leaders and the methods through which they assume, and exit, the office. The collection includes essays on Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Norway and the United Kingdom which have important differences in their party systems, their degree of democratisation, the role assigned to party leaders and their methods of leadership selection. Each country examination provides significant data relat- ing to party rules and norms of leadership selection, leadership tenures and leadership contests. The book concludes with a chapter that merges the country data analyses to provide a truly comparative examination of the theoretical ques- tions underlying the volume. This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars of legislative studies, elections, democracy, political parties, party systems, political elites and comparative politics. Jean-Benoit Pilet is Lecturer and Director of Cevipol in the Department of Political Science at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. William P. Cross is Professor and the Hon. Dick and Ruth Bell Chair for the Study of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University, Canada. Routledge research on social and political elites Edited by Keith Dowding Australian National University and Patrick Dumont University of Luxembourg Who are the elites that run the world? This series of books analyses who the elites are, how they rise and fall, the networks in which they operate and the effects they have on our lives.
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