{"title":"Ecpr Monographs Ser","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"personalisation-of-politics-book-lauri-karvonen-9781907301032","title":"The Personalisation of Politics","description":"With the weakening of the structural determinants of politics in Western democracies, it is commonly assumed that individual politicians and politicians as individuals have come to mean more for voter behaviour and party choice. Many observers argue that politics has become more personalised in the course of the last few decades. Although considerable research on the various aspects of personalisation has been carried out, no single study so far has approached the question from a broad comparative perspective. By examining four central dimensions of personalisation - institutions, candidates, party leaders and media - and by including data from most stable parliamentary democracies, this book attempts to fill part of that gap. The book demonstrates clearly that there is no linear trend towards more personalisation among the cases studied. From the point of view of the general personalisation thesis, the findings are mixed at best; in some important respects, they are negative. While the media tend to focus more on individual politicians, the idea that party leaders increasingly determine the party choice of voters finds little support in empirical evidence. Most researchers seem to agree that the position of the prime minister has become more dominant. A closer look at comparative evidence results in a more complex picture. There has been a certain tendency to develop the most party-centred electoral systems in a more candidate-centred direction. On the other hand, recent reforms have altered some of the most candidate-centred systems in the opposite direction. Individual candidates seem to mean more to voters in systems where preferential voting has been practiced for a long time. This change is by no means dramatic, nor does it seem to apply to other electoral systems. Karvonen shows that the personalisation thesis, while not completely erroneous, has been overstated not just by the media but in some of the research literature as well.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570624012561,"sku":"GOR013563132","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51103971836177,"sku":"NIN9781907301032","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52516808982801,"sku":"NLS9781907301032","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907301038.jpg?v=1751186944"},{"product_id":"deliberation-behind-closed-doors-book-daniel-naurin-9780955248849","title":"Deliberation Behind Closed Doors","description":"Do transparency and publicity have the power to civilize politics? In deliberative democratic theory this is a common claim. Publicity, it is argued, forces actors to switch from market-style bargaining to a behaviour more appropriate for the political sphere, where the proper way of reaching agreement is by convincing others using public-spirited arguments. Daniel Naurin has conducted the first comprehensive analysis and test of the theory of publicity's civilizing effect. The theory is tested on business lobbyists - presumably the most market-oriented actors in politics - acting on different arenas characterized by varying degrees of transparency and publicity. Innovative scenario-interviews with lobbying consultants in Brussels and in Stockholm are compared and contrasted with a unique sample of previously confidential lobbying letters. The results are both disappointing and encouraging to deliberative democratic theorists. While the positive force of publicity seems to be overrated, it is found that even behind closed doors business lobbyists must adapt to the norms of the forum. Daniel Naurin is Research Fellow at G teborg University. He has previously been Marie Curie Fellow at the Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies, EUI, Florence, and visiting Fellow at the Sussex European Institute, Sussex University and at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm. 'I have a prediction.in the next couple of years Deliberation Behind Closed Doors will rise fast in the Social Science Citation Index because no-one in the field working on publicity and deliberative democratic theory can ignore this work.' Ass. Prof. Simone Chambers, University of Toronto: 'This research has a striking and unusual challenge to current siren calls which see transparency in public policy making as an unqualified good, and could in time become a citation classic.' Professor Justin Greenwood, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51009556513041,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51009560117521,"sku":"NIN9780955248849","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52431553822993,"sku":"NLS9780955248849","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0955248841.jpg?v=1751235290"},{"product_id":"civil-society-in-communist-eastern-europe-book-matt-killingsworth-9781907301278","title":"Civil Society in Communist Eastern Europe","description":"Killingsworth's book presents three broad arguments, all of which reject the way civil society has been applied in the analysis of opposition and dissent in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Poland.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51057832558865,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51057834754321,"sku":"NIN9781907301278","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52592815571217,"sku":"NLS9781907301278","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907301275.jpg?v=1751186945"},{"product_id":"schools-of-democracy-book-julien-talpin-9781907301186","title":"Schools of Democracy","description":"Schools of Democracy offers a vivid analysis of the long-term impact of engagement in participatory budgeting institutions in Europe.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51098249691409,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51098251329809,"sku":"NIN9781907301186","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52152046682385,"sku":"NLS9781907301186","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907301186.jpg?v=1750804085"},{"product_id":"causes-of-war-book-thomas-lindemann-9781907301018","title":"Causes of War","description":"Theories on the origins of war are often based on the premise that the rational actor is in pursuit of material satisfaction, such as the quest for power or for wealth. These perspectives disregard the need for homo symbolicus - the preservation of a positive self-image for both emotional and instrumental reasons. A good reputation ensures authority and material resources. Non-recognition can be as much as an explanation of war as that of other explicative 'variables'. Two empirical studies examining the role of non-recognition in great power conflicts and in international crises will demonstrate the value of this symbolic approach.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51103920423185,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51103922848017,"sku":"NIN9781907301018","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52434489245969,"sku":"NLS9781907301018","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907301011.jpg?v=1751413368"},{"product_id":"contesting-europe-book-pieter-de-wilde-9781907301513","title":"Contesting Europe","description":"Investigates the way politicians and citizens evaluated the European Union and the process of European integration in public debates during the 2009 European Parliament elections. The authors present detailed, rigorous analysis of citizens' online response to news stories, and reveal new evidence about the dynamic nature of online contestation of Europe and the degree of convergence towards Euroscepticism. Such convergence provides new challenges for democratic representation in the EU, and insight into the public basis for a legitimate European Union.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51171619537169,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51171621667089,"sku":"NIN9781907301513","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52332117098769,"sku":"NLS9781907301513","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907301518.jpg?v=1751281736"},{"product_id":"representing-women-book-mercedes-mateo-diaz-9780954796648","title":"Representing Women?","description":"This book examines political participation, representation and legitimacy in the national parliaments of European Union countries. The book is organised around three major questions: What affects women's presence in parliaments? Does the number of women in a parliament have an effect? Do women in parliaments represent women? The evidence presented here shows that, to be effective, institutional reforms need a 'minimal environment' with respect to socioeconomic factors. Contrary to the critical mass theory, which claims that a few representatives cannot have much of an impact on political outcomes; in this book, empirical evidence suggests that smaller groups of women can influence different components of the legislative process. The final part of the book turns to the fundamental question of whether a parliament that is 'descriptively representative' - in which the parliamentarians share certain characteristics with the voters - will also be 'substantively descriptive', with parliamentarians mirroring voters' opinions. The author argues that an electoral system's level of proportionality influences the extent to which parliament and assemblies mirror their populations, socially and ideologically.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51208915452177,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51208917451025,"sku":"NIN9780954796648","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52682896769297,"sku":"NLS9780954796648","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0954796640.jpg?v=1751045688"},{"product_id":"joining-political-organisations-book-laura-morales-9780955248894","title":"Joining Political Organisations","description":"Political organisations and clubs structure contemporary politics. From political parties, to environmental organisations, citizens join a host of associations to influence policy-making and the political agenda. But, why do citizens join political organisations much more in some western democracies than in others? Laura Morales explains that there are three types of participatory patterns - a North American model, with extensive membership levels and a reasonably high level of activism within organisations; a northern, or Protestant, European pattern, that combines extensive membership levels and fundamentally passive involvement; and a south European model, where low levels of membership are compensated by intense activism. Drawing on a large number of cross-national surveys and datasets, Morales shows that huge cross-national variations in political membership are not so much related to social or attitudinal differences between these countries' citizens, and are explained to a great extent by the structure of the political system of each nation. Laura Morales is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Change of the University of Manchester. She has previously taught Political Science and Research Methods at Universidad Aut noma de Madrid (2001-2003), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2003), and the Universidad de Murcia (2003-2007). She was awarded with the ECPR and the Spanish Political Science Association prizes for the best Ph.D. thesis in 2004. Her interests lie, especially, in the areas of electoral behaviour, political participation, and comparative politics. She has published extensively on associational involvement, political participation, and political parties. 'This is a major and ambitious study. Laura Morales . manages to effect a broad ranging cross-national comparison, as well as an over-time analysis, yielding a host of valuable insights into the causes and implications of political membership.' Peter Mair","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51286664970513,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51286666674449,"sku":"NIN9780955248894","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52590597570833,"sku":"NLS9780955248894","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0955248892.jpg?v=1751397015"},{"product_id":"constraints-on-party-policy-change-book-thomas-m-meyer-9781907301490","title":"Constraints on Party Policy Change","description":"Political scientists are quite good at predicting 'optimal' policy positions that - under the given circumstances - allow parties to get maximal payoffs in terms of policy, office or votes. What we do not know is whether parties are actually able to take these positions or whether they are constrained to do so. This book attempts to narrow this gap. The major argument is that parties do not choose policy positions from scratch and that they cannot freely change their policy platforms. Rather, voters' lacking perception of changing party platforms and intra-party factors constrain parties when shifting their policy positions. An empirical analysis of party policy shifts in ten Western European democracies shows that these constraints differ across parties and thus affect the parties' position-taking differently. Considering this variation is important to derive more precise predictions for parties' policy platforms and for our understanding of party behaviour in general.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52337166713105,"sku":"NLS9781907301490","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52755628359953,"sku":"NIN9781907301490","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781907301490.jpg?v=1758165767"},{"product_id":"political-parties-and-interest-groups-in-norway-book-elin-haugsgjerd-allern-9780955820366","title":"Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway","description":"Do today's political parties prefer fairly distant relationships with various kinds of interest groups - or do they virtually detach themselves from civil society altogether? These are common questions explored in studies of established democracies, and scholars widely agree that traditionally close relationships - like those between social democratic parties and trade unions - have grown weaker in many instances. However, to date, only limited systematic research has been conducted on such political links, whether within or across countries. Whilst studies of parties and interest groups separately represent 'highways' of research, the relations between them have been largely overlooked by political scientists. This book represents one attempt to bridge the gap, starting from the party side of the relationship. It throws new light on the topic by presenting a theory-driven, comprehensive study of Norway's seven major political parties and their relationships with interest groups at the beginning of the new millennium. Based on an original and extensive data material, including party documents, in-depth interviews with key informants and a survey among the entire population of national party elites, Elin Haugsgjerd Allern paints a nuanced picture of the nature, political significance, and possible shaping factors of these relationships. A major conclusion is that Norway's parties tend towards a pattern of not very close and quite wide-ranging relationships with interest groups today. Great distance or virtual separation from the associational life does not characterise Norwegian parties in general. Moreover, the study reveals that some of these parties still have fairly strong links with their traditional associate and that the range of the total network of links is in some cases rather limited. Hence, Allern's book also shows that significant differences exist between parties exposed to the same social, political and institutional environment. ELIN HAUGSGJERD ALLERN is postdoctoral fellow of political science at the University of Oslo, Norway. Previously she was senior research fellow at the Institute for Social Research, Oslo. Her research interests include party organizations, the relationship between parties and interest groups and political parties and multi-level government. Allern's doctoral thesis was short-listed for ECPR's Jean Blondel PhD Prize 2008. Her work has appeared in several journals and edited volumes, including Acta Politica, European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics and Political Parties and Democracy: Europe (second volume in a five-volume set, ed. Kay Lawson, Praeger Publishers, 2010).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52431855714577,"sku":"NLS9780955820366","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52740554621201,"sku":"NIN9780955820366","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780955820366.jpg?v=1759173734"},{"product_id":"regulation-in-practice-book-martino-maggetti-9781907301285","title":"Regulation in Practice","description":"This book develops and applies an inventive theoretical approach to the comparative study of the neglected aspect of the real (or de facto) independence of regulatory agencies. The book begins with an examination of the organisational and institutional factors shaping the de facto independence of regulatory agencies in Western Europe. There follows an analysis of the role of independent regulatory agencies in the policy-making process, using de facto independence as an explanatory variable. The final section is devoted to the relationship between regulatory agencies and the news media. In the conclusive discussion, the author also tackles a set of normative questions, which relates to the virtues and perils of independence.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52483039953169,"sku":"NLS9781907301285","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52756056867089,"sku":"NIN9781907301285","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781907301285.jpg?v=1759854116"},{"product_id":"political-conflict-and-political-preferences-book-claudia-landwehr-9780955820304","title":"Political Conflict and Political Preferences","description":"What is the effect of deliberation on political actors and when can we expect it to be successful? Are mutual understanding and consensus realistic results of political decision-making processes or is compromise the most we can hope for? This book addresses what appear to be blind spots in theories of deliberative democracy: the conceptual and empirical relationship between communication and political preferences and the institutional preconditions for preference change and co-ordination. It proposes a model of preference transformation through communication and develops a typology of modes of political interaction that distinguishes discussion, deliberation, debate and bargaining. This serves as a framework for the analysis of a fundamental and highly polarizing conflict - the German decision over the import of embryonic stem cells. Analysis of communicative interaction in different forums shows how a well justified and widely accepted compromise was achieved in a conflict that had appeared irresolvable in moral terms and irreducible in terms of interest.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52483939270929,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52483940385041,"sku":"NLS9780955820304","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780955820304.jpg?v=1759855515"},{"product_id":"agents-or-bosses-book-zge-kemahliolu-9781907301261","title":"Agents or Bosses?","description":"Focusing on intra-party competition, this book presents an original explanation of why some politicians and parties engage more extensively in such practices than others.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52663744168209,"sku":"NLS9781907301261","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52756056703249,"sku":"NIN9781907301261","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781907301261.jpg?v=1762272791"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/ecpr-monographs-ser-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}