This book studies the challenges to conventional politics posed by new ways of selecting candidates for legislative elections. The recent economic crisis had profound political consequences on politics, generating an upsurge in the demand for more participative ways of decision-making in politics channelled through social movements and individuals in different countries. Some parties have reacted by introducing changes in their internal organization (via intra-party democracy), particularly related to the selection of candidates for public office. This volume explores the trends and challenges of these new methods of selection, analyses how the internet is increasingly being used as a selection tool, and evaluates some of the relevant consequences related to political representation, party cohesion and party centralization, among others.
Table of Content
Section I: New modes of candidate selection.- 1. Lights and Shades of Democratizing Candidate Selection; Guillermo Cordero and Xavier Coller.- 2. The Challenges of Inclusive Intra-Party Selection Methods; Ofer Kenig and Scott Pruysers.- 3. Selecting Presidential Candidates in European Semi-Presidential Democracies; Cristina Boccur and Bonnie N. Field.- Section II: Internet, new politics and selection of candidates.- 4. Intra-party Democracy and Internet: The case of NEOS in Austria; Marcelo Jenny.- 5. Selecting Candidates Online in Europe. A comparison among the cases of M5S, Podemos, and European Green Party; Maria Elisabetta and Stefano Rombi.- 6. New Wine in Old Bottles? The Selection of Electoral Candidates in General Elections in Podemos; Santiago Pérez Nievas, José Rama and Carlos Fernández-Esquer.- 7. MPs of Traditional Parties’ Perceptions on Candidate Selection in Times of Political Crisis and Reform; Manuel Jiménez-Sánchez, Xavier Coller and Manuel Portillo-Pérez.- Section III: Consequences of new modes of candidate selection on politics.- 8. The Socio-Political Profile of Parliamentary Representatives in Greece, Italy and Spain before and after the ‘Eurocrisis’: A Comparative Empirical Assessment; Manina Kakepaki, Fani Kountouri, Luca Verzichelli and Xavier Coller.- 9. Gender Representation in Wales: New Approaches to Candidate Selection in UK’s Devolved Legislatures and Beyond; Diana Stirbu, Jac Larner and Laura Mc Allister.- 10. The Selection of Candidates and its Impact on Parliamentary Behavior. Insights from the Italian Case; Stefano Rombi and Antonella Seddone.- 11. Selection and Party Discipline: A Comparative Perspective; Xavier Coller, Guillermo Cordero, Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo and Patrik Öhberg.- 12. Conclusions; Xavier Coller and Guillermo Cordero.
About the author
Guillermo Cordero is Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. His publications include a number of books, chapters and journal articles on candidate selection, electoral behaviour and political attitudes.
Xavier Coller is Professor of Sociology at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain. He has authored or co-authored over a hundred works on social theories, research methods, collective identities, political elites, and complex organizations.