Jorge M. Fernandes - Böcker

The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics brings together the best scholars in the field offering an unrivalled coverage of the politics (broadly defined) of the country over the past 50 years. The Handbook includes eight sections. First, it looks at the past and present by making an overview of Portuguese political developments since democratization in the 1970s. Second, it looks at political institutions as the building blocks of Portuguese democracy. The third section examines mass politics and voters, that is, a thorough analysis of the demand-side of mass politics. The fourth section turns to the supply side of mass-politics by looking at parties and the party system. The fifth section looks at the Portuguese society by unpacking a plethora of societal aspects with direct implications for politics. The sixth section examines governance and public policies, with a view to understanding how a constellation of public policies has an impact on the quality of governance and in fostering well-being. The seventh section looks at Portugal and the European Union. The eighth and final section unpacks Portuguese foreign policy and defence.

Legislative debates make democracy and representation work. Political actors engage in legislative debates to make their voice heard to voters. Parties use debates to shore up their brand. This book makes the most comprehensive study of legislative debates thus far, looking at the politics of legislative debates in 33 liberal democracies in Europe, North America and Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The book begins with theoretical chapters focused on the key concepts in the study of legislative debates. Michael Laver, Slapin and Proksch, and Taylor examine the politics of legislative debates in parliamentary and presidential democracies. Subsequently, Goplerud makes a critical review of the methodological challenges in the study of legislative debates. Schwalbach and Rauh further discuss the difficulties in the comparative empirical study of debates. Country-chapters offer a wealth of original material organized around structured sections. Each chapter begins with a details discussion of the institutional design, focusing on the electoral system, legislative organization, and party parties, to which a section on the formal and informal rules of legislative debates ensues. Next, each country chapter focuses on analyzing the determinants of floor access, with a particular emphasis on the role of gender, seniority, legislative party positions, among others. In the concluding chapter, the editors explore comparative patterns and point out to multiple research avenues opened by this edited volume.The Oxford Politics of Institutions series is designed to provide in-depth coverage of research on a specific political institution. Each volume includes a mix of theoretical contributions, state-of-the-art research review chapters, comparative empirical chapters, country case study chapters, and chapters aimed at practitioners. Typically, the majority of chapters in each volume comprises of country studies written by country experts. Volumes in the series are aimed at political scientists, students in political science programmes, social scientists more generally, and policy practitioners.Series editors: Shane Martin, Anthony King Chair in Comparative Government and Head of the Department of Government, University of Essex; and Sona N. Golder, Professor of Politics, Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University.

This comprehensive book analyses the development of the legislatures in the Iberian countries over the past 40 years, since democracy was introduced, to comparatively understand their role in these political systems and in sustaining their democratic systems. Sharing many historical developments and institutional characteristics, Spain and Portugal also present crucial differences, notably Spain’s pure parliamentary system, a King as Head of State and a quasi-federal structure, and Portugal’s semi-presidential democracy. Starting with a historical and institutional contextualization of these two legislatures, the book examines the most important organizational and behavioural features of legislative life in Iberian legislatures in a comparative perspective. It also shows how new legislatures develop resilience capacity to support lasting democratic systems as fully fledged institutionalized bodies.This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of Spain and Portugal, legislative politics and parliamentarianism, and more broadly to European politics and comparative politics, journalists and practitioners.

This book examines the complex challenges confronting modern democratic systems. Amid rising political fragmentation, polarisation, societal diversity, democratic backsliding, technological advances, economic stagnation, and environmental crises, it explores the nuances of democratic governance and how representative institutions can strengthen their resilience. It provides new insights into traditional models of democratic delegation through a series of studies on how legislative bodies function and interact with the executive, especially during government formation. Later chapters focus on minority representation, analysing conditions that promote political inclusion for women, migrants, and LGBT individuals, particularly in legislative institutions. The final section discusses the radical right’s growth and addresses how political systems confront environmental issues, connecting themes of representation and sustainability. This book honours Thomas Saalfeld, a prominent scholar in legislative politics, government formation, and minority representation. This volume is highly relevant for scholars and students interested in comparative politics, political representation, legislative behaviour, and European politics more broadly.

Marking fifty years since the democratic transitions in Greece, Portugal, and Spain, this book traces how three countries that broke free from authoritarian rule in the mid-1970s have navigated consolidation, crisis, and the enduring tension between structural constraints and political agency to become, and remain, democracies.Drawing on the latest comparative research, The Makeover of Southern Europe traces the full arc of Southern Europe's democratic experience: from the turbulent transitions of the mid-1970s, through the consolidation of the 1980s and the modernisation that followed EU membership, to the severe stress tests imposed by the 2008 financial crisis and the more recent rise of populism and far-right politics. Covering institutions, political parties, gender equality, national identity, political trust, and public attitudes towards European integration, the book shows that shared historical origins do not produce identical destinies. Structural conditions set the stage, but it is the choices of political leaders, parties, and citizens that ultimately determine whether democracies endure.This book will be an important tool for researchers studying Southern European politics and economics. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.