Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This book examines how citizens, governments and courts in democratic states resolve dilemmas posed by anti-system parties or, more specifically, the question of why democracies ban political parties. On the one hand, party bans are purportedly designed to 'protect' democracies, usually from groups deemed to undermine the democratic system, challenge core democratic values, territorial integrity or state security. At the same time, democracies that ban parties - entities whose representatives are, at least in theory, elected to represent citizens in the political arena - simultaneously challenge their own foundational commitments to political pluralism, tolerance and rights to free speech and association.
Through an examination of the various measures used to respond to such parties, this book probes the deliberative processes, discursive strategies and power politics employed when democratic communities negotiate inherent tensions in foundational commitments to tolerance and pluralism. With reference to empirical case studies of both contemporary and historical anti-system party bans in Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany, this book is the first attempt to examine in a systematic and comparative manner the question of why democracies ban parties and provides a political perspective in a literature largely dominated by law and political philosophy.
This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of European Politics, Democracy Studies, Party Politics and Comparative Politics.
Synopsis
This book examines how democratic communities resolve dilemmas posed by anti-system parties or, more specifically, the question of why democracies take the grave decision to ban political parties. On the one hand, party bans may 'protect' democracies, usually from groups deemed to undermine the democratic system or its core values, territorial integrity or state security. At the same time, banning parties challenges foundational democratic commitments to political pluralism, tolerance and rights to free speech and association. The book probes the deliberative processes, discursive strategies and power politics employed when democratic communities negotiate this dilemma. It examines discourses of securitization and desecuritization, preferences of veto-players, anti-system party orientations to violence, electoral systems and the cordon sanitaire as alternatives to party bans, and incentives for mainstream parties to cooperate, rather than ban, parties to achieve office and policy goals. It does so with reference case studies of party bans, legalizations and failed ban cases in Spain (Herri Batasuna and successors), the United Kingdom (Sinn Fein and Republican Clubs) and Germany (Socialist Reich Party and National Democratic Party of Germany).