Greece's Experiment with Proportional Representation

1927 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adamantios Th. Polyzoides
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Party System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
General Election ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Military

On November 7 Greece held its first general election under the system of proportional representation, using a modified form of the Belgian system. This innovation was imposed on the country despite the most strenuous opposition by all of the old parties, the majority of the press, and the bulk of public opinion, and its adoption was a clear victory of the minority parties, assisted by the Military League and the then dictator General Kondylis.The arguments of the established parties in favor of the old plurality system ran on lines too familiar to require extensive statement here. The former system, according to its supporters, usually assures the election of large majorities, one way or the other, and enables Parliament to give the country what we call a strong government, such as Greece needed at the time of the election. Great Britain and the United States were offered as the outstanding examples of the efficiency of the two-party system, which is best served by the old-fashioned electoral method of absolute plurality. Naturally enough, Belgium was cited as the worst exponent of the evils of proportional representation.

Party Realignment in the United States and Britain

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Party Realignment ◽  
History Of

Realignment theory is a recent but flourishing sub-branch of the study of American political parties. Over the last thirty years, the original suggestions of its inventor, V. O. Key, have been elaborated and refined in several directions and through several phases, gradually being modified to take variations in historical circumstances more carefully into account. Problems of the same kind often occur, and are likely to prove even less manageable, when efforts are made to apply the theory to another political system and culture as authors from both countries (and from neither) have in recent years tried, more or less explicitly, to use it to explain developments in the British party system. Some techniques travel quite well, and some useful insights can be obtained by looking afresh at familiar patterns in the light of similar experiences elsewhere. But the differences between the two nations and states preclude any rigorous attempt to apply a theory derived from the history of one country with a view to explaining the experiences of the other.

The Formation of National Party Systems: Federalism and Party Competition in Canada, Great Britain, India, and the United States

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1076-1077
Author(s):  
Radhika Desai
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
National Party ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Governmental Institutions

The Formation of National Party Systems: Federalism and Party Competition in Canada, Great Britain, India, and the United States, Pradeep K. Chhibber and Ken Kollman, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004, pp. xvi, 276.Mining electoral data to arrive at theories about the relationship between political party performance and party system determination and electoral and governmental institutions forms the main stream of political science. And one of its most enduring puzzles is the explanation of the patterns and diversities of party systems. With the famous “Duverger's Law” about single-member plurality systems and two-party political systems forming its point of departure, political scientists have attempted to substantiate their discipline's status as a “science” by producing theories about relationships between measurable political variables.

The International Joint Commission between The United States and Canada

1928 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. MacKay
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Joint Commission ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint

The preamble of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 between Great Britain (on behalf of Canada) and the United States declares its purpose to be: To prevent disputes regarding the use of boundary waters and to settle all questions which are now pending between the United States and the Dominion of Canada involving the rights, obligations, or interests of either in relation to the other or to the inhabitantsof the other, along their common frontier, and to make provision for the adjustment and settlement of all such questions as may hereafter arise.

Some Trends in the International Civil Service

1959 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 520-537
Author(s):  
Peter Lengyel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Way

Much has been written about the international civil service. The more serious literature is often produced by those who have had at least a limited personal experience within one or the other of the Secretariats, and some of it is by veterans of many years’ standing. Other writings range all the way from popular attempts to bring home to the wider public the spirit and objectives of this relatively new profession to the kind of running, petty vendettas pursued by certain factions, such as the Beaver brook press in Great Britain and isolationist or xenophobic elements in the United States, France, and elsewhere, against what they conceive to be the thin end of a subversive wedge which will eventually sunder national sovereignties and the freedom of an already largely illusory power of self determination.

scholarly journals Crisis in Burma

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-60
Author(s):  
Edward Bong Geul Joo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
The United States ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Junta ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The Military ◽  
Peace And Development

On September 24, 2007, the conflict in Burma, also known as Myanmar, between the public and the military junta, officially known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), reached a serious point. The military junta, which represented the Burmese government, had raised the price of oil through its monopoly, which subsequently elevated food prices. In response, the public, including 1000 monks, protested against the tyrannical rule of the junta. The junta reacted by killing thousands of people and arresting democratic leaders such as U Gambira, the leader of the protesting monks. Amidst this turmoil, many foreign countries intervened to try to find a solution. Keck and Sikkink suggest that these are voluntary and angel states coming to the aid of others. On the other hand, Kaufmann and Pape argue that these are states masking their acts as aid while looking for gains for themselves. They add that these political gains are made at the costly price of economic loss. By examining how the United States has been involved in the crisis in Burma, Kaufmann and Pape’s view on these states appears to be more correct than that of Keck and Sikkink, who believe in the existence of voluntary states.

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