How should party leaders be selected? Who should be eligible to vote, and what voting system should be employed? 

How should party leaders be selected? Who should be eligible to vote, and what voting system should be employed? 

Denham, A. (2012). From Ted to Ed: electing British party leaders. The Political         Quarterly, 83(3), 576-584.

Denham, in this article, examines how and why there have been changes since 1965 as British political parties repeatedly and radically changed how they select their leaders. He has investigated the consequences of the new selections as well as procedures applied by the four mainstream parties, which are a liberal party, liberal Democrats, the conservatives and lastly, the labour. Denham also provides a theoretical framework that is used when selecting parties in parliamentary systems. In the four selected parties, Denham examined the two questions; why and how has the process of choosing British party leaders changed from time to time and secondly, why and to what extend have the new procedures used in selection adapted since 1965 generated different results. The articles will be beneficial in my topic as it touches on how party leaders are selected and the voting systems being used

Wauters, B. (2014). Democratizing Party Leadership Selection in B Belgium: Motivations and Decision Makers. Political Studies, 62, 61-80.

Wauters, in the article, found out that political parties have increased to adopt more inclusive procedures when it comes to choosing their party leaders by mostly introducing party primaries. In his article, he detected the motives as well as the decision-makers in Belgian parties. Wauters found that the situation in Belgium was different because of demonstrating it with qualitative and quantitative data.  The results from his study show that the party elite was keen on introducing party primaries as they took the initiative itself, carrying them all the way. The mechanism used avoided too much power for the middle elites. Also, he argued that his results from Belgium parties could be used to consensus democracies generally. The study by Wauters is very significant as it relates to my research topic.

Denham, A., & Dorey, P. (2018). Tales of the unexpected: The selection of British party leaders since 1963. British Politics, 13(2), 171-194.

Denham and Dorey in this article outlined a theoretical framework claiming to explain why political parties in parliamentary systems operated by selecting the leaders they do. The two authors examined thirty-two leadership successions having five main British parties since 1963. Denham and Dorey, therefore, found out that many of the leadership successions were unexpected as they were caused by unpredicted circumstances. The article will be useful for my topic area of study.

Punnett, R. M. (1993). Selecting the party leader in Britain: A limited participatory            revolution. European Journal of Political Research, 24(3), 257-276.

The article by Punnett discussed how a party leader is selected in Britain. In the study, Punnett found out that unlike European nations, the roles of party leadership in Britain is significantly concentrated based on the hands of one individual. Also, the study found out that each of the major British parties changed the way of choosing their leaders. The article has touched mostly on my study topic, and its information will be highly useful in the research.

McSweeney, D. (1999). Changing the rules changed the game: selecting conservative leaders. Party Politics, 5(4), 471-483.

McSweeney, in his article, claimed that several authors contended that the change in the way a conservative party leadership selection that was introduced in 1965, was the modest influence. He has argued in the article that change in procedures transformed both the outcomes and the process. Also, McSweeney claims that the effects of procedural change are demonstrated by investigating the entire leadership chosen since 1945 through comparisons of those decided by ballots and those conducted by informal consultation. McSweeney’s study has relevant information that will be of use in my study topic.

References

Denham, A. (2012). From Ted to Ed: electing British party leaders. The Political   Quarterly, 83(3), 576-584.

Denham, A., & Dorey, P. (2018). Tales of the unexpected: The selection of British party   leaders since 1963. British Politics, 13(2), 171-194.

McSweeney, D. (1999). Changing the rules changed the game: selecting conservative leaders. Party Politics, 5(4), 471-483.

Punnett, R. M. (1993). Selecting the party leader in Britain: A limited participatory revolution. European Journal of Political Research, 24(3), 257-276.

Wauters, B. (2014). Democratizing Party Leadership Selection in B Belgium: Motivations and Decision Makers. Political Studies, 62, 61-80.