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Several important changes have occurred in the European Union (EU) over the course of the last decade. In particular, the Maastricht Treaty criteria for entry into the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) brought economic austerity across the member states, in spite of high levels of unemployment in the region. At the same time an electoral shift resulted in parties of the left holding government positions in 13 of 15 member states, a marked contrast to the recent past. We examine if recent electoral fluctuations can be attributed to the traditional explanations of economic voting and anti-incumbency or if there is evidence of a fundamental shift in the electoral arena following the passage of the Maastricht Treaty Using pooled cross-sectional data for the years 1983-1998, we find that for both EMU members and non-members traditional forces help explain electoral outcomes, however an indicator for the squeeze of the post-Maastricht time period also plays a significant role. While left parties have fared well in the post-Maastricht period, the strong, negative effect of incumbency, persistent unemployment, and an overall increase in electoral volatility make any conclusions of a left tum in the member states of the EU premature. Rather, it is likely left parties will find themselves faced with the difficult task of maintaining support while abiding by the constraints imposed by the Maastricht Treaty.

On 26 November 2011, slightly more than a month after the successful hosting of the Rugby World Cup in which the country's rugby team-the All Blacks-won its second cup in the tournament's 24-year history, New Zealanders went to the polls to vote for a new parliament as well as in a referendum on its electoral system. This election, the sixth under the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) electoral system first used in 1996, maintained the three-year electoral cycle and took place as the term of the National-led coalition government, elected in December 2008, drew to a close. In a break with convention, Prime Minister John Key made an early announcement of the general election date on 2 February 2011 stating that, since 2011 is a 'big year' for New Zealand, he did not want to be 'playing politics' while New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup. The Prime Minister's announcement of a 'big year' for the country was eerily prescient as New Zealand's second largest city, Christchurch, was devastated by a huge earthquake on 22 February, placing more stress on the fiscal, financial, and economic conditions of the country. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

What explains the Japanese experience of one‐party‐dominated democracy over the past five decades? More generally, and looking acrossAsian democracies, what explains variations in the degree of political volatility? We propose a theory of government turnover rate that not only explains political rigidity inJapan and the experience of precarious democracy inThailand and thePhilippines, but also explains changes of government in otherAsian democracies. Political volatility, defined as the rate of government turnover, ranges from very low, as seen in one‐party‐dominated democracies, to very high, as seen in troubled democracies that regularly suffer democratic breakdowns. With our theory, we argue that three major factors contribute interactively to political volatility: executive type, distributive power, and social cleavage. Through a comparative analysis of allAsian democracies, we conclude that the mechanisms resulting in political volatility can be generalized in a unifying theoretical framework.

"This state-of-the-art Encyclopedia provides a detailed snapshot study of politics in Asia. Curated by two internationally recognised scholars, entries offer key insights and critical reference points in order to navigate the vastness, diversity and dynamism of Asian politics. Cross-disciplinary in approach, this pioneering Encyclopedia of Asian Politics reviews a broad range of issues such as democratisation, identity politics, political culture and terrorism, as well as the regional divisions across Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Contributors include a wealth of specialist academics and practitioners from a diverse array of fields. They provide case studies on specific countries for further insight, focussing on China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam among other territories. Offering a high level of detail in an accessible manner, this definitive Encyclopedia will be crucial reading for students and academics in international relations, international politics, Asian studies and Asian politics. It will also prove an excellent reference point for practitioners and professionals working in the field. Key Features: Covers the latest developments in the field of Asian politics Signposts extensive additional resources for further reading and exploration Over 50 entries organised according to key geographic regions and conceptual themes Entries written by leading scholars reviewing core topics in the current political landscape"--

It is commonplace to see references to parties' manifestos as their written issue "profiles," and changes in such documents as constituting changes in the parties' "images" or "identities," with the latter terms often used interchangeably to capture the role of platforms. This article argues, however, that projection of a party's "image" and its "identity" are two different functions for a manifesto, not just one, and that it is important for the building and testing of theory that this distinction be maintained. Parties are, after all, addressing two audiences simultaneously with one document, and the two dimensions provide two alternative objects of change which can be used strategically to please both audiences at once.The article employs existing manifesto-based measures of parties' relative issue emphases and their positions on a range of issues as indicators of image and identity, respectively, and finds that the two are indeed empirically distinct. Then, an earlier test of the electoral performance hypothesis as applied to emphasis change is replicated with data designed to capture change in issue positions. The test provides evidence for the prudence of maintaining the distinction between emphasis and position as two different dimensions of party profile change.

Introduction : Legislature-Centric and Executive-Centric Theories of Party Systems and Faction Systems /Nathan F. Batto and Gary W. Cox --The Consequences of MMM on Party Systems /Chi Huang, Ming-Feng Kuo, and Hans Stockton --The Consequences of Constitutional Systems on Party Systems /Jih-wen Lin --LDP Factions under SNTV and MMM /Yoshiaki Kobayashi and Hiroki Tsukiyama --Executive Competition, Electoral Rules, and Faction Systems in Taiwan /Nathan F. Batto and Hsin-ta Huang --Innovations in Candidate Selection Methods /Eric Chen-hua Yu, Kaori Shoji, and Nathan F. Batto --Post Allocation, List Nominations, and Preelectoral Coalitions under MMM /Kuniaki Nemoto and Chia-hung Tsai --Split-Ticket Voting under MMM /T.Y. Wang, Chang-chih Lin, and Yi-ching Hsiao --Thailand and the Philippines under MMM /Allen Hicken --Political Consequences of New Zealand's MMP System in Comparative Perspective /Matthew S. Shugart and Alexander C. Tan --Presidents and Blank Votes in the Bolivian and Russian Mixed-Member Systems /Nathan F. Batto, Henry A. Kim, and Natalia Matukhno --Conclusions : Mixed-Member Systems Embedded within Constitutional Systems /Chi Huang.