Faucher-King
(Florence) Changing Parties. An Anthology of British Political
Party Conferences Palgrave, 2005
Party conferences are central to the life of political parties. They contribute to setting policy agendas, developing policy options, legitimizing policy choices, building party cohesion, motivating activists and publicizing party activities to the wider public. An analysis of their evolution in Britain helps us understand the ways in which political parties change. This book combines anthropological methods with political science to analyze changing power relationships, party organizations and political culture in British political parties: Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, The Greens.
Contents
An Anthropological Approach to 'Conventional Politics'
Why do People Attend Conferences ?
Imagined Communities
Constructing Leadership and Authority
Setting the Agenda
Making the News
The Public Performance
The Discourse of 'Deliberative Democracy'
Direct Democracy: The Vote as Fetish
Fringe Benefits: Dissent vs Commercialisation
Conclusion: Politics in the Age of the Individual
Appendix
Bibliography