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