Friday, 3 December 2021
09.00-11.00am AEDT
Register free here.
Chaired by Dr Matteo Bonotti from MMIC, this webinar is structured over two panel sessions as a forum for the comparative analysis of the impact of ethnic and linguistic divisions and nationalism on party politics in a number of European and Asian countries. See panelist details and presentation abstracts below. Professor Rebecca Wickes, Director, Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre (MMIC) will provide the Acknowledgment of Country and a brief introduction to the MMIC. There will be time for audience Q&A at the end of each panel.
This webinar will first explore how the insights offered by the study of multiethnic settings can be drawn upon to better understand the possibility and (un)desirability of multilingual parties in deeply multilingual societies. Second, it will examine the implications of multiethnic and multilingual diversity for intra-party democracy and deliberation. Third, it will provide a forum for the comparative analysis of the impact of ethnic and linguistic divisions and nationalism on party politics in a number of European and Asian countries. And, finally, it will investigate whether and how centripetal institutions normally advocated to dilute ethnic politics in new democracies can also be employed to reduce growing partisan divides and political polarisation in established liberal democratic polities.
Speakers:
PANEL 1:
Nenad Stojanović (University of Geneva) – ‘Centripetal Institutions and Multilingual Parties: Switzerland and Beyond’
Abstract
The paper advances the thesis that the existence of multilingual parties in Switzerland has been strongly influenced by centripetal (i.e. non-consociational) institutions such as direct democracy and presidentialism. The paper draws inspiration from the Swiss case to explore the distinction between centripetal and consociational institutions in other deeply multilingual places - Belgium, Canada, the EU - and its impact on the emergence of multilingual rather than monolingual parties.
Cera Murtagh (Villanova University) – ‘Beyond the Binary? Civic Politics in Northern Ireland’
Abstract
This paper explores the place of civic politics in Northern Ireland post-Brexit. It considers the impact of Brexit and associated political developments of the last five years on actors and issues that lie beyond the ethno-national binary and rival the dominant unionist/nationalist discourse and the potential for its growth or decline in this context. As part of this analysis, the paper examines the increased salience of non-ethnic issues in Northern Ireland politics over the last 15 years, including those pertaining to socio-economic and liberal/conservative cleavages (such as abortion and marriage equality), as well as the rise of civic parties, most notably the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In particular, the paper explores how these parties have managed to survive and grow in post-Agreement Northern Ireland in the context of a consociational power-sharing system assumed to be inimical to their success. It assesses the opportunities and barriers civic parties have encountered in the post-Agreement political landscape and the strategies they have used to navigate them.
Wilfried Swenden (University of Edinburgh) – ‘State Narratives, Party Competition and the Dynamics of Territorial Politics: A Typology and Application to the Case of India’
Abstract
What is the significance of polity-wide parties’ understanding of state and nation for their ability and willingness to accommodate territorial diversity? To answer this question, I first introduce a typology containing four ‘ideal-types’ of state nationalism: dominant, integrationist, composite, and plurinational. Subsequently, I apply this typology to India, a polity with a very high level of ethno-linguistic fractionalization, but a relatively centralized federal system. I argue that this relative centralization is the consequence of a dominant state integrationist ideology in the process leading up to and during state formation. More recently this ideology has been challenged by the rise of dominant nationalism built around the idea of India as a ‘Hindu rashtra’ (nation). The analysis underscores how varieties of state nationalism inform the nature and evolution of the territorial constitution, in form and in practice, and the extent to which such shifts are linked to democratization (or a shift towards authoritarianism), party competition and changes in the party system.
PANEL 2:
Michael Breen (University of Melbourne) – ‘Political Parties in Federal Systems in Asia: Intraparty Democracy and Deliberation in Ethnic and Multiethnic Parties’
Abstract
The Asian region has been the site of considerable political and democratic reform over the past few decades. Political parties are integral to the success and failure of federal democratic change, particularly in deeply divided societies. This paper focuses in on one critical aspect of political parties in by looking at the differences between ethnic and multiethnic parties in federal countries in Asia, with a particular focus on internal democracy and deliberation. It is based on a comparative analysis of ethnic and multiethnic political parties in four multiethnic federal systems in Asia, namely India, Malaysia, Myanmar and Nepal. It tests hypotheses: that multiethnic parties have institutional conditions that are more conducive to democratic deliberation than ethnic parties; and that parties are more deliberative in practice at the local level than at the national level. Therefore, an ethnic party that is regional or local only, may also have a high level of deliberation in practice, and there is a causal link between deliberation and moderation. The research has supported the hypotheses, with one important proviso. That is, on average, ethnic parties are still not very democratic or deliberative even when they are small and operate only at the local level. There are some exceptions, but the differences between small ethnic and small multiethnic parties are substantial. These findings can inform political party engineering in divided societies, given the important link between deliberation and moderation, and future research into political parties in federal countries.
Madhavi Devasher (University of New Hampshire) – ‘From Inclusivity to Exclusivity: The Impact of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Cross-Ethnic Appeals among Opposition Parties in India’
Abstract
The growing dominance of the BJP has had a profoundly negative impact on the welfare and representation of Muslims in India. This paper argues that aside from the BJP’s own right-wing Hindu orientation, the weakness and complicity of other parties in India is also responsible for these outcomes. While in earlier years, the proliferation of political parties and heightened competition in many Indian states led to a growth in cross-ethnic appeals, in the last few years, the BJP’s dominance has reduced the incentives for such cross-ethnic overtures. The shrinking of political space for other parties and the formation of alliances to combat the rise of the BJP has meant that appeals to minority voters and especially Muslims have taken a backseat. Many regional and ethnic parties have been unable to serve as an effective check and opposition to the BJP, particularly because they have lost large numbers of their core vote base to the BJP. Instead, they have mimicked much of the BJP’s political platform. Ironically, the inability of these ethnic parties to hold on to their ethnic bases of support has made Muslim representation harder. Opposition parties have not even been able to project themselves as a more desirable alternative in the face of India’s ongoing COVID tragedy. I conclude that the prospects for Muslims in the near future are bleak while existing parties remain weak.
Benjamin Reilly (University of Western Australia) – ‘Cross-ethnic Voting and Political Parties’
Abstract
A major debate in political science circles over the past two decades has been the idea that ethnic politics can be moderated, diluted or transformed through inclusion in political parties or via electoral rules. While much of this debate has focussed on new democracies, at the same time the Western world has experienced a surge in political polarization, as new movements, mostly but not exclusively from the right, have pulled political debates away from the centre and towards the extremes. This paper examines attempts to ameliorate both forms of division by encouraging cross-voting, whereby members of one group are given incentives to vote for others in some form. These include vote-pooling using preferential rankings or geographic thresholds, the use of cross-regional party formation rules; mandatory ethnic diversity requirements for party lists; and various forms of ‘uni-directional’ vote-pooling in which seat reservations for specified minorities are elected by all voters rather than just the minority in question.