Electoral Defeat and Party Change: From Makeover to Retouching [Hardcover]

This book examines the factors determining the character, depth, scope and outcomes of changes made by political parties in the aftermath of electoral losses. It considers not only the objective aspects of party organisation and its features and structure, in explaining post-defeat party change, but also includes findings on the perceptions and interpretations of electoral results within political parties. Based on an extensive fieldwork, the authors propose a new analytical perspective to establish whether and under what conditions and circumstances an electoral defeat leads to a profound party makeover. 

Introduction.-Chapter 1. Theoretical and methodological framework.- Chapter 2. The loser has to fall : party leadership after electoral defeat.- Chapter 3. The bigger wound the smaller bandage - revisions of the programme discourse.- Chapter 4. Abandoning a sinking ship (?): party membership change.- Chapter 5. The story of electoral defeat  how subjective experience shapes party change.- Political parties after a defeat: retouch instead of makeover - conclusions.

Anna Pacze[niak is Professor of Political Science at the University of WrocBaw, Poland.

Maciej Bachryj-Krzywaznia is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of WrocBaw, Poland.

MaBgorzata Kaczorowska is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Warsaw, Poland.

This book looks into the subjective black box of electoral defeat and offers important insights for our understanding of when and how parties react to electoral losses.

Thomas Poguntke, Chair of Comparative Politics, Universit?t D?sseldorf, Germany

Adopting a nuanced framework that coló)