Esta obra es el resultado de horas de deliberación y análisis de un grupo de académicos de la Ciencia Política, movidos por el compromiso cívico y la inquietud intelectual, unidos en torno a la preocupación por la actual crisis económica e institucional de nuestro país y con el objetivo de poner sus diagnósticos y propuestas al servicio de la mejora de la calidad de nuestra democracia. A partir de esquemas conceptuales y analíticos comunes y en su contextualización internacional, se ha procesado una gran cantidad de información relevante disponible en los ámbitos más críticos de nuestro sistema político, deliberando ampliamente sobre el diagnóstico de los principales problemas colectivos que nos aquejan y sobre la mejor estrategia a seguir para intentar superarlos. El casi medio centenar de medidas propuestas en los campos analíticos seleccionados tienen como objetivo recuperar el compromiso y la confianza ciudadanos en las instituciones, actores y procesos políticos. La obra centra su diagnóstico y sus propuestas en los ámbitos de los partidos políticos (especialmente, la representación y la financiación), la corrupción, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas y los medios y la comunicación política.

The Oxford Handbook of Spanish Politics provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of the Spanish political system through the lens of political science. It aims to move away from a complacent analysis of Spanish democracy and provide a nuanced view of some of its strengths and challenges. The Handbook introduces Spanish politics to an international audience of scholars and practitioners. It is structured around six sections that cover Spain's political history, institutional changes, elections, civil society, policy-making, and foreign affairs. The volume brings together a distinguished group of 47 internationally renowned scholars who study Spain in its own right, or as a case among others in a comparative perspective. The contributors provide expert accounts of contemporary Spain, making the Oxford Handbook of Spanish Politics an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Spanish politics and government since the country's transition to democracy.

This volume considers corruption as a multidimensional, complex phenomenon in which various forms of corruption may overlap at any given time. Extending the seemingly paradoxical notion of “legal corruption” to such settings as the USA, Spain, and the Czech Republic, the book seeks to augment our understanding of corruption in democracies by focusing on conduct that is considered by large segments of the population to be corrupt even though they are not explicitly defined as such by the law or the governing elites. Such behaviors are not often captured by corruption perception indexes or identified by scholars who regard corruption as a single category—usually restricted to bribery. However, they are liable to incur a heavy price both in terms of trust in specific governments and of general system support. As illustrated by developments in Spain, the Czech Republic, and the corrosive presidential campaign of 2016 in the USA, these actions are liable to endanger both the quality and actual viability of democratic orders. This volume looks into the possibilities of legal reforms and anticorruption campaigns aiming to correct the consequences of such corruption on government legitimacy. A comparison between the anticorruption campaigns in the competitive authoritarian context of Russia and the fully authoritarian setting of China helps to identify both the difficulties and the possibilities of such efforts in democratic regimes.

This book studies the challenges to conventional politics posed by new ways of selecting candidates for legislative elections. The recent economic crisis had profound political consequences on politics, generating an upsurge in the demand for more participative ways of decision-making in politics channelled through social movements and individuals in different countries. Some parties have reacted by introducing changes in their internal organization (via intra-party democracy), particularly related to the selection of candidates for public office. This volume explores the trends and challenges of these new methods of selection, analyses how the internet is increasingly being used as a selection tool, and evaluates some of the relevant consequences related to political representation, party cohesion and party centralization, among others.

The 2019 European Electoral Campaign: In the Time of Populism and Social Media examines political advertising during the 2019 elections to the European Parliament, which has become the largest supranational campaign of its kind in the world. Based on a research project funded by the European Parliament, and an archive of more than 11,000 campaign items, the book draws on results from a major content analysis covering every one of the 28 member states involved. The 2019 European Electoral Campaign delivers a unique comparative assessment on the state of political communication within a European Union convulsed by momentous change. This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and students of political communication, media, political science, history, European (Union) studies as well as a wider readership including politicians, political strategists, and journalists.

Chambers of commerce are omnipresent in domestic public policy and play a crucial role in business self-governance. However, they are rather neglected in both public and scientific debates and seem to be in decline. This volume fills this gap in research on organised business and state-market coordination in Europe. The contributions discuss chambers of commerce as interest groups and actors in political systems, and address the institutional changes that this kind of self-governance is undergoing. The development of chambers of commerce in recent decades shows a wide array of mechanisms for institutional adaptation, ranging from displacement and conversion to enduring stability. This volume gives an insight into the dynamics and factors affecting these changes, with case studies on Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and the United Kingdom, all conducted by recognised experts in this field.