Books
Party Reform: The Causes, Challenges and Consequences of Organizational Change (2017, Oxford University Press)
Party Reform is a new comparative study of the politics of party organization. The book provides a novel perspective in party scholarship and develops the concept of 'reform' as distinct from evolutionary and incremental processes of party change. As an outcome, reform is captured in deliberate and often very public changes to parties' organizational rules and processes. As a process, it offers a party the opportunity to 're-brand' and publicly alter its image, to emphasize certain strategic priorities over others, and to alter relationships of power within the party.
Analyzing the last ten years of party reform across a handful of established democracies including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany, the book examines what motivates political parties to undertake organizational reforms and how they go about this process. Party Reform reveals how parties' perceptions of the social trends in which they operate shape reform agendas, and how this relates to competitive demands and pressures from within the party for organizational change. In addition to the motivations for reform, the book is equally concerned with the process of reform. The book demonstrates that declining party memberships have had a fundamental effect on the way in which political parties 'sell' organizational reform: as part of a broader rhetoric of democratization, of re-engagement, and of modernization delivered to diverse audiences - both internal and external to the party. The chapters focus particularly on four key reform initiatives that begin to blur the traditional boundaries of party: the introduction of primaries, the changing meaning of party membership, issues-based online policy development, and community organizing campaigns.
You can read my interview about the book here.
Party Rules? Dilemmas of political party regulation in Australia (2016, ANU Press)
Edited with Marian Sawer
Trust in political parties has never been lower, but we have more and more of them, to the point where voters need magnifying sheets to read ballot papers. What is the relationship between party regulation and the nature of our democracy? How is it that parties have been able to gather so many public resources yet with so little scrutiny of their affairs? This is the first book on party regulation in Australia. It covers a wide range of issues, from party donations to candidate selection, from expectations of parties in a representative democracy to the reluctance to regulate and the role of the courts where legislators fear to tread.
‘The regulation of political parties is one of the most important, but unexplored areas of Australian electoral policy. This important book fills that gap in providing a stimulating and insightful analysis of the pitfalls and potential solutions in this area.’
— Professor George Williams AO
Party Members and Activists (2015, Routledge)
Edited with Emilie van Haute
Membership of political parties is diverse. Not everyone participates and those who do, do not participate in the same way.
This book engages with the debate over the significance and future of political parties as membership organisations and presents the first broad comparative analysis of party membership and activism. It is based on membership surveys which have been administered, gathered and collated by a group of prominent party scholars from across Europe, Canada and Israel. Utilizing this rich data source together with the insights of party scholars, the book investigates what party membership means in advanced industrial democracies. In doing so, it provides a clearer picture of who joins political parties, why they do it, the character of their political activism, how they engage with their parties, and what opinions they hold.
Contemporary Australian Political Party Organisations (2015, Monash University Publishing)
Edited with Narelle Miragliotta and Rodney Smith
Political parties have always been fundamental to Australia's representative democracy. As organisations, however, their continued centrality and longevity depend upon their ability to respond to changing political, social and technological circumstances, such as declining levels of membership and partisan affiliation, and the rise of social media. In this volume - the first book dedicated to Australian political parties in nearly a decade - the editors bring together many of the leading scholars of Australian politics to examine the evolving role and relevance of political parties today. Chapters explore the diversity of Australian parties' organisational arrangements, the contemporary challenges they face, and the institutions that shape their behaviour. The contributions tell a story of adaptation by the Australian parties during a time of flux, one which suggests that party organisations will be central to Australian political life for quite some time yet.
'This work has depth as well as breadth, with a strong team of contributors including acknowledged authorities and rising stars. Many of the chapters have original and thought-provoking ideas'.
David Clune, Australian Journal of Politics and History
The Politics of Party Policy: From Members to Legislators (2013, Palgrave)
Examining the complexities and tensions in relations between party members and parliamentarians through an in-depth analysis of the processes that shape the development of party policy in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, this book Presents new evidence on the challenges facing parties in encouraging citizen participation in policy development.
This is an important book for all those concerned with issues of party democracy. Rich in primary research and detailed case studies, Gauja problematizes the issue of policy making by political parties and highlights both its practical and normative complexities. The separate analyses of the organizational and parliamentary parties, followed by consideration of how the two connect, makes for a clear and convincing analysis of the challenges parties face in this regard. Examination of both small and large parties and those in and out of government as well as those operating in unitary and federal states allows for a comprehensive analysis of many of the issues influencing the relative ability of party activists to meaningfully participate in party policy making.
William Cross, Hon. Dick and Ruth Bell Chair for the Study of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy, Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
In this important new study Anika Gauja overturns much conventional wisdom about the decline of political parties, emphasising how complex and varied actual political parties are. She shows that many parties still have important roles in involving members in the making of policy and in translating policy into legislation. It will be essential reading for all students of political parties.
Andrew Gamble, Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Cambridge, UK
'This book provides new and alternative insights on the issue of party membership, as well as new evidence on the organizational challenges faced nowadays by established and emerging political parties. Based on considerable empirical material, this book pushes researchers interested in party politics to question in a more tangible manner many assumptions that have been claimed by the most prominent party scholars in last decades. So far, no work has succeeded in providing a complete and nuanced empirical account of the actual state of political parties in modern democracies, especially regarding the roles of members and parliamentarians in party politics and policy making. Gauja provides substantiated arguments, dealing with macro-level institutional variables and meso-level explanations related to the parties as such as well as with discourses, perceptions and individual attitudes. Gauja’s work bridges the gap between three significant orientations in the field: party organizations, political participation, and legislative studies. By offering a large number of convincing suggestions for further investigation, this book will certainly stimulate the interest of any informed reader'.
Emilien Paulis, The Journal of Politics
Political Parties and Elections presents a comparative analysis of the ways in which advanced industrial democracies seek to regulate the activities of political parties in electoral contests. Actual political practice suggests that parties are crucial actors in democratic elections, yet the nature and extent to which parties are regulated, or even recognized, as participants in the electoral process varies greatly among nations. Author Anika Gauja analyzes the electoral laws of five key common law democracies with similar parliamentary and representative traditions, similar levels of economic and political development, yet with significantly different electoral provisions: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Using the relationship between law and politics as a lens, the book focuses specifically on the ways in which these jurisdictions seek to regulate the behavior of their political parties as the product of a broader normative vision of how representative democracy ought to function. In its subject matter, comparative scope, and interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this book examines not only electoral law but also ancillary legislation such as funding regulations, associations and corporations law, and constitutional provisions. It also analyzes the case law that guides the interpretation of this legislation. Political Parties and Elections represents an innovative body of research, comparing for the first time the electoral-legal regimes of a significant number of common law nations.
'This is a book that needed to be written. The law in many countries is beginning to catch up with the reality that political parties dominate electoral politics and governance generally. As Anika Gauja ably shows, the regulatory choices taken in response to that fact have important implications for democracy generally.' Andrew Geddis, University of Otago, New Zealand 'This deep and timely work of comparative analysis combines political science learning and legal know-how. Gauja deftly charts the symbiotic relationship of political parties and the regulatory regimes governing them. This book will be of value to anyone interested in the roles played by parties, even outside the common law countries on which it focuses.'
Professor Graeme Orr, University of Queensland, Australia
Powerscape: Contemporary Australian Politics (2009, Allen and Unwin)
Ariadne Vromen, Katharine Gelber and Anika Gauja
Powerscape is an introduction to Australian politics designed for today's students. It outlines the core political institutions and processes, and also analyses contemporary political issues and debates.
Powerscape tells the story of a dynamic political system, and of high levels of public engagement. Despite the prevailing view that political participation in the 21st century in many liberal-democracies is subdued, this book reveals complex interactions with political processes by a wide range of players.
Organised in three parts: power and democracy, political actors, and policy processes, Powerscape systematically investigates the role of power in political life. Each chapter is introduced by a snapshot', a detailed example based on a current issue or recent event.
An innovative and exciting approach to the study of Australian politics that is guaranteed to spark students' interest.'
Professor Carol Johnson, University of Adelaide
Powerscape is an engaging study of power relationships in the Australian political system and the community at large.'
Alex Karolis, Public Administration Today