2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Comparative Study on the Europeanization and the Transformation of Government-Party Relations in the Southern European "Emergent" Democracies
| Project/Area Number |
18530085
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Politics
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
YOKOTA Masaaki Tohoku University, Tohoku University, Graduate School of Law, Professor (30328992)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | Spain / Portugal / Greece / Party System / Europeanization / Presidentialization / State-Society Relations |
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| Research Abstract |
This research project focused on the State-Society relation in Southern Europe in the context of Europeanization. One of the most important findings is that the party systems vary greatly among Spain, Portugal, and Greece, and that their formation has much to do with the patterns of regime change, particularly the degree of continuity and/or break with and the previous regimes in each case.
Besides, in all the cases, the influence of Europeanization is evidently reflected in the transformation of State structures, but the role of the State as a coordinator has been strengthened in Portugal and Greece and there is the stronger aspect of centralism there, whereas decentralization symbolized by the formation of the State of the autonomous regions has been progressed in Spain. Last but not least, so-called "presidentialization" of the political parties and the party systems is clearly observed in all the cases.
Based on these findings, I published (or am going to publishing) a couple of articles and made presentations at the academic meetings on this theme during the final budget year of the research project. The article on the relationship between the formation of the party systems and political corruption in three countries might be particularly important because it integrates all the findings of this study. I have received useful comments or criticisms on the already published studies that treated the extremely rare subjects in the field of political science.
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