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  Tony Blair: 1997-2007
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Changing Parties: An Anthology of British Political Party Conferences
By Florence Faucher-King

Party conferences are central to the life of political parties. They contribute to setting policy agendas, developing policy options, legitimizing policy choices, building party cohesion, motivating activists and publicizing party activities to the wider public. An analysis of their evolution in Britain helps us understand the ways in which political parties change. This book combines anthropological methods with political science to analyze changing power relationships, party organizations and political culture in British political parties: Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, The Greens.

Since 1867, annual conferences have been key institutions for understanding the nature and evolution of relationships between leaders and members in British political parties. Although essential for the maintenance of party cohesion and the legitimisation of leadership, policies and procedures, conferences have largely been ignored . Based on seven years of participant observation and interviews, this book examines how four political parties in contemporary Britain (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green) have changed at the turn of the millennium.

This groundbreaking work brings together insights from anthropology and political sociology and opens up new vistas in the study of modern political institutions.

Download a sample chapter.

Content courtesy of Palgrave.

Florence Faucher-King is associate professor of European studies, political science and sociology at Vanderbilt University and associate director of the Max Kade Center for European and German Studies. Her interests include political parties, new social movements, green politics and political cultures. She has previously taught at Sciences Po in Paris and at Stirling University in Scotland. She is the author of Les Habits Verts de la Politique (1999) and Changing Parties: An Anthology of British Political Party Conferences (2005).
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