The forward march of party members: has the shift in power to the grassroots gone too far?

Patrick Seyd writes that while parliamentarians are in a much better position to decide who should lead the party than party members, in recent years the balance has shifted in favour of the latter. This plebiscitary politics negatively affects both the quality of political leadership and of decision-making

Impact of double reading on NI-RADS diagnostic accuracy in reporting oral squamous cell carcinoma surveillance imaging – a single-center study

Objectives: The Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System (NI-RADS) is an increasingly utilized risk stratification tool for imaging surveillance after treatment for head and neck cancer. This study aims to measure the impact of supervision by subspecialized radiologists on diagnostic accuracy of NI-RADS when initial reading is performed by residents. Methods: 150 CT and MRI datasets were initially read by two trained residents, and then supervised by two subspecialized radiologists. Recurrence rates by NI-RADS category were calculated, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted. After dichotomization of the NI-RADS system (category 1 vs categories 2 + 3+4 and categories 1 + 2 vs 3 + 4), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value were calculated. Results: 26% of the reports were modified by the supervising radiologists. Area under the curve of ROC plots values of the supervision session were higher than those of the initial reading session for both the primary site (0.89 vs 0.86) and the neck (0.94 vs 0.91), but the difference was not statistically significant. For dichotomized NI-RADS category assignments, differences between the initial reading and the supervision session were statistically significant regarding specificity and PPV for the primary site (1 + 2 vs 3 + 4 and 1 vs 2 + 3+4) or even for both sites combined (1 vs 2 + 3+4). Conclusion: NI-RADS enables trained resident radiologists to report surveillance imaging in patients with treated oral squamous cell carcinoma with high discriminatory power. Additional supervision by a subspecialized head and neck radiologist particularly improves specificity of radiological reports

Why do only some people who support parties actually join them? Evidence from Britain

What makes people join a political party is one of the most commonly studied questions in research on party members. Nearly all this research, however, is based on talking to people who have actually joined parties. This article simultaneously analyses surveys of members of political parties in Britain and surveys of non-member supporters of those same parties. This uniquely enables us to model the decision to join parties. The results suggest that most of the elements that constitute the influential ‘General Incentives Model’ are significant. But it also reveals that, while party supporters imagine that selective benefits, social norms and opposing rival parties’ policies are key factors in members’ decisions to join a party, those who actually do so are more likely to say they are motivated by attachments to their party’s values, policies and leaders, as well as by an altruistic desire to support democracy more generally

The Labour left.

Throughout its lifetime the Labour Party has experienced ideological divisions resulting in the formation of Left and Right factions. The Labour Left has been the more prominent and persistent of the two factions, intent on defending the Party's socialist principles against the more pragmatic leanings of the Party leadership. During the 1930s and 1950s the Labour Left played a significant, yet increasingly reactive, role within the Party. In the 1970s, however, the Labour Left launched an offensive with a wide-ranging political programme, a set of proposals for an intra-Party transferral of power, and a political leader with exceptional skills. By 1981 this offensive had succeeded in securing the election of a Party Leader whose whole career had been very closely identified with the Labour Left, in achieving a significant shift of power from the parliamentarians to the constituency activists, and in developing a Party programme which incorporated certain major left-wing policies. Success, however, contained the seeds of decline. A split in the parliamentary Party and continual bitter intra-Party factional divisions played a major part in the Party's disastrous electoral performance in the 1983 General Election. The election result gave additional impetus to the Labour Left's fragmentation to the point that it is no longer the cohesive faction it was in previous periods and is now a collection of disparate groups

L'évolution récente des adhérents du Parti conservateur et du Parti travailliste en Grande-Bretagne

The recent evolution of the british conservative and labour party members Individual party members play an important role in British politics as candidate selectors, fundraisers, opinion-formers and electioneers. Using data from recent national representative surveys of Conservative and Labour party members, informa­tion is provided on their social characteristics and their political attitudes. Differences are revealed in their underlying ideological beliefs. By using panel survey data, the article shows that there has been a significant decline in activism in both parties, but the decline has been greater for Labour than for Conservative members. If this decline in party activism continues, it will have serious implications for the British political system.Les adhérents des partis jouent un rôle important dans la vie politique britannique, pour la désignation des candidats, la collecte des fonds, la formation de l'opinion et l'animation des campagnes électorales. Des sondages récents fournissent des données concernant le profil social et les attitudes politiques des membres du Parti conservateur et du Parti travailliste; ils mettent en lumière les différences entre leurs croyances idéologiques sous-jacentes. A partir d'études de panels, l'article montre qu'il y a eu dans chacun des deux partis un déclin significatif du militantisme, et que ce déclin a été plus important chez les travaillistes que chez les conservateurs. Si ce déclin du militantisme continue, il aura des effets graves pour le système politique britannique. THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE BRITISH CONSERVATIVE AND LABOUR PARTY MEMBERS PATRICK SEYD PAUL WHITELEY Individual party members play an important role in British politics as candidate selectors fundraisers opinion-formers and electioneers Using data from recent na tional representative surveys of Conservative and Labour party members informa tion is provided on their social characteristics and their political attitudes Differences are revealed in their underlying ideological beliefs By using panel sur vey data the article shows that there has been significant decline in activism in both parties but the decline has been greater for Labour than for Conservative members If this decline in party activism continues it will have serious implica tions for the British political systemSeyd Patrick, Whiteley Paul F. L'évolution récente des adhérents du Parti conservateur et du Parti travailliste en Grande-Bretagne. In: Revue française de science politique, 46ᵉ année, n°6, 1996. pp. 914-935