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The connections between political parties, the electorate (individual voters) and society at large, that may be achieved through applying marketing is an important area in need of research. Understanding such connections is vitally important for effective and efficient use of marketing in politics and also for improvement in the delivery of the political offering to society. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research project carried out in Australia on the philosophical basis and operationalisation of marketing in politics. A survey and in‐depth interviews were undertaken to explore issues related to the application of market orientation and its relationship to the marketing concept in political marketing. The results highlight unique dimensions and relationships of marketing in politics.

The article explores to what extent party politics has influenced the different trajectories in Spain and Italy in terms of gendered active social policies (ASPs) (i.e. ALMPs and WLBPs). Second, it investigates how social and political modernization in the two countries has facilitated or hindered party competition on gendered ASPs.

To investigate to what extent parties support gendered ASPs, the article relies on an original content analysis of party manifestos issued during the 2010s national elections. A total of 1387 quasi-sentences have been coded. The results were then quantified to graphically show how positions differentiate across parties and countries.

The content analysis of party manifestos displays that party politics matters: gendered ASPs are backed in a very different way by the Spanish and Italian parties. While in Spain all political parties have strongly championed ALMPs and WLBPs, this is not the case for the Italian parties. The research has also stressed that the specific path of social and political modernization is an important intervening variable that alters positively or negatively parties' support for gendered ASPs.

The article contributes to widen theoretically and empirically the literature on ASPs in the Southern European countries. Theoretically, it questions the supposed homogeneity of the Southern social model and investigated the alleged bifurcation between Italy and Spain, focusing on those policies – ASPs – that constitute the foundations of the Southern model: familialism and dualization. Furthermore, this bifurcation was analyzed adopting a gender perspective, and exploring adherence to or departure from the Southern model. Third, the article focuses on the politics of ASPs demonstrating that inspecting the political arena can contribute to explain policy change.

This paper aims to investigate how money in politics contributes to corruption in Malaysia.

This study used in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect primary data. The interviews were conducted with two elite groups comprising seven politicians and seven corporate leaders. Data were then analysed using a thematic analysis approach.

The findings indicate how money in politics contributes to corruption in Malaysia. Various types of corruption in the country are identified, namely political donation, bribery and money politics. This study also provides evidence of the underlying factors driving money politics.

This paper offers valuable insights to policymakers and enforcement agencies for vigorous prosecution or appropriate sanction against the perpetrators. Especially on the weak regulation of political finance in Malaysia, this paper provides insights into how the weakness is used to manufacture corruption.

This paper provides evidence of how money politics cultivate corrupt activities, which are relatively sensitive and controversial by nature. The rarely obtained views from the elite groups provide a significant value to research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine political marketing with regard to its different conceptualisations and dimensions, and to suggest cognate areas for empirical research efforts, especially in Sub‐Saharan Africa.

Perspectives from relevant extant literature on meaning and dimensions of political marketing are examined, and empirical examination of these perspectives in developing countries suggested.

It was found that political marketing has many conceptualisations and dimensions, and its practice may be coloured by environmental issues, especially in developing economies with weak democratic infrastructure.

Empirical investigations of political marketing in developing economies, as suggested in this paper, may be constrained by secrecy, lack of secondary data, and aparty on the part of relevant party executives, among others.

Party executives will benefit from the conceptualisations and dimensions documented in this paper. In addition, researchers and students in the areas of marketing and political science will find the research agenda a fertile ground for empirical research effort.

This paper should be of value to political party executives, electoral commissions, educators and students of marketing and political science, in addition to government executives interested in relating beneficially with their citizens and other relevant stakeholders.

This paper attempts to explain the phenomenon that Macau has a parliament (Legislative Assembly) and mass suffrage but no political parties.

This paper reviews the development process of “parliament – mass suffrage – political party” in Hong Kong and Macau and tries to explain why Macau does not have a party using comparative research methods.

The political party development of Hong Kong and Macau was influenced by both the (former) colonial power and China, and whether there were political parties in these two regions was the result of the game between China and the (former) colonial power. China hoped to limit the development of party politics in the two regions. Since Britain felt reluctant to cooperate with China, political parties in Hong Kong developed. At the same time, Portugal chose to defer to China, which led Macau not to have a political party.

Existing studies have yet to explain why there are no political parties in Macau, and this paper is the first attempt to do so.

Discusses how political parties in Europe, following the trend in the USA, have entered a new era of the permanent election campaign. Describes the more integrated role played by market research and how this process is changing the nature of political parties. Provides an example of such a trend in British politics. States that political parties’ campaign strategies and party leaderships increasingly need market research to construct a more comprehensive picture of an uncertain political environment. Parties are using qualitative research to enhance the information they have traditionally obtained from quantitative polls. Discusses why there is now a greater use of qualitative research and a greater integration of market research information. Attempts to show how such methods can be brought together and how parties can start to build integrated political marketing strategies.

Political parties in Hong Kong are eager to recruit university students and internship programs are a major recruitment channel for them. However, studies on the influences of political internship programs on university students are few and have mainly been conducted in Western democracies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of political party internship programs in encouraging university and community college students to join political parties in Hong Kong, a semi-democratic autonomous region of China.

This study is based on the insights gained from semi-structured interviews with a small sample of former party interns.

This paper found that party internship programs can play three major roles in encouraging students at higher education institutions to join a political party. They are: exposing students to the recruitment efforts of the party, helping students who have no political aspirations to generate a desire to join, and providing an opportunity for those already considering joining to ascertain if the party is really suitable for them.

This paper shows that political internships in semi-democratic regimes like Hong Kong can play similar roles as those in Western democracies to stimulate some university students to pursue a career in politics and help those already considering a political career to ascertain their goals. This paper also shows that these stimulating and confirming effects could also apply to the application for party membership.

This paper aims to examine the 10th national election held on 5 January 2014, and the violent incidents took place during, before and after the election in Bangladesh. Violence-free competitive, fair and credible national election is a prioritized issue in the politics and governance discourse in Bangladesh now. In this paper, relevant literature has been reviewed first for conceptual understanding, Then, the paper investigates to explore the causes and outcomes of violence took place centering the 10th parliamentary election in Bangladesh. Finally, it prescribes possible ways forward to overcome this crisis.

The paper is descriptive and qualitative in nature and based on secondary sources of materials. As it focused on a particular country and issue relating to the electoral violence of a particular national election in Bangladesh, it is a case study too. Most of the information and data have been used from published documents like journal articles, books and newspaper reports. Relevant information collected also from online sources.

The electoral violence may happen for various causes, yet the significant cause is the motive of the incumbent for picking up power over and again. Similarly, lack of cooperation of political parties, negligence and domination of ruling parties over opposition are also responsible for electoral and political violence before, during and after the election. In addition, violation of human rights, rule of law and, finally, the poor governance of Bangladesh are because of the lack of meaningful democratic government, strong political will and consensus among all political parties.

The main limitation of this research is the lack of financial supports to collect empirical data from concerned stakeholders through field visit.

The paper deals with an urgent issue of Bangladesh which is essential for a free, fair and credible election. To make the EC an independent institute, a law should be enacted for recruitment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other commissioners of EC as per Article 118(1) of Bangladesh Constitution. To find out neutral and impartial CEC and other members of EC, a search committee is very essential, and for constituting a search committee, a law also should be enacted by the Parliament. Therefore, it would be very helpful for electoral and legal reform to overcome the problem of electoral violence in Bangladesh.

The findings of this paper will be accepted by the readers, scholars and policymakers. A radical change will come to the politics and governance of Bangladesh. Thus, the paper would be beneficial for the society and community people as well as citizens of Bangladesh.

The paper would be helpful for policymakers to revamp the existing drawback of electoral policies and practice in Bangladesh. For a meaningful and effective Parliament, it would be necessary. The paper would be essential for the future scholars and researchers of this area to use as reference. Finally, the academicians and readers will find their food in the field of politics, administration and governance.