political parties

political party definition (S&S)

group of officials or wannabes who are linked with a large group of citizens into an organization, whose chief objective is to see its officials in power

Burke p.p. definition

body of men united to promote together a common interest based on a principle they all agree on

what are political parties different from (2)

1. interest groups
2. social movements

3 faces of party organization (Katz and Mair)

1. the party in public office
2. the party on the ground (citizens' role + local branches)
3. the party central office (administration + organization)

5 things parties can be a tool for

1. winning electoral office
2. recruiting and training public officials
3. organizing parliamentary work
4. coordination and preference aggregation
5. identity formation and mobilization

3 institutional factors impacting the role of parties

1. electoral system --> some emphasize individuals or party as a whole
2. parliamentary v presidential systems
3. norms regarding candidate selection

party organization - hierarchies or democracy?

vertical organization = hierarchy by regional division
--> should parties be internally democratic? varies

Iron law of oligarchy explained (Robert Michels)

1. organization and centralization make a small group powerful
2. interest of the party leaders change as they grow powerful - always want more personal power
3. leads to moderation of policy demands (to gain more power) which alienates them from the people (who are often more radical)

policy-seeking or vote-seeking?

2 approaches to gaining power

• policy seeking = emphasis on policy aims
• vote-seeking = trying to gain as many votes as possible

4 sources of party finance

1. membership fees
2. public funding
3. donations
4. commercial activity
   (corruption & foreign support) = problematic

party system definition (Wolinetz)

consists of regular and recurring interactions between its component parties

3 key traits of party systems

1. number of parties and their size
2. nature of their interaction
3. they change over time

effective number of parties (ENP) meaning

considers the size of the parties to determine the effective number

party policy space meaning

= model of politics based on parties' policies
--> e.g., economic left-right scale