PARTY SYSTEM

party systems is a result of…

result of competitive interactions between parties

Interactions between partys

• competition and cooperation

  • Competition For Power- the motor of political interactions and is based on popular

    votes.

Shape and Dynamics of Party Systems-

Determined by the electoral game in which

parties are the main actors

3 Main Elements of Party Systems

(1) Genealogy

(2) Morphology

(3) Dynamics of The Party Systems

Genealogy of Party Systems

Pertains to the Origin of the Party Systems

Lipset & Rokkan distinguished these radical socio- economic and political transformations into two;

1. Industrial Revolution

• change produced by industrialization (radical change of the economy) and urbanization (cities and new family structures).

2. National Revolution

• change produced by the formation of nation-states (centralized political units) and liberal- democracies (individual civil and voting rights, equality and secular institutions)

Cleavages

Both industrial and national revolutions created socio-economic and cultural divisions among different social groups, elites, sets of values and interests which Lipset and Rokkan named as cleavages

Cleavages In Modern States

1. Territorial

   1. Territorial conflicts vs non Territorial conflicts

2. Functional

   1. Conflicts on Distribution and Redistribution of Resources

   2. Conflict over Moral Principles;

4 Main Cleavages Identified By Lipset and Rokkan

2 Cleavages by the National Revolution

1. Center-periphery cleavage

   1. Administrative

   2. Cultural

2. State -Church Cleavage

2 Cleavages by the Industrial Revolution

1. Rural- Urban Cleavage

   1. agrarians vs industrialists

2. Workers- Employers Cleavage

socialists

• campaigned for labor protection against capitalist economy; equalization of living conditions besides formal legal equality.

The Soviet Revolution of 1917 Produced A Cleavage Within The Workers Movement

Communism-Socialism Cleavage

Fascist Parties

emerged as a reaction against radicalization of the working class and its powerful action. It dominated government in the 1930’s.

• Favoured the nation over class and internationalism and private property against communism.

2 Cleavages of the Post-Industrial Revolution

1. Materialism- Post Materialism Cleavage

• post materialist

• materialist

2.Globalization Cleavage

Variations In Cleavage Constellations

1. Space: Not all cleavages exist in all countries.

2. Time : Freezing hypothesis of Lipset and Rokkan; the structure of party systems in Western

   democracies has largely been “frozen” since the mid-20th century, meaning that the

   major political parties and their alignment along social and ideological lines have

   remained stable over time.

Country Specific Cleavage Constellations are determined by:

(1) Differences in Objective Factors such as diverse social structures,

(2) Extent to which socio-economic and cultural divisions have been politicized by parties;

2 Types of Constellations

• Homogenous- one cleavage is predominant (example is the left-right cleavage on the distribution of resources between classes as in the case of Britain)

• Heterogenous -various cleavages overlap or cut across one another. (Typically in plural democracies such as Belgium,Canada, India, the Netherlands, and Switzerland).

Morphology of Party Systems

refers to the shape of party systems or in short, the format.

2 Elements of Morphology of Party Systems

1. Number of Competing Units (Parties)

2. The Size of these units

2 Levels In Which The Numbers and Strength of the Actors are observed:

1. The votes parties get in the elections

2. Seats in Parliament

2 Types of Party Systems Not Considered in This Section

1. Single Party Systems - only one party is legal

2. Hegemonic Party Systems- there are other legal parties but are mere satellites,

Other 4 Types of Party Systems

1. Dominant Party Systems

2. Two Party Systems

3. Multi Party System

4. Bipolar Systems

2 Main Types of Multi Party Systems ( Sartori, 1976)

1. Moderate Multi-Party Systems

2. Polarized Multi-Party Systems

3 Main Features of Polarized Multi Party Systems

Polarization

An Occupied Centre

Centrifugal Competition

The Number or Parties; two ways to count parties

(1) numerical with indices based on the size of

the parties

(2) qualitative with rules based on the role of parties in the system

1. Numerical Rules

represent quantitative attempts to classify party systems on the basis of the number

and size of parties that compose them.

Indices: Rokkan’s Method

• classify party systems through an index based on the distance of the largest party from

the 50% absolute majority

Lijphart

• devised an index based on the sum of parties' percentages in decreasing order until

  50% is reached.

2. Qualitative Rules

Oftentimes, Quantitative rules would not count the far reaching consequences that small parties have for coalitions and influencing important decisions.

Sartori (1976) 2 Criterias/ Rules In Determining What Parties should count and be

counted

• Coalition Potential

• Blackmail Potential

Influence of Electoral Laws in the Format of Party Systems

Comparative Politics has been concerned with establishing causes for varying numbers of parties and their size. 2 sets of causes have been identified;

1. Electoral Systems

   1. Mechanisms for the translation of votes.

2. Number of Cleavages in the society.

two main families of electoral systems

1. Majoritarian Systems in Constituencies

2. PR systems in Multi member constituencies.

Duverger's Laws from his book Les Partis Politiques

First Law- plurality or majoritarian electoral systems favour two party systems

Second Law- proportional representation leads to multiparty systems.

The causal relationship between electoral and party systems are due to both Mechanical and Psychological Effects, explain these 2

❖ Mechanical Effects

• formula used to translate votes into seats.

• In single member constituencies, One party with the most votes gets the single seat (Winner Takes All), this means the threshold is high and all parties but the first one is eliminated.

• In proportional representation, each multi member constituency many seats are allocated in proportion.

❖Psychological Effects

• refers to the awareness of voters and parties of the mechanical effects.

1. Demand Side (Voters)

1. only large partys have a chance to win: vote strategically

2. smaller parties can win(PR) : votes sincerely

2. Supply Side (Parties)

• With plurality, small parties have an incentive to merge with others to increase their chances to pass the threshold, thus reducing the number of parties.

• In proportional representation, parties have no incentive to merge, they can survive on their own and small splinters are not penalized, thus increasing the number of parties.

Under Which Conditions does the reductive effect of FTFP at the constituency level , also reduce the number of parties at the national Level?

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Majoritarian Systems produce two party systems at the national level only if parties are

nationalized ( e.g received homogenous support in all constituencies)

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If parties have territorially concentrated support, this leads to fragmentation in the

national party system.

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Under plurality, a nationally small party can be strong in specific regions, and thus win

seats and create fragmentation in the national parliament.

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If many parties are territorially concentrated, the national fragmentation is larger.

Where plurality systems exists, the reduction of the number of parties did take place

• Plurality systems distorts party votes when they translate them into seats:

• They over represent large parties and they under represent small parties

How can we measure the empirical level of (dis) proportionality between votes and seats?

• The most used one is the Least Square Index of Disproportionality or LSq by Gallagher.

The Dynamics of Party Systems

Pertain to How Parties Behave

Analogies between Electoral Competition and Market Competition

1. Parties as Sellers, Voters as Buyers

2. Electoral Competition vs. Market Competition

3. Voter Decision-Making

4. Demand and Supply in Politics

1. Market Analogy

pioneering book of this model is Anthony Downs' An Economic Theory of Democracy.

• Politics works like a marketplace where, political parties act like businesses and voters as consumers

In this model, actors (parties and voters) are rational, where they want to maximize benefits from each other;

2. Spatial Analogy

compares political competition to businesses competing for customers based on

location. It explains how parties position themselves to attract the most voters, similar to

how businesses decide where to open their stores to maximize customers.

2 Dynamic Elements of Spatial Analogy

1. Movement caused by the search for optimal location

2. The appearance of new competitors in spaces left uncovered.

   1. elasticity of demand [smithies]

   2. Equilibrium

Downs Model

Represented the ideological space through a 0 to 100 scale from left to right.

Elements Imported By Down’s From The Spatial Analogy

1. The One Dimensionality of the Space

2. Principle according to which costs are reduced by choosing the nearest option (proximity)

3. Competitors search for the optimal location through a convergence towards the center

Hotelling and Smithies Models

• applied spatial models to politics through analogies with ideological space

Dynamic Elements of Down’s Model

1. They predict the convergence towards the centre and the increasing similarity of platforms and policy actions

2. Centripetal Competition Arising Not Only because of the proximity principle, but also there are more voters in the centre.

3. Voters in the Middle of the Left-Right Axis are more flexible than those at the extremes.

• Empirical Distribution;

pertains how voters are actually distributed in the electorate. In

real-world politics, the distribution of voters is rarely perfect or uniform, and the actual spread of voters’ political preferences can vary.

centrifugal or centripetal

• Centripetal Competition: characterized by the presence of many voters at the centre of the scale/ continuum and less on the extremes.The presence of mass voters in the middle will predict that parties

  will tend to converge towards the center.

• Centrifugal Competition: refers to a situation where political forces push parties and their supporters away from the center, toward more extreme or polarized positions on the political spectrum. In a centrifugal system, political parties focus on appealing to narrower, more ideological constituencies.

  • tend to adopt extreme or partisan positions, rather than moving toward the

    center.

Types of Distribution

• Normal (Bell Shaped) Distribution

• Two Modal Distribution

• Skewed Distribution

• Polymodal Distribution