ps300 - social cleavages and party systems

nonpartisan system

system w no official political parties; rare form of democratic party system

single-party system

system in which only one political party is legally allowed to hold power; only found in dictatorial systems

one-party dominant system

system in which multiple parties may legally operate but in which only one particular party has a realistic change of gaining power; often common in dictatorial regimes but can provide fairly open discussion and debate

political parties

group of officials or would-be officials who are linked with a sizeable group of citizens into an organization; chief object is to ensure its officials attain power or are maintained in power; provide order to policymaking process and provide information shortcuts to voters

party identification

party labels and attachments conveying to voters how they should feel about certain issues

whip

ensures members of party attend legislative sessions and vote as party leadership desires

pre-industrial cleavages

urban-rural, confessional, secular-clerical

industrial/post industrial cleavages

class, post-material, ethnic and linguistic

two-party system

system in which only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power

multiparty system

system in which more than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power

effective number of parties

measure capturing both number and size of political parties in a country

effective number of electoral parties

measure of the number of parties winning votes

effective number of legislative parties

measure of the number of parties that win seats

cross-cutting cleavages

uncorrelated cleavage structures

reinforcing cleavages

correlated cleavage structures

mechanism effect of electoral laws

impact of electoral laws on how votes are translated into seats— if electoral systems are disproportional, effect punishes small parties and rewards large parties

strategic effect of electoral laws

impact of electoral laws on ‘strategic’ behavior of voters and political elites— strategic entry, strategic voting

duverger’s law

states size of a country’s party system depends on both social (creating demand for political parties) and institutional factors (determine extent to which demand is translated into votes and seats); mechanical effect of electoral laws

duverger’s hypothesis

proportional representation electoral rules favor multiparty systems