chapter 13

Flashcards on Parties, Party Systems, and Party Competition.

Political Party

A group of people that includes those who hold office and those who help get and keep them there.

Four Main Purposes of Political Parties

1. Structure the political world 2. Recruitment and socialization of political elite 3. Mobilization of the masses 4. The link between rulers and the ruled

Nonpartisan Democracy

Has no official political parties.

Single-Party System

Only one political party is legally allowed to hold power.

One-Party Dominant System

Multiple parties may legally operate but only one has a realistic chance of gaining power.

Two-Party System

Only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power.

Multiparty System

More than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power.

Effective Number of Parties

A measure that captures both the number and the size of the parties in a country, weighting larger parties greater than smaller parties.

Effective Number of Electoral Parties

A measure of the number of parties that win votes.

Effective Number of Legislative Parties

A measure of the number of parties that win seats.

Primordial (Bottom-Up) View of Party Formation

Treats parties as the natural representatives of people who share common interests, forming to represent natural divisions or social cleavages.

Instrumental (Top-Down) View of Party Formation

Treats parties as teams of office seekers, focusing on the role played by political elites and entrepreneurs who create parties to represent previously unrepresented interests.

Roles of Parties

Represent social cleavages like urban-rural, confessional, secular-clerical, class, post-materialist, and ethnic/linguistic divisions.

Three Necessary Components of Populism

1. People-centrism 2. Anti-pluralism 3. Moralized politics

Populism

A discursive 'wrapper' attached to various ideologies, providing policy content through 'host' ideologies like nationalism or environmentalism.

Populism as a Strategy

A strategy that all parties can adopt, not a distinct ideological party family.

Attribute

A characteristic that qualifies an individual for membership in an identity category; it is given and self-evident.

Identity Category

A social group in which an individual can place themself; it is socially constructed.

Cross-Cutting Attributes (Cleavages)

Attributes are uncorrelated.

Reinforcing Attributes (Cleavages)

Attributes are highly correlated.

Duverger’s Theory

Social divisions are the primary driving force behind the formation of parties, and electoral institutions influence how these divisions are translated into political parties.

Social Cleavages Matter

The more social cleavages and cross-cutting cleavages, the greater the demand for distinctive representation and political parties.

Electoral Institutions Matter

Majoritarian or non-proportional electoral systems act as a brake on the tendency for social cleavages to be translated into new parties.

Mechanical Effect of Electoral Laws

Refers to the way votes are translated into seats; disproportional systems punish small parties and reward large parties.

Strategic Effect of Electoral Laws

Refers to how the way in which votes are translated into seats influences the strategic behavior of voters and political elites.

Strategic Voting

Voting for your most preferred candidate or party that has a realistic chance of winning.

Strategic Entry

Whether political elites choose to enter the political scene under the label of their most preferred party or one that has a realistic chance of winning.

Proximity Voting

Voters vote for the party located closest to them.

Median Voter Theorem (Two Parties)

Parties converge on the position of the median voter.

Multiparty System Policy Choices

Parties disperse out in the policy space, offering voters a variety of distinct ideological choices.

Issue Competition

Parties compete by trying to strategically shape how much voters care about different issues, influencing issue salience.

High Yield Issue

One on which a party is united and the party’s position is widely shared in the electorate.

Low Yield Issue

One on which a party is internally divided and the party’s position enjoys only limited electoral support.

Issue Ownership Theory

Parties should emphasize issues they ‘own’ because voters perceive them to be more competent or credible at dealing with it.

Issue Entrepreneurship

Parties appeal to voters by emphasizing new issues.

Valence Issues

Competence, integrity, trustworthiness, leader quality, and experience.

Valence

Voters prefer high valence parties to low valence parties.

Programmatic Politics

Ideologically consistent policy platforms, implementation of platforms in office, formalized rules, impersonal bureaucracy, and non-contingent receipt of goods/services.

Nonprogrammatic Politics

Delivery of goods and services is discretionary and not based on formalized rules.

Clientelistic Politics

A form of nonprogrammatic politics where the distribution of goods and services is conditional on the provision of political favors.

Brokers

Individuals who are agents in local communities, providing parties with information about voters.