POLI107 week 7 reading - McCormick 2019 - Parties and party systems

Flashcards about political parties, their origins, roles, and systems, as well as party organization and finance.

Political Parties

Channel through which residents of democracies relate to government and politics; offer competing policies and encourage participation. They can also be seen as channels for promoting politician's self-interests. In authoritarian regimes they are sometimes means of manipulating public opinion.

Moisei Ostrogorski

Nineteenth-century Russian-born political thinker who recognized the growing importance of political parties.

Political Party

A group identified by name and ideology that fields candidates at elections in order to win public office and control government.

Political Cleavage

The practice by which voters are divided into like-minded voting groups based on national ethnic, religious, linguistic, or social differences.

Cadre (or elite) parties

Formed by members within a legislature joining together around common concerns and fighting campaigns in an enlarged electorate.

Mass Parties

Originated outside legislatures, formed around political cleavages and designed to help social groups achieve representation as a way of achieving their policy objectives.

Catch-all party

A political party that works to attract voters with a wide variety of political views and ideologies to govern rather than represent one specific group.

Party system

The overall configuration of political parties, based on their number, variety, relative importance, interactions, and the laws that regulate them.

No-party systems

System often found in authoritarian states where political parties are not allowed to form or operate, or where no parties have been formed.

Single-party systems

Systems where only one party matters and alternative ideologies are moot.

Dominant party system

One party outdistances all others and becomes the natural party of government, even if governing in coalition.

Two-party system

Two major parties of comparable size compete for electoral support, providing the framework for political competition.

Multi-party systems

Several parties each win enough seats in the legislature to become serious contenders for a place in a governing coalition.

Niche party

A political party that appeals to a narrow section of the electorate, usually highlighting non-economic issues.

Iron law of oligarchy

States that the organization of political parties – even those formally committed to democracy – becomes dominated by a ruling elite.

Safe district

An electoral district in which a political party has such strong support that its candidate/s are all but assured of victory.

Selectorate

The members who nominate a party’s candidates for an election.

Primary election

A contest in which the relevant electorate selects its candidate for a subsequent election. A closed primary is limited to a party’s registered supporters.

Cartel party

A leading party that exploits its dominance of the political market to establish rules of the game, such as public funding, which reinforces its own strong position.