comparative politics final: social cleavages and party systems (classes 30-32)

political party

a group of people that included those who hold office, and those who help get and keep them there

what are the four functions that all political parties fulfill

1. provide order and organization for elites and voters, also provide information shortcuts

2. recruitment and socialization of the political elite: being selected as a party’s candidate is often a necessary condition for a successful run for office (recruit) and most government ministers have spent a number of years as party members (socialize)

3. mobilize the masses: parties play a significant role in getting people to the polls, also organize demonstrations

4. a link between the rulers and the ruled: democratic governments are supposed to reflect the preferences of their citizens

what are the two criteria are generally used to classify political parties

the number of parties and the size of the parties (voters and seats)

nonpartisan system

one with no official political parties

single-party system

one in which only one political party is legally allowed to hold power

one-party dominant system

one in which multiple parties may legally operate but in which only one particular party has a realistic chance of gaining power

two-party system

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 of the number of parties that win votes (tell you how many relevant parties a country has; parties that are more important because they got a lot of votes)

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

six social cleavages

1. urban-rural

2. confessional: religious or confessional differences

3. secular-clerical separation of church and state

4. class

5. post-material

   1. ethnic and linguistic

attribute

-characteristics that qualify an individual for membership in identity categories

-things you can see (gender, race,)

-given and self evident

identity category

-social groups where individuals can place themselves

-socially constructed/combined (e.g. progressive atheist queer man)

-will help you define where you place yourself politically

-involve shared understandings

cross-cutting attributes

-a country with uncorrelated attributed

-more demand for parties

reinforcing attributes

-a country with correlated attributes

-less demand for parties

mechanical effect of electoral laws

-refers to the way votes are translated into seats

- when electoral systems are disproportional, it can punish small parties and reward large parties. in proportional representation systems, small parties are able to obtain legislative seats

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 and entry will take place when systems are disproportional

-strategic entry: politicians choose to run under either their preferred party or the party they think will have the best chance of winning

duverger’s theory

-the size of a country’s party system depends on (the distribution of) social cleavages and electoral institutions

-the more divisions there are, the greater the demand for more political parties