Dem Parties and Party Systems

Definition of political parties

group of officials linked with a sizable group of citizens, whose chief objective is to ensure the officials attain/maintain power

What are political parties’ role for politicians?

-helps organize options

-similar preferences

-recruit and socialize the political elite

What are political parties’ role for voters?

-information shortcuts

-links party identification to political identity

why do politicians join parties?

-necessary to run for office and advance one’s career

-mobilization of the masses

-links ruler to ruled

what are 5 categories of party systems?

1. non-partisan (rare in democracies)

2. single-party —> dictatorship

3. one-party dominant

4. two-party

5. multi-party

What is the effective number of electoral parties?

a measure of the number of parties that win votes

What is the effective number of legislative parties?

a measure of the # of parties that win seats

What are the two different views of where parties come from?

1. primordialist

2. Instrumental

What is the primordialist view

-treats parties as the natural representatives of people who share common interests

-natural cleavages (divisions)

-bottom up approach

What is the instrumental view

-parties are teams of office seekers, created by individuals who see an opportunity to represent a previously underrepresented interest

-constructed cleavages

-top down

what are latent social cleavages

social divisions that don’t affect politics

what are politicized social cleavages

social divisions that shape politics/group identity