TOPIC 3- POLITICAL PARTIES, PARTY SYSTEM AND INTEREST GROUPS

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Topic 3: Political parties, Party system, Interest groups

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Political Parties

• are the central actors in democratic politics as well as in many authoritarian and totalitarian regimes

Robert Huckshorn

Defined Political Party as “an autonomous group of citizens having the purpose of making nominations and contesting elections in the hope of gaining control over governmental power through the capture of public offices.”

Functions of Parties

• Coordination

• Contesting Elections

• Recruitment

• Representation

Coordination

the first function of political parties and still one of the most important, maintaning discipline and communication within the parliamentary caucus

Contesting Elections

-major defining of political parties is the conduct of electoral campaigns, and of political competition more generally. Parties provide more candidates in elections.

Recruitment

parties are central participants in the recruitment of political personnel, both for elective and appointive office.

Representation

parties serve as representatives, both of social groupings and of ideological positions 

Types of Parties

• Cadre or Elite Parties

• Mass Parties

• Catch All Parties

• Cartel Parties

• Anti Cartel Parties

• Business Firm Parties

Cadre or Elite Parties

the earliest modern parties were the _____, parties that developed in European parliaments. not mass-based but composed influential individuals, the Members of the Parliaments (MPs)

primary resource base - personal wealth and connections

Mass Parties

developed in the second half of the 19th century. A party on the ground  they with a core of leaders who organize a party central office with the aim of developing a party so as to be able to win elections and ultimately gain public office.

primary resource base - fees from members and ancillary organizations.

Catch All Parties

identified by Kirchheimer (1966). created much of the form of the mass party (members, branches, congress, executive), but organized as the supporters of the party in public office rather than its masters.

primary resource base - contribution from the interest groups and individuals.

Cartel Parties

increasing public debts confronted ruling parties with a choice between dramatic increases in taxes or cuts in welfare spending.  is a type of political party that relies on state resources and public funding rather than grassroots support or membership contributions.

• tend to increase the formal powers of party members to allow increased participation by supporters who are not formal members.

primary resource base - state subsidies.

Anti Cartel Parties

parties of this type a parties of this type are identified as “lift-libertarian’ or ‘new-right’ parties, or as ‘movement’ parties.

Business firm parties

minimal formal organizations with hierarchical control by the autonomous entrepreneur and his/her employees.

primary resource base - corporate resources.

Forza Italia

 a party created by Silvio Berlusconi a businessman who became a prime minister of Italy.

Membership (Type of American Primaries)

Closed Primary

Modified primary

Open primary

Blanket primary

Louisiana primary

1. Close Primary

2. Modified Primary

3. Open Primary

only those who have registered in advance as members of the party may participate.

those who have registered as members of the party, those who are registered as independent.

all registered voters may participate in the primary election of the one party of their choice.

4. Blanket primary

5. Louisiana primary

all registered voters may participate choosing if they wish among the candidates of a different party for each office.

if the candidates receives an absolute majority of votes that person is elected. And the primary in effect becomes the elections for that office.

Party systems

are set of parties that compete and cooperate with the aim of increasing their power in controlling government. 

Industrial Revolution

refers to changes produce by industrialization (a radical change of economy and urbanization (cities and new family structures.)

National Revolution

refers to the formation of nation states (culturally homogeneous) and centralized political units

National Revolution Cleavages 

• Centre Periphery Cleavage

• State- Church Cleavage

Centre Periphery Cleavages

This conflict emerge when nation states formed and integrated in the nintheenth century, and political power, adminstrative structures and taxation systems were centralized. 

• The centralization of power led to conflicts between the central elites and people in the peripheral (farther) regions.

State- Church Cleavage

nation state in the nineteenth century were were not centralized and homogeneous but also based on the liberal ideology promoting secular institutions (no church influence)

• Mainly a conflict between rising industrial elites and the corporate privilege of clergy and aristocracy. This characterized the opposition to liberals against the conservatives, who believed in a return to the old pre democratic regime.

Industrial Revolution Cleavages

• Rural-urban Cleavage

• Workers-Employers Cleavage

Rural-urban Cleavage

The contrast between landed rural interest (agriculture) and the rising class of industrial and trading entrepreneurs.

• This cleavage focused on trade policies, with agrarians favoring trade barriers for the protection of agricultural products.

As a general rule weak sectors of the economy tend to be Protectionists because of the threat of imports.

Workers-Employers Cleavage

Cleavage between the industrial entrepreneurial bourgeoisie who started the industrial revolution and the working class that resulted from it.  

• Socialist Parties campaigned for labor protection against capitalist economy; equalization of living conditions besides formal legal equality.    

Communism-Socialism Cleavage

In the aftermath of the first world war and the Russian revolution that led to the Soviet Union and the Single party regime controlled Communist Party, all countries communist parties formed as splinters from the socialists.

• Main issue was the acceptance of the Soviet Communist Party in the international revolutionary movement. Another one is the ideological differences, namely whether a revolution would be necessary to take the proletariat power or if this goal would be achieved through electoral means. 

Materialism- Post Materialism Cleavage

A cleavage between generations over sets of socio-economic values, emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a consequence of protracted period of international peace, economic wealth and etc since the end of Second World War.

Post-Materialists

focused on tolerance, equality, participation, freedom of expression, respect for the environment, fair international trade, peace and Third World Aid. 

Materialist

Focused on War Generation centered around themes of national security, law and order, full employment, protection of private property, tradition and authority.

Globalization Cleavage

Economic Globalization has created a further post industrial cleavage between sectors of the economy that profit from the blurring of economic boundaries and sectors that are negatively affected by competitions from new markets and cheap labour from the East and Asia.

2 Types of Party Systems Not Considered in This Section

• Single Party Systems

• Hegemonic Party Systems

Single Party Systems

only one party is legal (e.g: Communist Party in the Soviet Union and the Nationalist-Socialist Party in Germany in the 1930’s)

Hegemonic Party Systems

there are other legal parties but are mere satellites, under the strict control of the_______ with whom they cannot compete to control the government (e.g: Egypt or Algeria in the present day).  

Other 4 Types of Party Systems

• Dominant Party System

• Two Party System

• Multi-Party System

• Bipolar System

Dominant Party System

are characterized by one very large party that dominates all other with a large majority. 

• One party with more than absolute majority of votes and seats.

Two Party System

is one in  which two fairly equally balanced large parties dominate the party system and alternate in power.

• Two large parties sharing together around 80% of votes and seats.

Multi-Party System

Is the most frequent and complex type of party system. Parties that compose this system vary in size, some are large and some are small. 

• Parties run for elections individually and form a coalition after the elections.

Bipolar System

it combines elements of both the multi party system and two party systems. There are multiple parties, of which none has a majority and coalition governments are the rule

• Two large coalitions composed of several parties sharing together around 80% of votes and seats.

Moderate Multi-Party Systems

The number of parties is limited (usually below 5) , and the direction of the competition is centripetal ( main parties tend to converge toward the centre of the left-right scale to attract the support of the moderate electorate).

Polarized Multi Party System or Polarization

There is a big ideological gap between political parties. Parties strongly disagree on ideas and policies, making compromise or forming a coalition difficult.

eg. Weimar Republic in Germany

An Occupied Centre

There is one dominant party that controls the centre of the political spectrum, which acts as a barrier against extreme parties on both the left and right. 

• There is one main party placed at the centre of the left-right axis which represents the system against which anti system parties are opposed.

Centrifugal Competition

the occupation of the centre discourages a centripetal move on part of the other parties. Because ideologically, the centre is already occupied.

Market Analogy

A pioneering book of this model is Anthony Downs' An Economic Theory of Democracy.

Politics works like a marketplace where, political parties act like businesses and voters as consumers.

• Parties calculate their strategies by formulating platforms with the goal of maximizing votes.

The Spatial Analogy

The idea of proximity/distance between individual preferences and parties policies indicates that players move in a space of competition

Interest groups

are organizations that seeks to influence government policy; do not formally become part of the apparatus of political parties or the state

Civil Society

refers to those actors that lie between the purely ‘private’ realm of individuals and companies operating in the marketplace; and ‘state-centered’ realm of political parties and government departments

Cause groups

are organizations lobbying for a set of values or attitudes rather than the interests of a particular segment of society. Typical examples include pro- and anti-abortion interest groups, environmental movements, animal rights groups and peace campaigners.

Economic interest group

is to speak of a group that is focused on predominantly material or pecuniary interests. People who join such organisations are usually expecting some kind of monetary benefit from their membership or participation.

Sectional group

is often used synonymously with economic interests because interest are to large degree ‘exclusive’

Pluralist forms of participation

refer to these where particular sections of society such as those representing, labour interests or ‘the environment’ tend to be represented by a multiplicity of different organisations

Corporatist forms of participation

organization of interest is much less competitive with particular societal interests such as those of employers and of workers grouped together into ‘peak associations’ which represent vast majority of actors within the sector concerned

Extreme anti-system parties

aim not only to change government but also the system of government (the regime)