[POL SCI 11] Parties and Party System

political party

This is a group of people that is organized for the purpose of winning government power, by electoral or other means.

a body of men united … upon some particular principle upon which they all agree

According to Edmund Burke, what constitutes a party?

leader or family

Early political parties were small groups of politicians united by a _____.

change through social reform or wholesale economic transformation

This is the core idea of progressive or the left-wing:

continuity by upholding existing social order

This is the core idea of conservative or the right-wing:

cadre parties

This type of party is relatively restrictive as it is composed of trained and professional party members.

mass parties

This type of party is broad and aims for a wide electoral base.

integrative; representative

cadre parties: _____; mass parties: _____ (mission)

Big Tent

This type of party tolerates a broad spectrum of beliefs amongst its membership and focuses on maximizing its electoral appeal.

constitutional parties

This type of party obtain power by acknowledge the rights of others and follows rules and constraints.

constitutional parties

This type of party obtain power by recognizing a division between the party and the state.

revolutionary parties

This type of party obtain power by anti-system or anti-constitutional parties and aim to overthrow the existing constitutional structure.

revolutionary parties

This type of party obtain power by collapsing the distinction between party and state.

constitutional parties

This type of party obtain power by respecting the rules of electoral competition.

revolutionary parties

This type of party obtain power by using tactics ranging from insurrection and popular revolution to quasi-legalism to seize power.

constitutional parties

The legitimacy of this type of political party is that they are the ones considered as the mainstream parties in liberal democracies.

The legitimacy of this type of political party is that they are sometimes formally branded as “extremist” or “anti-democratic”.

Anti-party

This is a party that sets out to subvert traditional party politics by rejecting parliamentary compromise in emphasizing popular mobilization.

respond to and articulate the views of member and electorate

These the primary function of parties (2):

Mandate model

This model states the when an election is won this authorizes the party to carry out its campaign policies.

source

Political parties participate in goal formation as they are the _____ of policy initiation.

vehicle

Political parties act as _____ for the interests of a specific group

campaigning and debate

What shapes political agenda and culture?

Power in parties naturally concentrates among a small elite due to specialization, leadership, and member apathy.

What does Robert Michels’ “Iron Law of Oligarchy” state?

one-party and two-party

These are the types of party system (2):

one-party system

A feature of this party system include the ability to function as the permanent government.

two-party system

The features of this party system includes being seen as stable/accountable and the largest party rules while the other is the opposition.

no competition and removal mechanism

The one-party system faces these problems (2):

adversarial politics and deep ideological conflict

The two-party system faces these problems (2):

dominant party system

This party system occurs when competition exists but one party rules for long periods.

multi-party system

This party system occurs when more than two parties compete allowing for the rise of coalitions.

politicization, complacency, corruption, scandals, weak opposition, and fear of change

The dominant party system faces these problems (7):

coalition difficulties and long negotiations after elections

The multi-party system faces these problems (2):