what are political parties? knowledge flashcards

A political party is an organisation of people who hold similar ideological principles and visions. It has the goal of implementing these principles in the way a country runs. Parties aim to achieve this by …

developing a set of policies, which they seek to convert into political action by obtaining government office, a share in government, or by influencing the government of the day. 

“Or by influencing the government of the day” …

• Some political parties don't intend to form a government, but aim instead to merely raise the profile of certain issues or to achieve some representation in a particular legislature.

• This is the role of most minor pirates who will never have a chance of either forming the next government nor of achieving electoral success (although with PR in regional assemblies, this is now more likely).

• Often they focus predominantly on a limited range of issues or just one key issue eg. UKIP and Plaid Cymru.

• The SNP could still be argued to be in this category still oath their overriding focus on Scottish independence - but since they have been in power in the Scottish government, they have had to develop a broader range of policies.

‘A Broadchurch’: ie. parties with a wide range of views, typically left and right wing. The terms ‘left and right wing’ come from the aftermath of the French Revolution, when in the Estates General, those supporting the monarchy sat …

on the right and revolutionaries for social change sat on the left.

Right wing typically refers to a generally pessimistic view of human nature and opposition to social change. They favour authority, order and duty, and in the UK typically represented by the Conservatives. However, …

the left wing is generally optimistic about human nature and hold a positive view of social change. They are said to favour ‘progressive’ policies and beliefs in liberty and equality. In the UK, this has been traditionally represented by Labour.

A Manifesto is a statement of a party's agreed policies produced during an election campaign to inform the public about the political platform on which their candidates are …

standing. It is intended to set the policies the party would introduce if in government. 

Parties will publish manifestos as a statement of their policies. Candidates must then put themselves forward for elections on these policies. When we vote for a candidate, it acts as an endorsement for whatever manifesto they are standing on. The party winning the election has a mandate to govern based on their manifesto. The Salisbury Convention stipulates that …

the House of Lords won’t try to block any government legislation explicitly set out in the party's manifesto since it has been ‘voted in’ by the public (though there are some exceptions eg. Lords vs Blair ID card scheme despite being in the 2005 manifesto)

The Doctrine of the Mandate refers to the idea that MPs are not voted in as individuals based on their own judgements (Burkean Model of Representation), but instead are elected to deliver the manifesto pledges promised during an …

 election by their party. Parties are equally held to account on whether they stuck to their manifesto pledges. For example, the collapse of the Lib Dems in 2015 following the coalition U-turn on tuition fees, which they only electorally recovered from a decade later in 2024. 

Functions of political parties

(i) Representation

(ii) Policy formations (manifestos)

(iii) Recruitment of Leaders and Office holders

(iv) Recruitment of Candidates, Campaigning and Organising elections

(v) Providing Government

(vi) Education and Persuading Electorates

(vii) Participation/mobilisation

(viii) Mobilising consenst for the system

(i) Representation

Many parties in the past have sought to represent a specific strata of society e.g. the Labour Party’s formation to represent the working class and trade union members. However in modern Britain all main parties now claim to represent the ‘national’ interest rather than a specific class or group. Nevertheless …

 there is still a sense that certain parties better represent certain groups e.g. the Conservatives and business or Labour and those on welfare or in the public services. People that vote for that party can be seen to be represented by them. A significant phenomenon of modern politics is the rise of ‘populist’ parties (although they often quickly disappear too!).

(ii) Representation

They campaign on a platform that the traditional parties have failed to represent the people, and will often play on people’s emotions and sense of dissatisfaction or fears.  These populist parties can be left wing (Syriza in Greece or Podemos in Spain), although are more often …

right wing (UKIP in the UK, Golden Dawn in Greece, the Freedom Party in Austria and National Front in France). Certain parties stand on specific issues such as Green parties across Europe or those dedicated to advancing women’s rights.  Here there is some crossover between pressure groups and political parties.

(i) Policy Formation

Parties develop policies and political programmes at national and local levels for how to run the government of the country.  This gives the public a clear choice in the election.  Parties provide a label for voters to identify with  - you “know what you’re getting”. This is particularly important for opposition parties, whose policies are effectively an alternative programme for the government of the country. Long established parties usually formulate long term coherent sets of policies rather than just reacting to popular opinion.  These policies tend to reflect …

the ideology of the party overall e.g. Conservative’s ‘releasing individuals from excessive limits of govt’ and Labour ‘governing on behalf of the many rather than the few’. Proposed policy ideas are first debated and discussed at party level, before being put to the public in the form of an election manifesto. Party policies are usually decided by a variety of means including by the leadership, through party conferences and policy committees, and through pressure from grassroot activists.

(ii) Policy Formation

  The Labour Party has a National Policy Forum to formulate policy, whilst the Greens and Lib Dems usually give the membership a say over the final decision of policies that go into the manifesto.  In the Conservative Party, these decisions tend to be left to the leadership. When a party is in government, then the government and the party position is essentially identical - although backbenchers and ordinary party members may disagree with policy direction. Party policy making is …

 sometimes seen a form of ‘aggregation’ - where the party leaders need to balance the polices its grassroots members would like to see, with the demands of the wider public (and therefore its electability), and the political realities of the day (e.g. economic situation impact on spending possibilities). Parties encourage debate on issues from competing ideological standpoints.

(i) Recruitment of Leaders and Officer Holders

Party leaders tend to emerge from decades of working within the political party’s organisational structure - and are chosen having proven their skills and abilities.  Therefore parties provide a training mechanism for political leaders and ministers - to learn from existing politicians and to demonstrate their talents. Ordinary members play an important role in the voting process for the selection of the party leader.  Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader lost a no-confidence vote 172 - 40 by Labour MPs in 2016 - yet …

survived as leader gaining 62% of party members votes in the subsequent leadership election.  A leader is important for giving the party both direction and a clear figure to focus on in the public’s mind. Recruiting the ‘right’ leader may not always be such a simple task however. Corbyn’s leadership saw a majority of Labour MPs reject him, leaving the functioning and internal coherence of the party badly damaged.

(ii) Recruitment of Leaders and Officer Holders

 Coupled with Corbyn's bad defeat in the 2019 election, here is an example where the ‘aggregation’ principle failed - party members got the leader they wanted, but he proved ‘unelectable’ to the majority of the British public. The Conservative Party have had no such travails - the overwhelming majority of MPs and members backed Cameron, May and …

ohnson consecutively. On the other hand, when a PM loses the confidence of his or her party they are highly vulnerable.  Opposition by Conservative MPs effectively forced the resignation of both Thatcher and May.

(i) Recruitment of Candidates, Campaigning and Organising Elections:

Parties select candidates to represent them in elections including local councillors, elected mayors, representatives in devolved assemblies and General Elections. National party leaderships have some say in the selection of local candidates (e.g. Johnson’s withdrawal of the whip from Conservative ‘rebels’ in 2019 meant they couldn’t be selected as party candidates in the General Election). But the role of local constituency parties is most prominent in the selection of candidates.  Local parties have the right to ‘deselect’ existing candidates who fail to live up to expectations.  Tim Yeo was deselected in 2015 in a …

secret ballot of South Suffolk constituency Conservative Party members - partly over some murky lobbying payments, partly due to his pro-EU stance and partly due to a perception of him spending too little time on constituency issues.  Labour's Momentum group were said to be deselecting Labour candidates who didn’t back Jeremy Corbyn.

(ii) Recruitment of Candidates, Campaigning and Organising Elections:

Parties fund election campaigns. To be successful any political party needs to be organised - in order to formulate a manifesto & select suitable candidates.  Newly formed parties tend to struggle in this regard e.g. UKIP.  During elections, parties play a crucial role.  Thousands of party activists will work in a …

coordinated fashion to ensure supporters turn out and to canvas floating voters to back their party.  Labour’s Momentum proved to be particularly effective on social media in the 2017 campaign. Representatives of the parties also play a role at vote counts, to ensure the process is fair and honest.

(i) Providing Government

A primary goal of any significant political party is the aim to win power by forming the government - either as a single party or in coalition. The Government is formed by the party with an overall majority (or, rarely, largest single party/coalition of parties).  The party leader becomes PM and senior party members become the Cabinet. Parties are held accountable for …

success/failure in implementing policy; The party structure means that governments have a degree of stability and coherence since members are drawn from the same party. Parties also ensure close links between the two main branches of the UK government - parliament & the executive. The opposition party provides a clear ‘government in waiting’.

(i) Education and Persuading the Electorate:

In order to be successful parties need to develop mechanisms for educating the public over the longer term (not just at election time) about what they stand for and why these principles / policies would be in the national interest. Methods to persuade the public of party policy merits can take various forms - use of the media, party political broadcasts, poster campaigns, celebrity endorsements,  activities on social media,and the more traditional slow hard work of building local support via …

 leafleting and holding public meetings etc. This attempt to gain support also helps to inform the public about wider political issues.  Opposition parties seek to explain political problems and outline their solutions.  Part of this process includes educating the public how the political process itself works. However the media and the pressure groups could be considered more significant in modern politics in regard to this education function. Nevertheless parties do present the public with a clear and coherent choice.

(i) Participation and Mobilisation

Parties play a key role in encouraging people’s participation in the political process - either by getting people to join the party, or just support it & to vote. Parties open up lines of communication from members to leadership. Political parties provide opportunities for people to get involved in shaping party policy. During Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership …

Labour’s membership rose to over half a million members - figures not seen since the mid 1970s.  In Jan 2020 Labour had 580,000 members, making it the biggest party in Europe at the time.  This means a lot more people are ‘politically active’ as a result.  Parties ensure matters of public concern reach political agenda.  Parties link people to the government by responding to what people want.

(i) Mobilising Consent for the Political System:

Because nearly all parties chose to operate within the framework of the current political system, they therefore reinforce in the public mind the legitimacy of the overall political system. Some parties do reject conventional politics - but these tend to be seen as extremists of little importance.  If more mainstream parties adopted a …

similar stance, then this might undermine public confidence and trust in the current system - potentially creating a wider conflict in society as a whole?

Party: Its purpose is usually to achieve political office.

Pressure Group: Seeks to represent a certain group in society or campaigns to change legislation on a specific issue.

Some political parties are ‘single-issue’ e.g. Legalise Cannabis Alliance (which was formed in 1999 and stood in elections until 2006 when it deregistered as a political party to continue its actions as merely a PG) or focus on a limited range of policies. e.g. the Christian People’s Alliance.

Party: Policies are formed on a very wide range of issues that affect life in Britain and beyond.

Pressure Group: Forms policies on either a single issue or to represent the interests of a section of society only.

Political parties like the Greens & UKIP have a wide range of policies, but essentially the focus of the party is very much on a specific concern e.g. environment / leaving the EU.  Are parties like the Greens and UKIP really more like pressure groups who seek electoral success as part of their campaigning aim, but who have no intention of forming a government?

Party: Puts candidates up for elections.

Pressure Group: Does not put candidates up for election

Some PGs now stand for elections in order to publicise their campaign further e.g. Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party formed in 2003 to campaign to prevent the retirement age being increased (6^th most popular Party in SP elections and got seat 2003-7).

Party: Privately funded – donations have to be declared and open to public scrutiny.  Funding to fight elections capped

Pressure Group: Usually privately funded (although sometimes funding from gov or EU).  Funding is not always open to public scrutiny.  Free to raise as much as can to promote the cause.

If political parties are funded by particular interest groups are they therefore biased towards these groups? – e.g. Labour & Trade Unions or the Formula 1 tobacco advertising exemption scandal of 1997.

Party: Broad but shared ideology.

Pressure Group: PG unify members on specific issues – such members do not share an ideological common ground.

Certain PG may operate in an ideological fashion – e.g. some trade unions socialist agenda e.g. NASUWT campaigns on gender / racial / international equality and de facto support for the Labour Party in the 2019 election.

Party: Party leaders elected by internal democracy.  Rules & regulations ensure they act responsibly.

Pressure Group: PG leaders are rarely elected.  Some PGs do not act ‘responsibly’.