Functions of political parties - representation

Sections of society represented by different parties (+ time period)

• Labour, early 20th century

  • W/C, trade union members

• Conservatives, 19th century

  • Landed gentry, aristocracy

Representative function of parties in the present day

• Most contemp parties in modern democracies claim to represent the national interest

  • Seek to ensure all groups have their interests and demands considered by govt

• All parties do have a bias towards some sections of society due to their core values and ideology

Populism + recent examples

• Reactionary, quickly emerging political mvmt and way of campaigning that appeals to people’s emotions and prejudices by telling them what they want to hear

  • Seeks to go back to popular ideas of the past, not looking for progressive change

  • Defined by what they are opposed to, often anti-govt/taxation/establishment

• Finds support among groups who feel their concerns have been ignored by established groups

• E.g. MAGA, ‘take our country back’ (UKIP)

Emergence of populist parties

• Reform in the UK

Rise of issue parties

• Represent a specific cause

  • Green parties

  • Women’s rights parties (especially recently across Europe

Parties are effective at representing the interests of the electorate - mandate

• They act as a link between the govt and people by turning public opinion into policies

  • This gives the winning party the popular mandate to carry out its policies

Parties are effective at representing the interests of the electorate - universal suffrage

• Parties emerged to represent the views of the new wider electorate

  • Labour stemmed from socialism and trade unions to represent the W/C

  • Conservatives - represent interests of M/C and private businesses

Parties are effective at representing the interests of the electorate - ‘catch-all’

• Increasing wealth and move away from heavy industry has meant parties have distanced themselves from their traditional ideology and instead develop policies that appeal to the mass of the electorate

• All major UK parties are now catch-all parties

Parties are ineffective at representing the interests of the electorate - catch-all parties

• Labour has reduced its trade union links under Blair to attract uncommitted voters but have therefore stopped properly representing the interests of the W/C

• Some say that pressure groups are instead more effective at articulating interests to policy makers