Political Parties

Linkage Institutions

  • Channels that connect people with the government

  • Keep people informed about politics

  • Attempt to shape public opinion and policy

  • Examples of linkage institutions:

    • Political Parties

    • Interest Groups

    • Elections

    • Media

Political Parties

Political Parties connect people by:

  • Persuading people to vote for their candidates and support their party platform

  • Educating voters on the issues from the perspective of the political party.

  • Encourage people to get involved in the campaign process (i.e. grassroots efforts)

    • Ex: An individual who supports the Republican candidate may decide to canvas a particular neighborhood and go door-to-door passing out flyers and speaking with residents about why they think their candidate is best for the job.

Interest Groups

  • Recap

    • Fed #10

    • Large representative republics needed to control factions

    • When many interest groups are vying for power = pluralism.

  • Interest groups connect people by:

    • Allow them to join like-minded groups

    • Lobbying Congress on their behalf for policies the group may support

    • Using money to fundraise for campaigns of legislators who support their group’s beliefs and values

    • Raising awareness of issues that the group values

      • For example, AARP raises money and awareness about issues such as social security and healthcare in order to lobby legislators to protect these programs when they make policy.

Elections

  • Elections connect people by:

    • Allowing them to participate in democracy by voting for a candidate of their choosing, both in the primaries and in the general election.

    • Allowing them to participate by attending campaign events. watching debates, and participating in the party conventions

    • Allowing them to donate money to campaigns of candidates they support

Media

  • Media connect people by:

    • Functioning as a free press that can voice opinions at will

    • Providing the news

    • Acting as a watchdog (investigator) of government officials.

Connecting and Persuading Voters

Political Parties have great influence on voters

  • Shape and reflect voters’ political ideologies

  • Help decide who will be the party’s candidate for office

  • Control over the drawing of legislative districts

  • Parties have no restrictions on who can be members

  • Members can be lifelong or just who the voter tends to side with on Election Day

  • More active members volunteer for the party, make donations, or even run for office

  • Parties engage voters by holding monthly meetings of local party chapters, making calls to get voters to the polls, canvassing neighborhoods, or simply speaking out in favor of the party platform to friends and family.