Political Parties and Party Systems

Political Parties

• A political party is a group of people with similar beliefs and ideas about government.
• Their stand on the major issues differs from party to party.

Kinds of Party Systems

• One Party System
  • Only one party exists in the country.
  • The party and government are the same.
  • The role of government officials is to carry out party decisions.
• Two Party System
  • Two parties compete for control of the government.
• Multi-Party System
  • Three or more parties compete for control of the government.

Two Party System

• System used by the United States.
• Democrats.
• Republicans.

Party Differences

• It's hard to tell the differences between the Parties in the United States.
• Both parties are "middle of the road", trying to avoid extreme candidates.
• Democrats favor more government involvement in citizens’ lives.
• Republicans favor less government involvement.

Fears of Our System

• Lack of political choices.
• Fear that parties would divide the nation.
• ”Dangers of factions ”.
• George Washington’s Warnings.
• A minority may be ignored by the majority.

Advantages / Disadvantages of a Two-Party System

• Advantages
  • Stability in government.
  • Experienced leaders.
• Disadvantages
  • Minority ignored, stifles their views.
  • Little change in government.

Multi-Party System

• Three or more parties exist.
• Examples: Italy, Israel.
• Advantage: Lots of choices.
• Single-party majorities are rare; usually, no one party gets a majority of the votes.
• Coalitions: When two or more parties join together to make a majority.
• Coalitions control most multi-party systems.
• Can be unstable because coalitions frequently fail, and new coalitions are formed.

One Party System

• Only one political party exists.
• Examples: China, Cuba.
• Usually a dictatorship or communist system.
• Competition from other parties is usually not allowed.
• Disadvantage: No exchange of ideas.
• Little political freedom.