Parties and Party Systems Lecture Notes PDF

11 November 2024 Parties and party systems 1  11 November 2024 Definition A political party is a group of people organized for the purpose of winning government power, and usually displays...

11 November 2024 Parties and party systems 1  11 November 2024 Definition A political party is a group of people organized for the purpose of winning government power, and usually displays some measure of ideological cohesion. 2  11 November 2024 Types of party A variety of classifications have been used for political parties. The most important are: Cadre and mass parties Representative and integrative parties Constitutional and revolutionary parties Left-wing and right-wing parties Mainstream and populist parties 3  11 November 2024 Types of party Cadre parties 'party of notable' - today: doctrine discipline (Chinese Communist Party) The distinguishing feature of cadre parties is their reliance on a politically active elite (usually subject to quasi-military discipline) that is capable of offering ideological leadership to the masses Mass parties Places a heavy emphasis on broadening membership and constructing a wide electoral base First: socialist parties organised to appeal to working class voters (UK Labour Party 4  11 November 2024 Mass party vs catch-all party (Kircheimer, 1966) Mass party Catch-all party Objective Increase of party membership Increase of votes Organisation Strong Weak Partisan base Class, denomination All social groups Connection between party and Strong Weak voters Campaign Party organisation Mass communication Type of allignement Ideology/Identity Issue-voting Electoral market Closed Open 5  11 November 2024 Types of party according to Neumann (1956) Representative parties See their primary function as being the securing of votes in elections. They thus attempt to reflect, rather than shape, public opinion Rational choice (Downs, 1957): politicians are power-seeking creatures Integrative parties Adopt proactive, rather than reactive, political strategies; they wish to mobilize, educate and inspire the masses, rather than merely respond to their concerns 6  11 November 2024 Types of party Constitutional parties Acknowledge the rights and entitlements of other parties and, thus, operate within a framework of rules and constraints. Revolutionary parties Anti-system or anti-constitutional parties, either of the left or of the right. Such parties aim to seize power and overthrow the existing constitutional structure 7  11 November 2024 Linear political spectrum 9  11 November 2024 Horseshoe political spectrum 10  11 November 2024 Two-dimensional political spectrum 11  11 November 2024 Types of party Mainstream parties Broadly accept the constitutional status quo and so tend to operate within what can be seen as the established rules of the political game Niche parties? Populist parties? Anti-party parties? 12  11 November 2024 Party systems A party system is relatively stable network of relationships between parties that is structured by their number, size and ideological orientation Types of party systems based on the number of parties competing for power. One party systems (e.g. China/Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe) Two party systems (e.g. USA) Dominant party systems (e.g. Liberal Democratic Party in Japan) Multiparty systems (e.g. Germany) Sartori: moderate vs polarized multiparty systems 13  11 November 2024 A crisis of party politics? There is clear evidence in recent decades of the decline of political parties as agents of representation But the crisis of party politics is centred on a particular type of party: the mass or mainstream party. This is one aspect of a wider trend towards anti-politics How can the decline of mainstream parties be explained? their real or perceived oligarchical character political ‘insiders’, parties are tainted by the power, ambition and corruption that is often associated with high office parties are not seen as being ‘of the people’ 14 Thank you for your attention! [email protected]