9) Party systems and competition Flashcards
What is a party system?
Party systems are sets of parties that compete and cooperate with the aim of controlling government.
What defines a liberal party?
Historically oldest family.
Established to demand democratization and economic liberalism.
What defines a conservative party?
Historically counter-movement of old elites to liberals.
Now support of conservative values + liberal economy.
What defines a socialist party?
Traditional representatives of working-class. Now representatives of the broader middle-class profile.
What defines a communist party?
Parties with anti-capitalist platform.
Traditionally attached to Soviet Union.
What defines a dominant party system?
One party has the absolute majorities over a long period.
Few coalitions/alternation.
What defines a two-party system?
Two competitive parties.
Majoritarian electoral systems.
What defines a multi-party system (according to the moderate model)?
No absolute majorities.
Competition towards the center.
What defines a multi-party system (according to the polarized model)?
Extreme parties pool other parties to the extrems.
Big ideological differences.
What defines a bipolar party system?
Electoral alliances.
Combines the logic of the two party and the multi party system.
What is a cleavage?
Cleavages are reflections of deep important conflicts.
What are the three dimensions of a cleavage?
Structural dimension.
Cultural dimension.
Political/organizational dimension.
Which four revolutions does cleavages result from?
The national revolution (19th century).
The industrial revolution (19th century).
The Russian revolution (20th century).
The post-industrial revolution (20th century).
Which two cleavages emerge from the national revolution?
Centre-periphery cleavage.
State-church cleavage.
Which two cleavages emerge from the industrial revolution?
Rural-urban cleavage.
Capital-labour cleavage.
What defines the centre-periphery cleavage?
Emergence of nation-state.
Administrative centralization.
Regionalist parties.
Which types of parties emerged from the centre-periphery cleavage?
Regional and minority parties.
What defines the state-church cleavage?
Nationalism-secularism link.
State-church conflict.
Christian democracy.
Which types of parties emerged from the state-church cleavage?
Conservative and religious parties.
What defines the rural-urban cleavage?
Sectoral economic conflict.
Protectionism (the people) vs free trade (the industry).
Modern centre right.
Which types of parties emerged from the rural-urban cleavage?
Agrarian parties.
What defines the capital-labour cleavage?
Commodification.
Urbanized working class.
Conflict with employers and workers.
What does commodification means?
People are turned in to a commodify/a good.
Which types of parties emerged from the capital-labour cleavage?
Socialist parties.
Which three new cleavages emerged in the 20th century?
The communism-socialism cleavage.
The materialism-post-materialism cleavage.
The integration-demarcation cleavage.
What defines the communism-socialism cleavage?
Cleavage within working class. International revolution (communism). …or change through democracy (socialism).
What defines the materialism-post-materialism cleavage?
Silent revolution.
Old generations were occupied by the material issues.
New generations were occupied by more post-material issues.
What defines the integration-demarcation cleavage?
Winners of globalization are the highly skilled people.
Losers of globalization are lowly skilled people.
Winners will demand integration.
Losers will demand demarcation.
What does demarcation means?
National protection of the citizens (economic and cultural protection).
What does re-alignment means?
The voters’ relationship to the parties are strong.
What does de-alignment means?
The voters’ relationship to the parties are getting weaker.
What does the market analogy says on party competition?
Parties calculate their strategies by formulating platforms with the goal of maximizing votes and being elected or re-elected.
What does the spatial analogy says on party competition?
Parties will change position if they can get more votes, but not if an other party will take over their old position.
What are Downs’ three assumptions on party competition?
I: rationality.
II: perfect information.
III: one dimentionality.
What does Downs conclued on party competition?
Parties respond to voters ideological distribution.
Centre typically promises most votes.
What are the criticism of Downs’ model?
Rationality vs psychological processes. Paradox of voting. Vote vs office vs policy seeking. One vs multi-dimensionality. Position vs valence issues.
How does voters act in majoritarian party systems?
Strategically vote: voters tend to vote strategically to avoid wasting votes on small parties with no change of getting seats.
How does voters act in PR systems?
Sincerely vote: voters vote sincerely (their first preferences), because their vote is not wasted (small parties can win seats).
How does parties act in majoritarian systems?
Reducing the number of parties: plurality small parties have an incentive to merge with others to increase their changes of passing the threshold.
How does parties act in PR systems?
Increasing the number of parties: parties can survive on their own and small splinter parties are not penalized.
Which cleavage emerged from the Russian revolution?
The communists-socialists cleavage.
Which cleavages emerged from the post-industrial revolution?
Materialist-post-materialist cleavage.
Integration-demarcation cleavage.
Which types of parties emerged from the communist-socialist cleavage?
Communists parties.
Which types of parties emerged from the material-post-material cleavage?
Ecologists parties.
Which types of parties emerged from the integration-demarcation cleavage?
Protest parties (new radikal right).
