chapter 11 - political parties, party systems, + interest groups

Question 1

political party

Answer 1

a political organization that seeks to influence policy, typically by getting candidates and members elected or appointed to public office

Question 2

party systems

Answer 2

the degree to which a party system is stable and remains so over time, as measured by characteristics such as the persistence of parties, the stability of the ideologies of those parties, and the degree to which they are distinct from the specific people that lead them

Question 3

interest groups

Answer 3

organizations that make demands in the political system on behalf of their constituents and members

Question 4

civil society

Answer 4

a space in society outside of the organization of the state, in which citizens come together and organize themselves

Question 5

interest articulation

Answer 5

the process by which political actors express their demands, needs, or wants in a political system, often through interest groups

Question 6

interest aggregation

Answer 6

the process by which individuals’ preferences are brought together to make collective decisions, often thru political parties and the party system

Question 7

What are the types of political parties?

Answer 7

elite parties, mass parties, movement parties, + catch-all parties

Question 8

elite parties

Answer 8

political parties in which membership and scope were largely restricted to a small number of political elites

Question 9

mass parties

Answer 9

parties consisting of large numbers of citizens as members and that undertake massive political mobilization

Question 10

catch-all parties

Answer 10

political parties that are flexible on their ideological positions and aim to attract support from a broad range of interest groups and voters

Question 11

movement parties

Answer 11

parties that develop out of broad-based social movements

Question 12

What are the types of party systems?

Answer 12

two-party, multi-party, + dominant-party

Question 13

dominant-party system

Answer 13

party system in which a country contains only one large political party that predominates politically, often controlling the legislative and executive branches of gov’t

Question 14

single-party system

Answer 14

an authoritarian system in which parties besides the single dominant party are banned or disallowed

Question 15

two-party system

Answer 15

a political party system consisting of two significant parties that have a duopoly on opportunities to govern

Question 16

multi-party system

Answer 16

a political party system consisting of more than 2 significant parties that have opportunities to govern

Question 17

fragmented

Answer 17

the extent to which political power and representation in a party system are characterized by relatively large numbers of relatively small parties

Question 18

concentrated

Answer 18

the extent to which political power and representation in a party system are characterized by relatively small numbers of relatively large parties

Question 19

effective number of parties

Answer 19

a measure designed to capture the number of meaningful parties in a party system that weights the number of parties represented by their size

Question 20

party system institutionalization

Answer 20

the degree to which a party system is stable and remains so over time

Question 21

pluralism

Answer 21

a system of interest group representation in which groups compete openly to influence government decisions and public policy, and which specific groups do not have official preferential access to decision making

Question 22

corporatism

Answer 22

a system of interest group representation in which certain major groups are officially designated as representatives of certain interests, and have a more structured interaction w/ the gov’t in power and w/ the state’s administration

Question 23

peak organizations

Answer 23

top associations, such as labor federations and large business organizations, that represent common interests by bringing together many like-minded organizations

Question 24

median voter

Answer 24

the voter who is theoretically exactly in the middle of the distribution of voters

Question 25

collective action approach

Answer 25

the name given to the rational choice theory of contention associated with Marc Lichbach

Question 26

What factors shape party systems?

Answer 26

1. types of electoral systems
2. geographic factors
3. historial factors
4. economic factors
5. social factors

Question 27

an example of democratic governments without parties?

Answer 27

the Tunisia elections in 2013 following the Arab Spring saw 100s of non-party affiliated candidates running for office

Question 28

What exactly helps political parties distinguish themselves?

Answer 28

the platform around which the party’s values are coordinated and united

Question 29

What two questions are party systems focused on answering?

Answer 29

1. How many parties are there?
2. How have those parties developed based on the nation’s electoral systems?

Question 30

What are the ways in which interest groups gain support for their particular cause?

Answer 30

by endorsing politicians and by focusing on lobbying and petitioning rather than running for office themselves

Question 31

factionalism

Answer 31

term used to describe the fact that the Founding Fathers didn’t want or desire political parties at our nation’s founding b/c of party’s divisive nature

Question 32

What is a modern example of an elite party?

Answer 32

the PAN in Mexico, which is a conservative party in Mexico w/ close ties to Roman Catholic Church

Question 33

What are a 21st century examples of mass parties?

Answer 33

the Workers’ Party in Brazil + the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa

Question 34

What differentiates mass parties from movement parties?

Answer 34

mass parties tend to represent a relatively large sector of the population that has yet to be represented in a political party

Question 35

What is a modern example of a catch-all party?

Answer 35

the PDSB in Brazil

Question 36

What is the most basic characteristic in any party system?

Answer 36

the number of MAJOR parties expected to be in competitive elections

Question 37

A party system is LESS institutionalized IF…

Answer 37

if a party is more volatile or less stable

Question 38

A party system is MORE institutionalized IF…

Answer 38

if a party’s name or brand carries more meaning

Question 39

What is USUALLY the relationship b/w party system institutionalization and regime type?

Answer 39

USUALLY…the more established a democracy is, the more institutionalized the party system

Question 40

What is true about pluralism in its purest form?

Answer 40

none of the groups have more privileged access to the gov’t than others

Question 41

In corporatist nations, what are usually the most important interest groups?

Answer 41

USUALLY…the financial groups

Question 42

How do SMDs shape party systems?

Answer 42

SMDs tend to favor large parties w/ the ability to win plurality of the vote, which leads to a tendency for a 2 party system to emerge

Question 43

How does PR shape party systems?

Answer 43

proportional rep. is designed for more overall accurate reflection of party preference distribution, which leads to a tendency for multi-party systems to emerge