Functions And Features Of Political Parties Flashcards
What is a political party
Organisation of people with similar values and views which develops a set of goals and policies that it seeks to convert into political action by obtaining goverment office
What are the features of a political parties ?
- members of parties share similar political value and views
- organisation that develops policy
- parties seek to secure the election of their candidates as representatives or form government at various level (local, regional and national )
What are the key features of established parties ?
- parties have main focus across many different area such as health, education
- parties aim to gain power by winning political office by elections
- parties share common ideologies : conservativism , liberalism or socialism
What are the functions of political parties
- making policy
- representation
- consenting election
why is policy making important
When party is in opposition and seeking to replace the goverment as opposition are in different position from party in power
Making policy
When a ruling party controls the goverment , what is there no distinction between ?
The ruling party controls the goverment and the leadership goverment
Making policy
Therefore , what is the policy making function of the ruling party the same as ?
policy making of the goverment
Who makes the policies for policy making of the ruling class/govemenrt
- political leaders
- civil servants
- private advisers
- advisory unit
Who make policy making in the background
- Backbench MPs
- local activist
- ordinary
Who is most policy in the ruling party made by ?
Minister and their adviser
When in opposition who have more influence of policy- making ?
Leadership party group
Through what can membership communicate to leadership ideas and demands they would like to see as official policy and be gov policy one day
Through various conferences and party committees
Where does policy influence occur at ?
Local , regional and national
What is example of policy making ?
Manifesto
Boris johnson promoting conservatives manifesto “Get Brexit done”
Jeremy Corbyn promoting labour manifesto “time for real change”
What is the policy formulating function also know as ?
Aggregation
What is aggregation ?
Where political parties convert policies made by mass indivuduals of society and demands into practical policies for goverment by eliminating contradictions and compromising
What does the representative function do political parties ?
Represent a specific section of society
Examples of representative function of political parties
UK Labour Party in early 20th century represented the working class and trade union and the conservatives party protected interest of aristocracy by this changed as contemporary parties argue to represent national interest and not specifics
Despite change of contemporary Uk of representation the national interest what do parties still do ?
Still tend to be prejudice towards interest of particular group in society based on their core beliefs
as far as representation is concerned , shah party has emerged?
Populist parties
What is populism
- appeals to people emotions and prejudice by telling them what they want to hear
- supporters feel that their concerns have been ignored by more established parties
- goes back to popular idea of her past than change
Representation
What are populist against ?
Anti taxation , anti big business
Examples of populism
UKIP: “take out country back”
Trump : “make America great again “
Contesting election section of political parties
- publicising election issues
- persuading people to vote
- informing them about candidate
- take place when votes are counted to make sure it’s fair and honest
What is the political educational function of political parties
Inform people about political issue by explaining conflict and solution to problem and educating public on how political system operates
Example of political parties playing political education function ?
Green Party raises awareness of environmental issues , UKIP Brexit and EU and labour low pay and zero hour contract
Why can the political education less important now ?
Media , pressure group and think tanks play role of informing the public
