Original Lecture 1 Flashcards
All cards originally from the deck including now deleted cards
Concept clarification
What do we want to explain?
Analytical perspective
What are the causes or effects of a phenomenon?
Descriptive perspective
How has a phenomenon developed over time or across countries/parties, etc.?
Normative/evaluative perspective
Is a phenomenon good or bad according to some relevant standard?
What are the main defining criteria of political parties?
- A political group
- That is officially a part of the electoral process
- And can put candidates forward for elections on a regular basis
Evolution of the types of parties
- Elite/cadre (caucus) parties
- Mass parties
- Catch-all parties
- Cartel parties
How can we explain party emergence?
Societal - cleavage theory
—-> traditional politics cleavages and the rise of new issues and cleavages
Institutional - parties form within institutions
Examples of traditional political cleavages
church - state
rural - urban
etc.
Ways that parties limit the freedom of politicians
- Party line
- Party policy program
- Party selection processes
How are parties useful to politicians?
- They solve cooperation problems
- Help politicians to realise ambitions
- Create economies of scale in campaigning
What is the definition of a cooperation problem?
A situation without parties where politicians would have a free vote on every issue
What makes the cooperation problem a problem? (2)
- High transaction costs
- Commitment problem
What are commitment problems in regards to a free vote?
- Only short term deals
- Compromises must be within one or a few votes
- Can’t trust that a person will keep to their promises because the next vote is also free
What problems are due to high transaction costs cause in regards to a free vote?
- New alliance for every vote
- Costly to learn what everyone wants (politicians constantly change)
- Costly to figure out an overall good policy
What two ways do political parties solve the cooperation problem?
- Parties reduce transaction costs
- Parties allow credible commitment to policy agenda
How do parties reduce transaction costs in regards to the cooperation problem?
- Party labels identify like minded colleagues
- Division of labour (one person doesn’t have to do everything because a parties has people for the other stuff)
What does parties allowing credible commitment mean in regards to the cooperation problem?
- Leaders can enforce discipline across votes meaning people vote the way they say they will
- Compromises can be made across many votes not just individual votes
What consequences for politicians does having parties have on the cooperation problem?
- Easier bargaining and stable voting blocs
- Politicians get desired resources
- Little daily freedom for individual politicians
How do politicians benefit economically from being in a political party?
Campaigns are expensive but parties have
- Reservoir of activists
- Country-wide campaign
- Comprehensive policy program
- Big donors are more likely to vote for successful parties than individual independent politicians
What are the two main ways that parties are useful for citizens?
- They are information shortcuts for voters
- They provide a link between citizens’ preferences and policy
How are parties’ information shortcuts useful for voters?
- It is annoying to put effort into finding out an independent local MP’s views than a national party
- Parties have ideological reputations
- Parties have recognisable brands that voters know
How do parties provide links between citizens’ preferences and policy?
- Parties articulate and aggregate interests
- Simplify policy alternatives
- Provide people to run the government
- Implement policies reflecting voters’ preferences
What five ways do parties provide linkage between citizens’ preferences and policy outcomes?
- Campaign: recruit candidates, define agenda
- Participatory: persuade politicians to vote
- Ideological: aggregate voters’ interests into party choices
- Representative: form government policies, represent citizens’ preferences
- Policy: implement policies for which parties have a mandate
What negative qualities can parties in emerging or illiberal democracies have?
- Vehicle for strong leader
- Conduit for corruption
- Can threaten and bribe voters
- Marginalise competition
- Single party rule can exist in authoritarian states
