Parties and party competition

Question 1

Define what is meant by a political party

(READING)

Answer 1

A group of officials or would-be officials who are linked with a sizeable group of citizens into an organisation; a chief object of this organisation is to ensure that its officials attain power or are maintained in power” (Shively 2001)

Question 2

Explain Lipset & Rokkan’s (1967) cleavage model of parties READING

(Theories of parties)

Answer 2

Parties are formed and sustained by social cleavages, mass-based organisations, appeal to and represent particular social groups, are primarily policy-seeking and will not compromise on policy promises to win/remain in office

The prediction is the number of cleavages & number of crosscutting cleavages determines the number of parties
e.g.
One cleavage (class) - two parties (UK)
Two cleavage - no cross-cutting (class and religion) - three parties (Netherlands)
Three cleavages, some cross-cutting (class/religion/language - six parties (Belgium)

Question 3

Explain Down’s (1957) strategic actor model

(Theories of parties)

Answer 3

Parties are formed by like-minded politicians

Parties are elite organisations who want to get into and stay in power for their gains
Do not appeal to groups but pivotal voters, who will help win elections

Parties are primarily office-seeking (to promote the interests of their leaders), and will compromise policy promises to win/remain in office (parties converge to the median voters to win the elections)

Prediction- Parties should converge on the “median voter”.

Question 4

Assumptions behind the Downsian Model

Answer 4

1. The credibility of party positional change - voters may find party commitment to a new position credible
2. No competition from third parties- if a party moves to the centre, it might be “outflanked” by other parties entering and competing for its voters (UKIP), making downsian model not a credible model for parties
3. Single policy dimension- if there is more than one dimension of political competition, then converging on the median is not a stable equilibrium.
4. Perfect turnout - what if people abstain if a party moves away too far from the ideal position? May be easier to win votes by “mobilising the base” than persuading voters to switch parties.

Question 5

How does Mudde (2004) define populism

Answer 5

Anti-establishment - believe society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups

‘Pub’ politics - simplistic politics to appeal to gut feelings

Opportunistic policies - aimed to please voters without concerns for the longer term quickly

Question 6

Case study on the rise of populist parties

Answer 6

Timbro Authoritarian Populism Index 2019

• populist parties have increasingly become more of an important part of European politics with 23%-25
  % of votes going to populist parties and 11 populists parties having a role in government within European

Question 7

Norris and Inglehardt (2016) explanation for the rise of Populist parties

Answer 7

Cultural backlash thesis
 Populist support can be explained as a social psychological phenomenon, reflecting a nostalgic reaction amongst older sectors of the electorate seeking a bulwark against value change
 There has been a substantial rise of tolerance amongst the younger cohorts and college educated living in Western societies for the expression of diverse forms of sexuality, identities etc.
 As post-materialism gradually becomes more numerous, they had brought new issues into politics, leading to a declining emphasis on social class and economic distribution and growing polarisation based around cultural issues and social identities
 These developments have triggered negative reactions among older traditionalists who felt threatened by the erosion of the values which were once predominant

Question 8

Seymour Martin Lipset (2000) - importance of political parties

Reading

Answer 8

Political parties, are fundamental to modern democracy, as they create and sustain it.

The existence of opposition parties restrains incumbents by seeking to reduce their resources and enlarge the rights available to those out of power, helping to establish democratic norms and values

Parties must cultivate a loyal base of supporters who consistently vote for them and identify with their political platform over time, this base of support should be deeply rooted in society, typically stemming from fundamental social, economic, cultural, or ideological cleavages within the population