Political Parties Flashcards
Political spectrum
The range of political views
Partisanship
allegiance to a particular party
Plurality
in an election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate.
Bipartisan
Supported by two parties
Coalition
alliance of two or more parties to rule/ruin the government.
Consensus
general agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions.
Incumbent
the current officeholder
Faction
A conflicting group
Spoils system
the practice of giving offices and other favors of government to political supporters and friends
Electorate
all of the people entitled to vote in a given election.
Federalists
those persons who supported the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788
Anti-federalists
Those persons who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788
Independents
Belong to no particular party
Pluralistic
made up of different cultures ad ethnic groups, but with the same political parties.
What are the 5 functions of the political parties?
- Nominating function: choose candidates
- Informer/Stimulator function: inform people of the issues and stimulate them to vote
- Bonding Agent function: ensures good qualifications and performance of their candidates; “seal of approval”
- Government function: ensures the cooperation of the legislative and executive branches (work together).
- Watchdog function: the party out of power “loyal opposition” watches over and criticizes the party in power.