political parties final exam Flashcards
evalucate the succes of political parties/ do they help democrcy esay plan
para 1- yes
* providing governemnt
* Unite view under core ideology so can implent policy rather than being stuck in a legislgtive gridlock of disgreeing opions. Aguably, strong united governemtn can be crutial in times of crisis when parliamnt needs to act qucikly.
1. for exmaple, borris’s 80 seat majorrity arguably helped The UK respond more effectivly to the corrona virus pandemic, rolling out lockdowns and and effective vacine program ans limmting some of the catostophic outcomes.
* devision within parties
* As there is some what of a 2 party system in the Uk parties have to be broard, encompussing a range of ideological belifes within a single body. This creates division that can limmit the abillity of th goevrnemtn to weild the sord of parliamentry soverignty as MP’s may rebelll. Therefore, effectiev governemtn is reduced.
1. For exaple, The conservative part has been long devised over the issue of Brexit with pro leave and remain Mp’s all but ballence the e.g. “European Research Group” that have been euroseptics operating since 1993. May’s conservative government was very split over brexit when it actully cam eto triggering artical 50. half her cabinet were remain such as home sec amber rud and he chanceller phillop hamond, mean while foreign sec borris and brexit sec david davis were leave. factors such as this meanst she had 3 failed brexit deals and a numbre of cabinet minister reignation.
2. the first deal failed 432/202, a record rebellion for a governemnt. Although this was a unique circomstance as collective responcabillity didnt apply for brexit.
3. still huge BBR regardless of the governemt. For exampel borris 91 BBR leading to the defeat of the bill of covid passports.
para 2
* simplifyy the voting process
* it would simply be impossibly for peopel to fully grasp the dirrectives of a numbre of indervidual candidates runnign for office, each with their own unique, neuanced ideology.
1. this is somewhat reflected in that only 13 inderpendent candidate have ever been outrigth voted into parliament.
* reduced voter choise/ reduced reprisenation
* The two party system that has arguablly been created by FPTP mean that there is a lack of voter choise in elections as in most cases peopel have to vote labour or cosnervative. This means that tehir individual neuanced ideologicla perspectuve may notbe fully represnted.
2. One coudl argue this is refected in the low tuen out of eletions ( not reaching above 70% since the turn of the millenia). People feel apethetic towards voting as no matter which way they vote they wont be propperly represented.
1. however 82% said that the party tehy voted for in 2017 represented their political opions
para 3 - yes
* Formulating policy (manifesto)
* party meanburship provides parties with exta funding which allows them to employ expert reseachers and do polls which help them formulate expert policies to tackle issues
* however 2 mill policy devlopment grnat to major parties ontop of this - more influencial to smaller parties
1. e.g Lib demps resived 8 mill from lord saisburry for they stop brexit campain in 2019 election
less opertunity for consensus
* however this means that when goverment take controle they can esentully implement policys by weilding the sword of parliametry soverity and there is little spce for genuine dialectics, scrutiney or consensus which would result in policies arguably more representaive of public opnion and that were potencially better for the country. - tyrany of the majority
1. LIb demem conservative dialectical disscusiona nd ballenign therir polices 2010-2015
2. although one could argue tgis doesnt work in prcaticllity - stormont supended for 9 years intotal since 1998.
how are parties funded
state funding
* policy development grants
1. £2 million to major parties to help them deveolpe policies e.e employ researchers and political advisers
2. stops smaller parties from emerging
* short money
1. money allocated to each party depending on the numbre of seats tehy have. 17,000 per seat won
2. arguablly a more democratic way of doingit
3. stops smaller parties from beign able to exert as much inflence
* carbone money
1. given to fund scrutiney of opersition in the lords
donations and party membership
* corparations
1. traditionally was more a conservtive thing
* PG, think thanks
1. smaller %
* wealthy inderviduals
1. used to be more conservative less so now
* trade unions
1. trade unions act 2016 made it so that unions had to opt in for their funding to go to the labour party
what is cranborne money
- subsadises the scrutiney work of the opersition parties in the house of lords. ( goes to the op cuz generaly the dominant party isnt providing a great deal of scrutiney of their own part )
what act has meant taht UK dontions to parties have more transparency and fairness + what did it do
- the political parties elections and refurendoms act 2000
1. an inderpendent elctoral commison established to monetor party funding
1. limmited spening per constituency to 30,000
2. parties must declair any donatiosn over 5,000 to the electoral comissions
3. no donations from non uk sources
evaluate the view ehat political parties should be funded by the state essay plan
para 1 yes
* ** fairer**
* The conservative party traditionally has been “bank rolled” by wealthy individuals and big private corparations menig they often get more funding and can exert more inflence on the public.
2. before the 2017 election the conservative party resived 25 million vs labours 10 mill and the liberal democrats 5 million.
3. JC bamford is an exaple of this. they donated 2.5 mill to conservtievs in last 2 years
3. especially significant since labour funding has decresed with the trade union act 2016 so union members have to opt in if their funding goes to the party or not.
* If parties were entirly equally funded by the state then there would be no disparity in how much they were able to influence the public in election. This would mean that election results would be more reflective of the genuine zeitgeist of the public rather than corrupted by the dominating influence of the two major parties, specifically the conservtives.
1. one could argue in thsi case it was incredily significant as the conservtives only won the popular vote by 2% ( 42% of the vote and labour 40%).
* unclear how state funding would operate
* likly folow a similar system as short money which involves the major partes having more influence anyway
2. for example 17,000 is given to a party per seat it gets. furthermore policy developmet funds of 2 million go to the major parties but not minor parties.
* it would lilly have to operate this way this is becuse it would it would be vey had to fund a lareg numbre of parties equally and it wouldnt make sense as there would be a lot of wasted tax payer money on small parties that woulnt stand a chance.
3. e.g. the monster raving loony party
para 2- yes
* grater voter choise/ more of a puluralist, multi part system
* even if stste funding was done via the same system as short money, smaller parties woud still garner more influence as the fuds would be more proportional tan the vastly differnce with donsations and party membership. more parties would be able to fundnation wide campeigns and put candidates up for more seats. The increse in choise should help more partie gain influence and a more representive sytem emerge. it might also inspire might inspire greater tuen out and thus increse legitamacy of the final result.
* rise of extreemist parties
* the adverse is that more extreemist parties could gain influence
1. Ukip
* this could be an issue as it coudld waste time in debate
para 3 - yes
* buying influence
* donations allow inderviduaks with alot of money to exert diporoportionate influence by party donations whcih callenges deocrcy.
1. bernie ecclestenes donation to labour in 1997 election, this may have delayed teh ban o tabacco ads in formula 1.
* less of an issue since 2000 election and refurendoms act
2. creation of an inerpendent electoral commsions to monetor funding
3. declair donations over 5,000 making it transparent
* this increses transparency making coruption in parties less likly as journalist and the pulblic are aware of it.
* arguably also un democratic.
* gainst freedom of epression + doantions and membership fees usually reflect a party having a greater support basis.
1. for exaple, labour funds have grown since they become more centre left under kier starmers take over in 2019 (5.3 mill)
whats the phrase taht describes the conservative parties disproportionate influnce due to being funded by big disnise and wealthy inderviduals
- “bank rolled”
give an example of a wealthy indervidual bying influence
- bernie ecclestone donation to labour in 1997 election, this may have delayed teh ban o tabacco ads in formula
how has the labor and conservtaive party funding chanaged recently, as in 2022 + what si this relevant to ?
- the conservative bank role seems to have stpped, from wealthy inderviduals and corparatiosn
- labour raised 5.3 million to conservatives 3.6 in 2022 including a 2 million donation from lord sainsburry, ti sis compared to teh 400,000k labour earned in 2017
how has lib dem party funding changed + relevance of this
- 8 mill donation from lord sainsburry in 2017 to fund stop brexit campeign
- smaller 3rd partys getting substancial funding
aggregeation menaing
- grooping data and polls and policy ideas together to create better policy or manifeto
give an example of a donor trying to but influence and failing
lord sainsbury funing 8 mill to LD campein and they failed to secure much influence at all, only gttinf 11 seats in the 2019 election
give an example of a specific company that is on the conservative party bank role
- JC Bamford have donated £2.5m in the last two years
before the 2017 elction how differnt were donation from con vs labour and lib dem part
- 25 mill - con
- 10 mill - labour
- 5 mill - lib dem
give an example of the revolving doors effect in the uk
Of the 538 lobbyists registered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 191 are former government representatives.
give an exaple of a lobbing scandle in the uk
- owen patterson, con MP, taking bribes bt companies to ban chemicals in their compettitors products and not reporting it as second income
- arguably not illegal as it was carthnogenic prodhnogenic producs - but was unethricl
what acts have made MP lobbinging illegal and MP being imployed in areas tehy ahve ministerial responcabillties in ?
- the lobbying act 2014
- the Political Parties, Elections, and Referendums 2000 Act.
what a breif history of the ideological leanings of the conservative party
- one nation in late 1800s disreali
- late 1900s with thatcher moved to neo liberalism in terms of econ and nro conservtive/traditinal conservative in terms of social and forign policy - new right / thatcherism
- cameron was neo liberal in terms of social policy but thavherite in terms of econ rellativly
- since may we have been moving more towards one naton conservtive governement, even sunack has been forced to act this way given circomstances
what a breif history of the ideological leanings of the labour party
- founded in 1893
- originally old labour was based on the idea of democrtic socialism and social democracy and gradual nationalismaion exemplified in claws 4
- it remained like this with callehans gov in the 70s and 1979 wjhen michel foot took over and took the party evn further left “longest suiside note in history”
- this was old labour
- blair and new labour - blairite, arguably onr nation/ ideology based in the third way
- corbin back to old labour
- kier starmer moving back towards new labour
when was the conservative party founded
1832
when was labour founded
1893
what a breif history of the ideological leanings of the LD party
- whiggs
- liberal party under gladstone- moral foreign policy, lower tax and ballenced budget, parliamenttry reform (lord/ democrtisation)
- the rise of the labour party 1900 saw it decline
- social democrtic part grew in 80s and emerged as lib dems in 1988 as a responce to the polorised nature of labour and conservtive, consited of libeals and **went from being clasical liberal to modern liberal **
- 2005 62 saets and 22% of the vote + 57 in 2010 and coallison and 23% of the vote, argue they become slightly more liberal promising to abolish tutition fees by 2016 and reduce tax whilest ballencing the budget though edcing tax ballencing the budget more new right/ neo liberal / thatcherite
- dropped to low ever since as arised tuition fees
- more elft e.g 2017 manifesto = 1p income tax rise for NHS
what is new labour or blairite labour sometimes known as
- purple labour
give an ovious example of a winners bonus
- in 2010 coalison labour got 29% of the vote and 258 seats vs lib dem 23% of the vote and 57 seats
in a question about policy/ party ideolgy what areas must you talk about
- economy
- law and order
- welfair - link to econ
- foreign policy
what is princial of thatcherism interms of the conomy
- neo liberal, privatisation, and increasing laissez fair cap and tax cuts to help grow econ.
- keeping a ballenced budget, (against borrowing)
how has the modern conservtive party diverged from thatcherism in terms of the economy (for and aginst)
One nation
*borris leveling up 1.7 million and sunack has appointed another 2.1 billion in january of 2023 - investing in local areas to drive growth and create jobs
1. however doesnt seem to be sunacks primary goa ratehr e seems to be trying to keep hold of the so called red wall as his governemtn is vunrable, e.g seen in the call a general elction now campein
*80 % ferlow scheme during covid and intensive governemnt borrowign to do so.
1. however unpresedented times
*borris raised some taxes including national insurance contrabustions
*cap on energy prices - Sunak
Thatcherite/countre
3. There was also Liz Truss in july of this year and her “emergancy budget” witch got rid of the top tax bracket( and borrowed to make up for losses)
4. The legacy of austerity of the Cameron government, cuts to almost all gov departemts
5. seen the sunck govs ailer to negtiates with the unions in light of strikes, e.g nurses strikes, remonisaent of thtcher and the miners strieks in the 1980s
6. 2017 manifesto = greater private funding for social care
whats the principals of one nation conservatsim
- there needs to be soem form of keynsian economics inorder to ensure society doesnt become two nations, the rich and the poor
- they also advocate for the minimal role of gov in soiety liek a shit at sea the roel of gov is to simply keep it a float- oak shot analogy
- Oak shot and many one nations are also a fan of decentralised power to avoid a unitary yranical government. belived society shoudl be a collection of localised comunites working together to solve short term issues as they arise.
- also belived in diversity
how has the modern conservtive party diverged from thatcherism in terms of the law and order
thatcherite (tough on crime)
1. 20,000 police officers on the streets since 2019 ( in mano)
* 2021 beating crime plan anouced by home sec pretty petal
* including
1.stop and search.
2. toughening sentences for the worst and most serious offenders, including terrorists, rapists and child abusers
2. We are nearly halfway to recruiting twenty thousand additional police officers
3. empower police to stop and search to reduce knife crime
one nation (role of the state is minimal in society, just keep it adoat)
* under mays government the propsed 20,000 extra proice officers on the steets by 2023 was breifly dropped, but has since achived
how has the modern conservtive party diverged from thatcherism in terms of the welfair
thatcherite
* 2015 coallison cuts on working age benifits
* universal credit system with Welfare Reform Act 2012 - implemted 2013
one nation
* termporary incresease in some benifits in 2020 due to cora
1. temporary
* incresed supportint during cost of living crisi: The Government is providing a £15 billion energy bill rebate
1. unpressidented times
what was a very thatcherite economic pollicy
- replacing counsil tax with poll tax
