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2. Political parties > Political Parties in Context > Flashcards

Political Parties in Context Flashcards

1
Q

Define party systems.

A

Describes the features of a political system in relation to the parties that operate it.

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2
Q

What is a one-party system?

A
  • Where only one party is allowed to operate
  • Authoritarian or even totalitarian regimes
  • Examples include Nazi Germany, North Korea and China
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3
Q

What is a dominant-party system?

A
  • Where there is a democratic system that allows parties to operate freely, but where only one party has a realistic chance of taking power
  • The SNP in Scotland, for example
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4
Q

What is a three-party system?

A
  • Used to be very common but less so today
  • Unusual to find political systems where 3 parties compete on equal footing
  • Much more normal is where two parties dominate, but not sufficiently to govern alone
  • Smaller parties therefore play a pivotal position as they can be assets to form coalitions
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5
Q

What is an example of a three-party system country?

A

Republic of Ireland.

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6
Q

What is a multi-party system?

A
  • Common in Europe
  • System is growing
  • Four party systems are very common, but tend to be unstable
  • Several or many parties that are competing for power
  • No set number - more than three
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7
Q

What system does Germany have?

A
  • Germany has a four-party system with the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats dominating, but to form governments they have to form coalitions with the Greens or the Free democrats.
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8
Q

What system does Britain have?

A

Mainly a two-party system.

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9
Q

How was there a liberal resurgence in the late 20th/early 21st centuries?

A
  • SDP alliance in 1981
  • 1988 formally the Liberal Democrats
  • Coalition, 2010-15 - but stopped by FPTP
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10
Q

Between 1979 and 2010, to two main parties combined average vote share fell to…

A

73%

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11
Q

As long as FPTP remains…

A

the two biggest parties will continue to dominate British politics.

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12
Q

What voting system do the Scottish parliament and Senedd Cymru use?

A

AMS - additional member system - more proportional, therefore smaller parties have a bigger presence.

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13
Q

What voting system does the Northern Irish Assembly use?

A

STV - single transferable vote.

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14
Q

How does Northern Ireland elect its executive?

A
  • The party with the most MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) puts forward a leader to be First Minister; with four other members also picked to represent the party at the assembly
  • The party with the 2nd most MLAs puts forward a leader to be Deputy First Minister, with 3 other members also picked to represent the Party at the assembly
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15
Q

Who was Ian Paisly?

A
  • Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
  • Former activist turned politician
  • Essential in the Good Friday agreement
  • First Minister 2007-2008.
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16
Q

Who was Martin McGuiness?

A
  • Leader of Sinn Fein
  • Formed activist turned politician
  • Essential in the Good Friday peace agreement
  • Served for a long period as Deputy First Minister
17
Q

What are the various factors that affect party success?

A

1 - strength of party’s leadership
2 - the inner workings of each political party
3 - the role of the media in projecting the image of the party

18
Q

Who was James Callaghan?

A
  • Labour leader in the Winter of Discontent from 1978-79
  • Failed to get a grip on trade union actions
  • They demanded wage increase across a number of industries including mining
19
Q

Callaghan’s lack of impetus on dealing with strikes…

A

played into the hands of the conservatives and ultimately led to the rise of Thatcher
- Thatcher got elected on the back of this as she promised to deal with it.

20
Q

What was the Conservative slogan in 1979?

A

‘Labour isn’t working’.

21
Q

What was the slogans of Johnson, Corbyn and Swinson, in 2019?

A
  • ‘Get Brexit Done’
  • ‘For the many not the few’
  • ‘Stop Brexit, build a brighter future’
22
Q

Why did John Major suffer such a heavy defeat in 1997?

A
  • His party was divided over the Maastricht treaty and the European question - he had removed the whip from a lot of MPs and forced through his bill
  • Prominent Tories in the front bench lost their seats - most famously Michael Portillo
23
Q

What has the role of the media become in recent decades?

A

To reinforce the general public’s impression of parties and their leaders.

24
Q

What are the role of newspapers?

A
  • Read by a lot of the electorate, whether that be a paper or indeed electronic newspaper
  • Research suggests that newspapers reinforce political affiliations rather than changing minds; but their influence during a time of election must not be understated.
25
Q

Do newspapers have political stances?

A
  • Yes
  • There is affiliation between readers and political parties, and media and political parties
  • Readers tend to buy newspapers with views that they agree with
  • However, there is scant evidence to show that newspaper support always leads to more votes
  • The majority of newspapers backed the Conservatives in 2018 - but the result was a hung parliament
26
Q

The media should be…

A

neutral; and the medium of television interviews can make or break a political leader or MP during election time

27
Q

Which party leader benefitted particularly from the new format of interviewing party leaders together in a liv TV debate, in 2010?

A

Nick Clegg.

28
Q

In the 2015 debates, Ed Miliband’s performance was…

A

poor, being a contributing factor to Labour losing the election.

29
Q

Who can join political parties?

A
  • Anyone; usually a new member’s will coincide with the Party’s beliefs
30
Q

In recent years Labour have come under fire for…

A

anti-Semitism within the party.

31
Q

In recent years the Conservatives have come under fire for…

A

Islamophobia within the party.

2. Political parties (14 decks)

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