Political Parties In General Flashcards
Main features of political parties
. party is a grouping of individuals who hold in common a particular ideology and set of principles or values.
· Each party is united by ideas and values and wishes to promote these and manage the country by them.
· Parties normally have a formal organisation with a leadership, active members and a mass membership.
· Parties have mechanisms for developing policy, selecting candidates for office and identifying leaders.
What does function of representation mean for political parties
represent the values and ideology of the people who identify with them and vote for them. Left-wing values- generally Labour and right-wing values- generally Conservative. These viewpoints and translated into specific policies by the party.
How is participation a function for political parties
Participation offer the opportunity for people to participate in politics either by becoming members and taking part in the parties processes such as selecting candidates, deciding policies or campaigning, or by becoming candidates. Parties also provide the opportunity for education of the electorate through a range of activities such as joining a party, making donations.
How is formulating policy a function of political parties
Formulating policy- Parties decide and develop policies (concrete proposals) that embody the ideas for which they stand. Policies change and are renewed as society changes and as new issues or problems arise.
What is the main importance/functions of minority parties?
What is nationalism. What minority parties believe in nationalism?
It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference.
‘Nationalist’ parties such as the SNP in Scotland, Plaid Cymru in Wales
What are minority parties
Parties whom receive a small proportion of votes and so have a lot less influence in parliament as they have very few or no seats.
Represent minority views.
What are single issue parties and an example. (Minority)
parties such as reform (immigration and the EU) and the Green Party (environmental issues).
Why have minority votes gained more traction/attention/votes recently?
some minority parties have grown massively in influence over the past few years because The mainstream parties moving towards the centre have left some voters feeling unrepresented, some people want to make protest votes
How does a majoritarian electoral system impact minority parties. Give data on vote share: seats
A huge amount of the time, minority parties receive a much larger vote% than the seats they win in parliament, due to fptp not being proportional.
2024: Reform uk 14.3% vote share. 0.8% seat share
How has a minority party directly influence policy or decision making? 2 examples preferably.
UKIP has been staunchly argued to be one of the core reasons for the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in 2016. Their influence was seen to be significant as, ‘classically, UKIP took an issue neither party has addressed effectively — immigration.
adoption of green policies throughout the major political parties such as the 2019 Conservative manifesto promise of reaching the net zero emissions by 2050
What is the evidence to suggest the uk is moving to a multi party system from a 2 party system (think minorities)
The era of the two-party dominance was the period 1945-74, when Labour and the Conservatives won, on average, a combined 91 per cent of the votes and almost 98 per cent of the seats at Westminster.
Increasing impact of single issue parties. Reform uk. UKIP. Green Party. Lib Dem coalition after hung parliament.
What factors affect party success (try get 4/5)
- Media
- Leadership
3.party unity - manifesto and policies
- Campaign and funding
Examples of good and bad leadership in helping the success of a political party
Success: Tony Blair’s leadership helped Labour win landslide victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005 due to his modernisation of the party (New Labour) and strong public image.
• Failure: Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2019 was widely seen as a key reason for Labour’s poor performance, with criticisms of his handling of antisemitism issues and Brexit policy.
Examples of good and bad party unity and how that impacted party success
• Before the 2019 election, the Conservative Party had factions
• When Boris Johnson took over, he unified the party around the clear slogan “Get Brexit Done,” and won an 80 seat majority
Lib Dem coalition lost 49 out of 57 seats from 2010-2015 due to scrapping the getting rid of uni fees.
Examples of good and bad media influence on party success
Ed Miliband & “Bacon Sandwich” Gaffe (2015)
•During the 2015 election campaign, The Sun and other right-wing papers ridiculed Labour leader Ed Miliband over an awkward photo of him struggling to eat a bacon sandwich.
Conservative social media campaign in 2019- boris
Before 1997, The Sun newspaper traditionally supported the Conservatives, but it switched allegiance to Labour and Tony Blair with the famous front-page headline: “The Sun Backs Blair.”
Examples of good and bad impact of policy and ideology on the success of political party
Success: The Conservative Party’s focus on Brexit under Boris Johnson in 2019 helped them secure a large majority by appealing to Leave voters.
• Failure: The Liberal Democrats suffered in 2015 after their U-turn on university tuition fees, losing many of their seats.
