POLT PARTIES N PRESSURE GROUPS Flashcards
What is a political party
Associations formed by people seeking to influence law making. They have a broad focus. Classified as either major, minor, or micro parties. Generally, they are organised and well-disciplined and seek election to parliament. They are formed around shared ideological beliefs (a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual).
70% of Australia voters vote for
70% of Australian voters vote for the three main political parties, the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, or the Nationals Party.
The role of main political parties is to
is to form government
What is Partisation voting
Partisan voting is when people strongly support their party’s policies and are reluctant to compromise with political opponents.
The role of minor political parties
is to influence governmental policy
How can minor parties hold the balance of power in Parliament
These are issues-based parties with one or two elected members who are not aiming to form government themselves (they are too small) but to get enough seats in parliament, particularly in the upper houses, to be needed by the main parties to pass their legislation, sometimes in coalition with the government and sometimes by holding ‘the balance of power’.
How are micro parties usally elected?
Elected through a combination of preferential voting and group voting tickets enabling them to direct preferences to each other so that one microparty could be elected, even when each party individually attracted very few primary votes.
DEFINITION OF PRESSURE GROUPS
Pressure groups are associations formed by individuals to pressure government and parliament to make decisions or laws advancing their interest or cause. They will involve themselves in the electoral process so they can influence who becomes the law makers but are not seeking to be elected to parliament themselves.
AIM OF PRESSURE GROUPS
The aim of pressuring political decision makers (minister, legislators and public servants etc.) is to change actions in ways benefiting those who share the interest or cause.
Ways for applying pressure on politicans as pressure groups
Rasing awareness, influencers and media, persuasion, coercion
What is rasiing awarness(pressure groups)
Pressure groups can undertake public action such as rallies, marches, advertising, posts on social media using evocative images, how to vote cards at election voting locations.
What are influencers and media(pressure groups)
Getting high-profile people such as celebrities or influencers to publicly back their cause. Celebrities such as Sir David Attenborough and Leonardo DiCaprio who support climate protection groups, and George and Amal Clooney and Angelina Jolie who support human rights and refugee groups.
What are micro-parties
The role of micro political parties is similar to the minor parties; they are small, issues-focused parties, who often only last one or two electoral cycles.
What is persuasion(pressure groups)
Persuading decision makers by writing submissions to parliament. Persuasion also includes direct lobbying by people representing interest groups such as mining companies, or former Liberal government minister Christopher Pyne representing weapons manufacturers to his former cronies.
There are two views on pressure groups and their impact on democracy…….
Pluraist theory and corporationist theory
