Topic 5 - Political Institutions

Question 1

What is a political party?

Answer 1

A political party is a group of people that is organized for the purpose of winning government power, by electoral or other means.
They were ushered in by the advent of representative government and the progressive extension of the franchise since the 19th century.
Whilst they are complex organizations, the party shares a common identity and a broadly similar outlook.

Question 2

Characteristics of Political Parties

Answer 2

1) Parties aim to exercise government power by winning political office.

2) Parties typically adopt a broad issue focus, addressing each of the major areas of government policy.

3) To varying degrees, parties are united by shared political preferences and a general ideological identity.

Question 3

Theories of Political Party origins: Institutional Theory

Answer 3

This theory focused on the
interrelationship between early Legislatures and political parties.

Political parties are directly related to the evolution of national parliaments and the growth in the size of the electorate.

Parties grew out of political assemblies as their members felt the need of a group to act in concert.

Question 4

Theories of Political Party origins: Historical-situation Theory

Answer 4

This theory focuses on the historical crisis, which political systems have encountered at the moment in time, when political parties developed.

Historical crisis provides the context in which political parties first emerge and also tended to be a critical factor in determining what pattern of evolution parties take later.

Question 5

Types of Political Crises

Answer 5

1) The legitimacy crisis became central when existing political structures of authority failed to cope with the crisis itself and a political upheaval ensued.

2) Integration crisis led to the creation of political parties e.g. The Muslim League in India created to protect the minority Muslim population.

Question 6

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Representation

Answer 6

This refers to the capacity of parties to respond to and articulate the views of both members and the voters.

Without a doubt this function is best carried out in an open and competitive system that forces parties to draw together people who have similar political philosophies and ideas.

Question 6

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Elite formation and recruitment

Answer 6

Political parties are responsible for providing countries with their political leaders.

Parties provide a training ground for politicians equipping them with skills, knowledge and experience, and offering them some form of career structure.

Question 7

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Goal formulation

Answer 7

Political parties play this role by the programmes they formulate with a view to attracting popular support. This means that political parties are a major source of policy initiation

Question 8

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Interest articulation and aggregation

Answer 8

In the process of developing collective goals, political parties help to articulate and aggregate the various interests found in society.

Question 9

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Socialization and mobilization

Answer 9

Through internal debate and discussion, as well as campaigning and electoral competition, parties are important agents of political education and socialization. They are one of the main avenues for political debate and discussion in the community.

Question 10

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Organization of government

Answer 10

Political parties provide the government. They give government a degree of stability and coherence, especially if the members of the government are drawn from a single party and are therefore united by common sympathies and attachments.

Parties operating in a competitive system, provide a vital source of opposition and criticism, both inside and outside government.

Question 11

Types of Political Parties - Elite Parties

Answer 11

They are internally created. That is, they are founded by cliques within an assembly.

The early Conservatives parties in Canada and the UK were of this elite type.

Question 12

Types of Political Parties - Mass Parties

Answer 12

They originate outside the assembly, in groups seeking representation in the legislature for their interests and goals.

The working class parties that spread across the globe symbolize these externally created parties.

Question 13

Types of Political Parties - Catch-All Parties

Answer 13

This type of party is a response to a mobilized political system in which governing has become more technical and in which electoral communication takes place through the mass media.

Catch all parties seek electoral support wherever they can find it; their purpose is not to represent but to govern

Question 13

One Party Systems

Answer 13

This is a system in which a single party enjoys a monopoly of power through the exclusion of all other parties.

One party cannot produce any other system other than autocratic/dictatorial power. One of the more common features of a one party state is that the position of the ruling party is guaranteed in a constitution and the law bans all forms of political opposition.

Eg: North Korea, China, Cuba, and Vietnam

Question 14

Two-Party System

Answer 14

A two-party system is dominated by two ‘major’ parties that have a roughly equal prospect of winning government power. This system can be identified by three criteria:

1] Although a number of ‘minor’ parties may exist, only two parties enjoy sufficient electoral and legislative strength to have a realistic prospect of winning government power.

2] The larger party is able to rule alone, the other provides the opposition.

3] Power alternates between these parties

Eg: United States (Republicans and Democrats), Jamaica (Jamaica Labour Party and People’s National Party)

Question 15

Dominant Party System

Answer 15

The dominant-party system is a party system where only one political party can realistically become the government, by itself or in a coalition government, because all other parties are too weak.

Dominant parties have tended to become highly factionalized, with the selection of party leaders becoming a competition between the leading factions.

Eg: Barbuda People’s Movement, Barbados Labour Party, Botswana Democratic Party

Question 15

Multi-Party System

Answer 15

A multi-party system is characterised by competition amongst more than two parties, reducing the chance of single-party government and increasing the likelihood of coalitions.

A coalition is a grouping of rival political actors brought together through the perception of a common threat, or through the recognition that their goals cannot be achieved by working separately.

This allows for more diversity and representation of different ideologies and interests in the political arena.

Eg: France, Brazil, India, Germany

Question 16

Civil Society

Answer 16

A civil society may be defined as an arena of un-coerced collective action around shared interest, purposes and values.

Question 17

Interest Groups

Answer 17

Samuel Finer has defined interest groups or pressure groups as ‘organisations [which try] to influence the policy of public bodies in their chosen direction; though, unlike political parties, never themselves prepare to undertake the direct government of the country’

Question 18

Methods used by a pressure group to influence politics

Answer 18

1] First, it can merely inform legislators of its members’ preferences.

2] Second, it may give money or time to help with an election campaign.

3] Third, its members may threaten, as a group, to vote as a bloc. In using this method, the pressure group acts as a two- edged sword.

4] Fourth, a pressure group may facilitate legislation by writing bills and helping legislators make agreements.

5] Finally, a pressure group may attempt to influence members of the executive branch.

Question 19

Arguments in favour of interest groups

Answer 19

1] They strengthen representation by articulating interests and advancing views that are ignored by political parties.

2] They promote debate and discussion, thus creating a better informed and more educated electorate, and improving the quality of public policy.

3] They broaden the scope of political participation, both by providing an alternative to conventional party politics and by offering opportunities for grass- root activism.

4] They check government power and, in the process, defend liberty by ensuring that the state is balanced against a vigorous and healthy civil society.

5] They help to maintain political stability by providing a channel of communication between government and the people, bringing outputs in line with inputs.

Question 20

Arguments against interest groups

Answer 20

1] Pressure groups may represent a powerful minority force in society and exert political influence to the detriment of the majority of society. This is an argument often levelled at trade unions and business groups.

2] They are socially and politically divisive, in that they are concerned with the particular, not the general, and advance minority interests against those of society as a whole.

3] They exercise non-legitimate power, in that their leaders, unlike politicians, are not publicly accountable and their influence bypasses the representative process.

4] The use of direct action by pressure groups can cause hardship to the community in general.

Question 21

Resources available to Interest Groups

Answer 21

1] Public sympathy for the group and its goals

2] The size of its membership

3] Its financial strength and organisational capabilities

4] Its ability to use sanctions that in some way disrupt government

Question 22

The principal channels of access available for Interest Groups

Answer 22

1] The bureaucracy
2] The legislature
3] The courts
4] Political Parties
5] The mass media
6] Supranational bodies