Unit 1 - Party policies and ideas

Question 1

What are the main features of political parties?

Answer 1

• Each party consists of a group of individuals who have a commonly held ideology and a shared set of principles
• They are united by ideas and values, and wish to promote these and manage the country according to them
• They normally have a formal organisation with a leadership, active members and a mass membership
• They have mechanisms for developing policy, selecting candidates for office and identifying leaders

Question 2

What are the main functions of political parties?

Answer 2

• They aggregate ideas and put together a comprehensive and coherent set of policy options which are based on their political principles. They convert these policies into a workable political programme of action
• They contest elections, in this process they set out their ideas in a manifesto, a manifesto is a statement of policies and intentions
• They select appropriate people to stand for election to local councils, to devolved assemblies in S, W and NI and greater London, and to the UK parliament
• They provide the personnel of government, if a political party wins a general election, the victorious party appoints its leading members to government
• They provide representation ad speak up for various sections of the community
• They provide political education to the general public concerning which options the country should take

Question 3

What are consensus politics?

Answer 3

• General agreement between the parties within a particular policy area
• A period of politics when there are wide areas of agreement on key issues
• An agreement between parties not to engage in political conflict on an issue because there is an overwhelming need for unity (war)

Question 4

What are adversary politics?

Answer 4

• A high degree of ideological conflict between the main parties
• Few areas of agreement between the parties

Question 5

In 2011, 3 main areas of consensus politics:

Answer 5

• Reducing harmful emissions
• British involvement in Afghanistan is justified
• There is a need to bring down the huge government financial defecit

Question 6

In 2011, 3 main areas of adversarial politics:

Answer 6

• Whether there needs to be extensive reform of the NHS
• How to deal with the high levels of crime and the rowing prison population
• Whether the ability of trade unions to call strikes should be curtailed