Week 19 Flashcards
Party Organisation
What are the roles of parties by activity levels?
(The three faces of political parties)
- Party in public office
- Party in central office as an organisation
- Party on the ground and in the electorate
What does a party in public office do?
E.g.: Parliamentary party
- Form governments
- Select leader of executive
- Effect policy outcomes
What does a party central office as an organisation do?
- Nomination/selection process
- Advocate ideologies and policies
- Organisational leader (sometimes distinct from parliamentary leaders but not in the UK)
- National executive board and party conferences
What does a party on the ground and in the electorate do?
- Local parties - activists and inactive members
- Fight elections
- Do administrative stuff
What were elite/cadre (caucus) parties?
- Party on ground = in public office
- No central office
- Party in public office dominant
Why did elite/cadre (caucus) parties have no central office?
- They weren’t needed because MPs relied on their own resources
- Local elites weren’t subordinated to a national party
What were mass parties?
- Rise of socialist parties, not part of the elite
- New party structure
- Mass parties developed outside parliament
What was the new party structure of mass parties?
- National parties were more important than local parties
- Party conference making decisions
- Ancillary organisations - esp. trade unions
What are the consequences of mass parties developing outside of parliament?
- Large party on the ground, dependant on fees
- Powerful central office for coordination
- Full-time bureaucracy
How did the lives of the working class improving benefit catch-all parties?
- Decline of class struggle
- Undermined the purpose of cadre and mass parties
What were the consequences of the convergence of organisational traits under catch-all parties?
- Three faces of political parties
- Central office: conflicts between party on ground/in public office
- Central office: agent of members or MPs?
What are cartel parties?
- Ascendancy of party in public office: parties merging with state
- Empowerment of MPs and erosion of party on the ground
What are the consequences of parties merging with the state under cartel parties?
- Professionals became more important than bureaucrats
- Declining power of party conferences, executives and members
What are the defining features of intra-party democracy?
- Decentralised decision-making
- Inclusive decision-making
- As opposed to leader-dominated parties
What are some examples of ways that intra-party democracies could hold the leadership accountable?
-Parties may grant the members the right to
- Elect the leader
- Choose candidates for general elections
or
- Hold referenda on coalition agreements
What principles are intra-democratic parties founded on?
- Participation
- Competition
- Representation
- Inclusiveness
- Transparency
What are the four key areas of decision making?
- Who determines party policy?
- Who chooses the party leader?
- Who chooses parliamentary candidates?
- Who decides the content of political communications with voters?
What is the history of the Conservative Party?
- Initially cadre party in parliament
- Formed organisation in 1860s
Party office/on the ground to serve MPs (not mass party)
When and how was the Labour Party formed?
Formed by trade unions in 1900
- Unions dominated central/local organisation
- Subordination of party in public office
Organisation of the Labour Party
Culture of internal democracy
- Party conference is the sovereign on policy
- Imperfect democracy - union block votes
What reforms to the organisation of the Labour Party were made under Kinnock, Smith and Blair?
Reforms under Kinnock, Smith and Blair
- Reduced union power and power and centralisation in leaders’ hands
- Membership ballots to choose party leader
- Corbyn and Starmer: new move towards democratisation?
How do the Conservative Party select their leader?
- Parliamentary party nominates
- If more than two nominees, parliamentary party votes until no more than two nominees left
- If only one nominee, that person wins. If there are several nominees but they withdraw the remaining nominee wins
- If there are two nominees, the membership votes
How do the Labour Party select their leader?
- 20% of parliamentary party to be nominated + 5% of constituencies or 5% of affiliates (trade unions)
- Election by members, registered/affiliated supporters
How do the Liberal Democrats select their leader?
- Nominees: support by 10% of MPs + 200 members (across 20 local parties)
- Election by membership
