week 8 - political parties + party systems Flashcards
1
Q
political party
A
a group of people that includes those who hold office and those who help get and keep them there.
2
Q
common objective of parties
A
to gain power by holding public office (office seeking) and to advance their policy goals once in office (policy-seeking).
3
Q
explanations of where parties come from
A
- demand-side (bottom-up explanation)
- supply-side (top-down explanation)
4
Q
demand-side explanation
A
there are natural cleavages in society and individuals on different sides of these cleavages form parties (also called interest articulation).
5
Q
supply-side explanation
A
entrepreneurial actors create parties to represent previously unrepresented interests (which may relate to societal cleavages) - also called interest aggregation.
6
Q
urban-rural cleavage
A
- City vs. Country dwellers.
- The main point of conflict was the price of food.
- rural individuals tended to value tradition, while urbanites favored progressive change.
- receives less attention now.
7
Q
religious cleavage
A
- Different religions against one another.
- The main point of conflict is religious belief and custom.
- Very powerful for developing a political party.
8
Q
secular-clerical cleavage
A
- Church vs. State
- The main point of conflict is whether society should be run by a religious institution or the secular state.
- formed in part on the basis of the French revolution which largely established the authority of the state.
9
Q
class cleavage
A
- Workers vs. Owners
- The main point of conflict is free market vs. state intervention.
- This gained prominence around the time of the industrial revolution.
10
Q
ethnic cleavage
A
- Different ethnic (or linguistic) groups against one another.
- The main point of conflict centers upon which ethnic group should be dominant in society.
11
Q
post-material cleavage
A
- Progressive Values vs. Tradition
- The main points of conflict are issues of multiculturalism, gender, race, sexual orientation and reproductive choice.
- It is more prominent in post-industrial societies.
12
Q
national-globalist cleavage
A
- The key concern is whether the country should be closed and autarkic or open and internationalist.
- became more salient since the rise of globalization in the 1990s and the Great Recession of 2007-2009
13
Q
purposes of parties
A
Coordination
Selection and Recruitment
Mobilization
Representation
14
Q
coordination
A
- parties operate as stable groups in the legislature.
- parties can coordinate across levels and branches of government.
- Elected officials and society organize around the same party labels.
15
Q
selection and recruitment
A
- Parties actively find people to run for office.
- People may be inspired by parties and become politically active and may run for office.
16
Q
mobilization
A
- Parties provide candidates and link these candidates to a recognizable “symbol” or idea, inducing team-like behavior.
- Parties spend money to activate members and voters; which increases voter turnout.
17
Q
representation
A
- Parties speak and act for their supporters.
- Since direct democracy is difficult, parties can help with that by representing people.
18
Q
partisanship
A
- a psychological attachment to a political party.
- a powerful predictor of attitudes and vote choice in most of the world’s democracies.
- partisanship also acts as a filter.
19
Q
single-party systems
A
- one in which only one party has a realistic chance of gaining power (of being in power).
- can be a system in which other parties are disallowed from power.
- can be in democratic countries as well.
- multiple parties may legally operate but have little chance of unseating the dominant party.
20
Q
two-party systems
A
- one in which only two major parties have a realistic chance of gaining power.
- pure two-party systems (can be rare), two parties have a duopoly on governing.
- some countries have 2+ party systems in which there are two main parties and several smaller ones.
21
Q
multiparty system
A
- one in which more than two parties have a realistic chance of gaining power.
- has more than 2 major parties with opportunities to govern (these are the most common).
22
Q
what can multiparty systems be
A
- Relatively fragmented (many small parties)
- Relatively concentrated (few large parties)
23
Q
reasons for differences in the number of parties across countries
A
- the electoral system
- political social cleavages
24
Q
the electoral system as a reason for the differences in the number of parties across countries
A
- In PR systems, even small parties get seats
- people aren’t afraid of ‘wasting their vote.’
25
political social cleavages
Parties often form to represent politicized cleavages.
26
where do we see lots of political parties
in high socioethnic fractionalization and high Proportionality
27
left-leaning party families
- Communist (C): Seek wealth redistribution and public ownership of means of production; often skeptical of the democratic system.
- Socialist/Social Democrat/Labor (SD): Represent the working class, do not advocate an overthrow of the capitalist economy; work within the democratic system; tend to support “modern” (progressive) values.
- Liberal (L) : Support the free market; tend to support “modern” values.
- Greens (G): Relatively new parties that combine environmentalism, feminism and social libertarianism.
28
right-leaning parties
- Christian Democratic/Conservative (CD): Support the free market; sometimes favor support of Christian institutions and morality; tend to support “traditional” values.
- Radical Right-Wing Populists (RRP): Nationalist; skeptical of immigration and support the dominant ethnicity; support order and rule of law; “traditional” values.
29
how does the electoral system affect party polarization
- Proportional electoral systems allow parties to gravitate toward the extremes, where they can try to win votes from fringe groups
- In a non-PR system, this would be a losing strategy.
30
what does the spread of parties affects
- the quality of representation
- the ability of government to get things done
- media coverage of "small-party issues"
- satisfaction with democracy and voter turnout
31
quality of representation
where there are more parties, people feel more represented.
32
the ability of government to get things done.
- More parties could mean less likely to get a majority.
- there is a lot more gridlock in fractionalized party systems.
33
Media coverage of “small-party issues”
the media tends to cover things that matter to smaller parties.
34
satisfaction with democracy and voter turnout
Turnout and satisfaction tends to be higher with more parties
35
theories on polarization in the U.S.
- Gerrymandering
- Geographic sorting: likeminded people have moved to similar areas.
- Primary elections: Only the most involved and most ideological turn out to vote.
- Increased income inequality
