CHAPTER 11 – PARTIES AND PARTY SYSTEMS
PARTY POLITICS
- Authoritarian or democratic
- Seeking power through elections or through revolutions
- Left-right-centre
- By the late 1950s – most of the world run by political parties
o 1960s and 1970s – decline of political parties
- Political parties are inconvenient for economic and military elites
- Asia, Africa, and Latin America – the collapse of military rule caused by re-emergence
of parties
- Former communist states – one-party system replaced by establishment of
competitive parties
- Political party → group of people that is organized for the purpose of winning
government power, by electoral or other means
o They aim to exercise government power by winning political office
o Organized bodies with formal card-carrying membership
o They adopt broad issue focus
o They are united by shared political preferences and general ideological
identity
- Before – factions or parties were little more than groups of like-minded politicians
formed around a key leader or family
- Modern kind of political parties – emerged in the US
- Beginning of 20th century – party system as political manifestation
- Faction → a section or group within a larger formation, usually a political party
- Factionalism → proliferation of factions or bitterness of factional rivalry
Types of party
Cadre and mass parties
- Cadre – party of notables
o Dominated by informal group of leaders who saw little point in building a
mass organization
o Franchise is limited
o Includes trained and professional party members
o Examples: Communist party of the Soviet Union, Nazi Party in Germany,
Indian Congress Party
o Strict political criteria for party membership
- Mass party
o Heavy emphasis on broadening membership and constructing a wide
electoral base
o Examples: German Social democracy, UK Labour Party, US Republicans and
Democrats
o Heavier stress of recruitment than ideology
, o Catch-all parties
Representative and integrative parties
- Distinction advanced by Sigmund Neuman (1956)
- Representative
o Primary function as being the securing of votes in elections
o Reflecting rather than shaping the public opinion
o Now – prevalence of representative parties – Joseph Schumpeter
- Rational choice → approach to politics based on the assumption that individuals are
rationally self-interested actors, an economic theory of politics
- Integrative
o Adopting proactive rather than reactive strategies
o They wish to mobilize, educate, and inspire masses
o UK conservatives under Thatcher
Constitutional and revolutionary parties
- Constitutional
o Acknowledge the rights and entitlements of other parties
o Operate withing the framework of rules and constraints
o Division between the state and party power
o Formal independence and political neutrality
o Mainstream parties in liberal democracies
- Revolutionary
o Anti-system and anti-constitutional parties (left/right)
o Nazis and Fascists – extremists
Left- and right-wing parties
- Ideological orientation
- Left-wing (progressive/socialist/communist)
o Commitment to change in the form of social reform or economic
transformation
o Helping poor and disadvantaged
- Right-wing (conservative/fascist)
o Uphold existing order, forcing continuity
o Business interests and materially contented middle class in focus
- The division is misleading
o New issues now – environment, feminism, animal rights…
Mainstream and populist parties
- How societies should be governed
- Mainstream (conventional/traditional)
o Broadly accept the constitutional status quo
o Operating in established political game
o Catch-all, centre politics
PARTY POLITICS
- Authoritarian or democratic
- Seeking power through elections or through revolutions
- Left-right-centre
- By the late 1950s – most of the world run by political parties
o 1960s and 1970s – decline of political parties
- Political parties are inconvenient for economic and military elites
- Asia, Africa, and Latin America – the collapse of military rule caused by re-emergence
of parties
- Former communist states – one-party system replaced by establishment of
competitive parties
- Political party → group of people that is organized for the purpose of winning
government power, by electoral or other means
o They aim to exercise government power by winning political office
o Organized bodies with formal card-carrying membership
o They adopt broad issue focus
o They are united by shared political preferences and general ideological
identity
- Before – factions or parties were little more than groups of like-minded politicians
formed around a key leader or family
- Modern kind of political parties – emerged in the US
- Beginning of 20th century – party system as political manifestation
- Faction → a section or group within a larger formation, usually a political party
- Factionalism → proliferation of factions or bitterness of factional rivalry
Types of party
Cadre and mass parties
- Cadre – party of notables
o Dominated by informal group of leaders who saw little point in building a
mass organization
o Franchise is limited
o Includes trained and professional party members
o Examples: Communist party of the Soviet Union, Nazi Party in Germany,
Indian Congress Party
o Strict political criteria for party membership
- Mass party
o Heavy emphasis on broadening membership and constructing a wide
electoral base
o Examples: German Social democracy, UK Labour Party, US Republicans and
Democrats
o Heavier stress of recruitment than ideology
, o Catch-all parties
Representative and integrative parties
- Distinction advanced by Sigmund Neuman (1956)
- Representative
o Primary function as being the securing of votes in elections
o Reflecting rather than shaping the public opinion
o Now – prevalence of representative parties – Joseph Schumpeter
- Rational choice → approach to politics based on the assumption that individuals are
rationally self-interested actors, an economic theory of politics
- Integrative
o Adopting proactive rather than reactive strategies
o They wish to mobilize, educate, and inspire masses
o UK conservatives under Thatcher
Constitutional and revolutionary parties
- Constitutional
o Acknowledge the rights and entitlements of other parties
o Operate withing the framework of rules and constraints
o Division between the state and party power
o Formal independence and political neutrality
o Mainstream parties in liberal democracies
- Revolutionary
o Anti-system and anti-constitutional parties (left/right)
o Nazis and Fascists – extremists
Left- and right-wing parties
- Ideological orientation
- Left-wing (progressive/socialist/communist)
o Commitment to change in the form of social reform or economic
transformation
o Helping poor and disadvantaged
- Right-wing (conservative/fascist)
o Uphold existing order, forcing continuity
o Business interests and materially contented middle class in focus
- The division is misleading
o New issues now – environment, feminism, animal rights…
Mainstream and populist parties
- How societies should be governed
- Mainstream (conventional/traditional)
o Broadly accept the constitutional status quo
o Operating in established political game
o Catch-all, centre politics
