This document discusses key concepts related to political parties. It covers the growing autonomy of parliaments, expansion of suffrage, and avenues to political power. It defines political parties as broad coalitions that recruit, nominate, and elect candidates to control the government according to their ideas and policies. Political parties exist in the electorate through party identification, in government through officeholders, and as organizations with officials and volunteers. Parties serve to intermediate between citizens and government by defining objectives and nominating candidates. The document also discusses types of political parties including elite, mass, and catch-all parties, as well as systems with dominant parties, two parties, or multiple parties.

1. POL 252
Fall 2014

5.  Growing Autonomy of Parliaments
 Expansion of Suffrage
 Avenues to Political Power

7. “A body of men united,
for promoting by their
joint endeavors the
national interest, upon
some particular
principle in which they
are all agreed”
Edmund Burke

8.  Inter and Intra-Party Variation
 Political Party vs. Political Ideology
 Conservative Democrats, Liberal Republicans
 Politicians’ Choices
▪ Vote or caucus with another party
▪ Defect party and join another

10.  A broad coalition of individuals who:
 (1) Recruit, nominate, and elect candidates for office
 (2) Under a given label
 (3) To control the government
 (4) In accordance with their ideas and policies.

13.  Party-in-the-Electorate
 Loyalty and Identification with Party
 Party Identification (“PID”)
 Case Examples: United States, United Kingdom
 What happens if someone has different views?
▪ Likert Scale
Strong
Lib
Weak
Lib
Lean
Lib
Mod
Lean
Cons
Weak
Cons
Strong
Cons

14.  Party Organization
 Party Officials, Committees, Volunteers, Staff
 Functions of Party Organizations
 Party-in-Government
 Officeholders and Candidates
 Local, State, National Levels
 Examples: President, PM, Majority/Minority Leaders

16.  Intermediary Between Citizens and Govt.
 Bring Public Together; Define and Accomplish Objectives
 Competition with Others (e.g. interest groups, media)
 Nominate Candidates for Office
 National, State, and Local Levels
 Role of Party Varies (e.g. party list)
 Contest Elections
 Mobilize Electorate; Encourage Voting
 Engage Supporters, Persuade Undecided, Minimize Opposition

18.  Organize Government
 Role Varies (Parliamentary vs. Presidential System)
 Provide Accountability
 Government Responsibility
 Importance of PID
 Prospective and Retrospective Voting
 Manage Conflict
 Reconciling Group Demands

21.  Elite or Cadre Parties
 Mass Parties
 Catch-All Parties

23.  Membership restricted to political elites
 Quality of membership
 Internal development within legislatures
 Example: “King Caucus” in United States

25.  Replaced elite control of parties
 Challenges from non-governmental actors
 Quantity of membership
 “Cradle-to-Grave” organizations

27.  Ideological flexibility
 What is their political strategy?

28.  Policy-Seeking Party
 Focused on issue positions
 Vote-Seeking Party
 Goal is Winning Elections
 Office-Seeking Party
 Emphasis on holding office

31.  Dominant-Party System
 One party controls government
 Lack of competition in elections
 Subtype: Single-Party System (e.g. Nazis, CCP)
 Two-Party System
 Two major parties struggle for power
 Platforms highlight party differences
 Multiparty System
 More than two parties
 Emphasis on coalitions

32.  Dominant-Party System
 Degree of dominance by major party
▪ 100% or 51% of vote
 Two-Party System
 Alternation of power between two parties
 One party wins often in certain period
 Multiparty System
 Fragmentation vs. Concentration

34.  Can’t you just count them?
 Effective Number of Parties
 Calculation:
▪ Proportion of seats held by party squared
▪ Add squares together and divide by 1
▪ Example: Three parties (P1 – 40%, P2 – 40%, P3 – 20%)
▪ 1 / [(0.40*0.40) + (0.40*0.40) + (0.20*0.20)]
▪ .16 + .16 + .04 = .36 1 / .36 = 2.78

35.  Persistence and Electoral Success
 Stability of Ideologies / Platforms
 Emphasis on Institutions

37.  What is relationship with the State?
 Pluralism – Many groups; “marketplace of ideas”
 Corporatism – Relationship w/ groups, State