PHYSICS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Party System, Liberal Democracy, Dependent And Independent Variables
Political Parties - Week 1
Essay Questions:
1) Do contemporary liberal democracies still need political parties?
2) What is the primary function of a party: to get people into office, or to pursue
certain policy goals?
Brief introduction:
Giovanni Sartori – PARTY - a stable organisation that enables candidates to run in elections
for public office.
A necessary evil?
“Factions (parties) are the inevitable by-product of liberty, as people will always disagree.
James Madison’s opinion of people: “where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most
frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions”
Or a force for good?
“The transition from faction to party rests on a parallel process: the even slower, more
elusive and more tortuous transition from intolerance to toleration, from toleration to
dissent, and with dissent, to believing in diversity.”
What do parties do?
- Compete for political power: put up candidates for office, attract and recruit
politicians, lead political campaigns.
- Mobilize the electorate: get out the vote, work to increase participation and ‘inform’
the public.
- An institution of representation: Allow people to have a say, convey preferences
from society to government.
- A means of governing: help organize legislation process, overcome collective action
problems in legislature, facilitate bargaining.
Party system:
“The patterns of interactions among political parties”
- The no. of political parties (i.e. 2 party system e.g. USA, multi-party system).
- Their relative strength.
- Who votes for them.
- Ideological makeup of the parties (polarized? Overlapping?) e.g. democratic and
republican parties seen to be too similar before, their ideological makeup has now
spread.
Electoral rules → Party systems
(Independent variable)
→
(dependent variable)
- Majoritarian systems have less parties, whereas proportional systems mean more
parties.
Document Summary
Giovanni sartori party - a stable organisation that enables candidates to run in elections for public office. Factions (parties) are the inevitable by-product of liberty, as people will always disagree. James madison"s opinion of people: where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions . The transition from faction to party rests on a parallel process: the even slower, more elusive and more tortuous transition from intolerance to toleration, from toleration to dissent, and with dissent, to believing in diversity. Compete for political power: put up candidates for office, attract and recruit politicians, lead political campaigns. Mobilize the electorate: get out the vote, work to increase participation and inform" the public. An institution of representation: allow people to have a say, convey preferences from society to government. A means of governing: help organize legislation process, overcome collective action problems in legislature, facilitate bargaining.
