POL SCI 40 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Statics
24 Dec 2016
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Downs: the statics and dynamics of party ideologies. Ca(cid:374)(cid:374)ot pro(cid:448)ide sta(cid:271)le a(cid:374)d effe(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e go(cid:448). u(cid:374)less there"s a large measure of ideological consensus among citizens. Parties in 2-party system deliberately change their platforms so that they resemble one another: whereas parties in multi-party system attempt to remain as ideologically distinct from one another as possible. New parties most successfully launched immediately after some big change in the distribution of ideological views among eligible voters. In 2-party system, it is rational for each party to encourage voters to be irrational by making its platform vague and ambiguous (shows this point in diagram below) Left end of a line = full gov control = 0. Right end = completely free market = 100. Eventually both would become more moderate and less extreme in policy: they would move towards the middle rather than the extreme because they know they are the closest party that the extremes on their side favor.
