1.2 Political parties

Question 1

What are political parties?

Answer 1

An organised group of people who wish to gain political power. This is done by putting candidates up for election, gaining representation in Parliament and forming government.

Question 2

What are the three main features of political parties?

Answer 2

1-Parties aim to exercise gov’t power by winning political office. (Small parties may nevertheless use elections to gain a political platform rather than to win power)
2-Parties typically adopt a broad issue focus, addressing each of the major areas of government policy (small adopt narrower)
3-Members of political parties are usually united by shared political preferences and a general ideological identity.

Question 3

give 3 roles of a political party:

Answer 3

Roles & Functions:
-Representation – of their membership + society as a whole.
-Recruitment- Parties providing people to be MPs and frontbenchers.
-Participation – By joining a political party people are becoming actively involved in Politics.
(+ Policy Formulation – A party’s ideas, through its’ manifesto, will be put into operation)

Question 4

What is a broad issue focus?

Answer 4

A political party or candidate’s strategy of addressing a wide range of issues and appealing to a diverse electorate.

Question 5

What are whigs?

Answer 5

A political faction and later a party that emerged in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, primarily in opposition to the Tories. The Whigs became the Liberal Party later on in the 1850s.

Question 6

What are the mainstream parties?

Answer 6

The three major parties who have dominated politics in recent years.

Question 7

What are minority and niche parties?

Answer 7

a minority party is one that plays a smaller, often insignificant. A minority party is one that plays a smaller, often insignificant.

Niche parties- Are political organizations that focus on a specific issue/ group of issues, often those that aren’t the primary focus of mainstream parties. They’re characterized by a narrow focus, a specific electorate, + a limited number of issues that they emphasize.

Question 8

What are national parties?

Answer 8

Groups representing a region/ nation.

Question 9

What are issue-based parties?

Answer 9

Parties whose ideology/ reasoning is based around a certain:
Perspective
issue
policy
local matter

Question 10

Point in small parties:

Answer 10

Mainstream don’t have the same views as minority parties – not addressing minor views
Better for representation