Party Systems 1 Flashcards
(28 cards)
How does Downs describe what Parties can do to make Voters choices easier?
Provide “information shortcuts”
What is the term given to a voter’s attachment to a particular political party?
Party Identification
Who recruits and socialises the political elites?
The parties
Role is often more important in parliamentary systems
Why can presidents select non-partisan members in relation to the legislature?
President has less need to negotiate with political parties in the legislature over composition of cabinet
What effect to the primaries have on the traditional role of parties?
Weakens it as candidates appeal directly to voters rather than using the parties for recruitment and socialising
Outsiders can enter office
What role to parties play in mobilising the masses?
They encourage people to vote
What happens to cabinet ministers who defy the whip?
Immediately dismissed if not already resigned
What are examples of one-party dominant systems in states that are considered democratic?
- ANC in SA since 94
- Democratic Party in Southern US from 1880s to 1960s
- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Jap from 55-93
What describes the number of parties that win votes?
The EFFECTIVE NUMBER OF ELECTORAL PARTIES
What are the two views on where parties come from?
- Primordial
- Instrumental
What is the primordial view of parties?
- Natural representations of people who share common interests
- takes as a given that there are natural divisions or cleavages in society
What is the primordial view also referred as?
The “bottom-up” approach to party formation
What does the instrumental view of party formation see the party as?
- Teams of office seekers
- Focuses on the role played by political elites and entrepreneurs
- “Top Down approach”
- May create cleavages through division
Who argued that the European party systems became “frozen” with the achievement of universal suffrage during the 20s?
Lipset and Rokken
- Used to explain why the ideological dimensions of most European parties are so similar
What parties does Kitschelt suggest challenge the FREEZING HYPOTHESIS?
The new left-libertarian parties in Europe that emerged in the sixties and seventies
What does Kitschelt believes contributes to the growth of Left-Libertarian parties like the Greens?
A strong level of development in a country
While Left-Libertarian parties are growing on the left, what is occurring on the right?
Populist parties with anti-immigration sentiments
Who said that the primary engine behind the formation of political parties can be found in social division?
DUVERGER - The more divisions that there are, the more parties to form.
The electoral institutions then determine the extent to which this demand is translated into seats
What is Duverger’s law?
SMDP encourages a two-party system
Who has said that parties have become “Cartel Parties” intent on capturing the state and then using the state’s resources to preserve their party’s position of power?
KATZ AND MAIR
Who developed the CLEAVAGE MODEL?
LIPSET AND ROKKAN
What is the cleavage model?
- Parties form along the deep-rooted DIVISIONS that exist in society
- The objective of these parties will be to introduce policies that benefit their supporters
- Therefore primarily motivated by PURSUIT OF POLICY
What countries have only one main cleavage so two main parties?
US, UK, Australia
What is Down’s model of politics?
The STRATEGIC ACTOR MODEL
