Test 1 Flashcards
(46 cards)
in a global context, Democracy stopped spreading…
15 years ago
established democracies are backsliding
duly elected leaders/democratically elected officials are dismantling democratic processes from within the systems
the failures of democracy are concentrated in the following (4)
- leaders are not truthful, rampant lying
- lack of accountability
- willingness to ignore the rule of law, constitutional authority of Congress, etc.
- asserting the free/independent press as an enemy of the people
non-democratic impulses (4)
- apathy, no concern (or dwindling concern) for the losses of important rights and protections
- increasingly aggressive attacks on truth, fact, education, and dissent
- Post-truth: an era in which there is no way, no mechanisms to arbitrate the truth or fact or an agreed epistemological foundation
- an inability, unwillingness to separate fact from one’s own ideological precepts
participatory openness
a structure that preserves status quo, but opens privileged channels of participation to insurgent candidates who come to the table with intentions to do harm
concepts of _____________ are often proposed as solutions to failing democracy
hyperdemocracy
political parties are…
extra-constitutional institutions, emerging from legislative coalitions to oppose President Washington’s administration in the 1790s (mobilizing against Hamilton’s economic policies)
pro-party arguments (3)
- parties are intermediaries
- parties supply competition and provide electoral choices
- parties anchor policy preferences
political party definition
an organized group with shared goals and ideals that joins together to run candidates for [public] office and exercise political and electoral power
political parties in democracies
they exist to organize competitive elections and mobilize voters to participate
political parties in non-democracies
may be organized not as parties, but movements to seize control of the government by force; may also oversee the machinery of a nondemocratic state (North Korea)
collective action definition
the organization of trying to get medium to large-sized groups of people with different political ideas, interests, and agendas to cooperate and work together towards the group’s goals (instead of the individual or a small cluster)
types of collective action problems (3)
- transaction costs (tangible and intangible)
- free rider problems
- coordination problems
purpose & funciton of party organizations (4)
- to address and manage collective action problems (structure the electorate)
- to mobilize the masses of voters (R = PB + D-C)
- structures campaigns/ambition theory
- to win elections
R = PB + D-C
R = expected utility or reward
P = probability of voting
B = benefit received from the election of the preferred candidate
D = sense of duty
C = costs of voting
theories to understanding political parties (three-headed political giant)
- parties as the organization
- parties in the electorate
- parties in the government
parties as the organization
a formal group of state and county chairpersons and local personnel who work for the party, maintain the professional aspect of the party, work at recruiting candidates, and implement fundraising activities
parties in the electorate
structuring campaigns and voter mobilization; the task of recruiting a coalition of people who affiliate/identify with a particular party and tends to vote for that party’s candidate
parties in the government
how party affiliation of elected and appointed officials structure legislative behavior and party discipline in state and federal legislatures; parties play a major role in organizing government and setting policy
the responsive party model (2)
- Woodrow Wilson recommended that each party propose a national program, campaign for it, and carry it out if elected
- this gives rise to the political party platform, political issue agendas, and campaign platforms
APSA recommendations for responsive party model (6)
- to formulate visions of public policy in America, to over direction and guidance of government, and to offer policy solutions to problems
- parties must be responsive to their constituents and supporters (think: group of rulers in power collectively responsible to the people)
- political parties must be democratic, responsive, and effective
- effective party systems must have a sustainable opposition party to facilitate competition
- an effective party system must be resistant to external pressures (internally sustainable and accountable)
- “we assume its [the national convention] continuation as the principal representative and deliberative organ of the party”
representative party government
defined in terms of the APSA Responsible Party Government Report (1950) that outlined this thesis of collective representation that is responsive to the will of the people
electability party government
defined and guided by the party’s organizational definition (of purpose and function)
why are parties different from other political organizations? (3)
- run candidates for office under their own label
- adopt issues and policy proposals and define stances that effectively become “issue ownership”
- subject to being regulated by state and local laws, election, and strict finance laws (other groups are regulated by IRS code/finance laws, but different laws apply)
