Unit 3 - Political Parties Flashcards
(22 cards)
Political Parties
An organized effort by office holders, candidates, activists, and voters to pursue their common interests by gaining and exercising power through the electoral process
Governmental Party
The office holders who organize themselves and pursue policy objectives under a party label
Organizational Party
The works and activists who make up the party’s formal organization structure
Party in the Electorate
The voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party
Political Machines
A party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is chats third by a high degree of control over member activity
Civil Service Laws
These acts removed the staffing of the bureaucracy from political parties and created a professional bureaucracy filled through competition which removed opportunities for much of patronage used by parties to reward their followers
Issue- Oriented Politics
Politics that focuses on specific issues rather than on party, candidate, or other loyalties
Candidate- Centered Politics
Police that focuses directly on the candidates, their particular issues, and character, rather than on party affiliation
Political Realignments
A shifting of party coalition groups in the electorate that remains in place for several elections
Critical Elections
An election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues
Secular Realignment
The gradual rearrangement of party coalitions, based more on demographic shifts than on shocks to the political system
Coalition
A group made up of interests or organizations that join forces for the purpose of electing public officials
National Party Platform
A statement of the general and specific philosophy and policy goals of a political party, usually promulgated at the national convention and most visible instrument parties use to formulate/ convey/ promote public policy
Proportional Representation
A voting system that apportions legislative seats according the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party
Winter-Take-All System
An electoral system in which the part that exceeded at least one more vote than any other party wins the election
National Convention
A party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential and vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform
Think Tank
Institutional collection of policy-oriented researches and academics who are sources of policy ideas and influence party positions and platforms
Soft Money
The virtually unregulated money funneled through political parties for party-building purposes, such as get out the efforts or issues ads
Hard Money
Funds that can be used for direct electioneering but are limited and regulated but the Federal Elections Commission
Party Identification
A citizen’s personal affinity for a political party, usually expressed by a tendency to vote for candidates of that party
Dealignment
A general decline in party identification and loyalty in the electorate
Roe v. Wade
Preserving a women’s right to choose safe and legal abortion
