Transcript Labour Party

British Political
Parties
“A Multiple Party System with Two-Party
Dominance”
First-Past-The-Post & Single-Member Districts lead
to emergence of two leading parties
Labour Party
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Largest party on the “left” of political spectrum
Began in 1906 as alliance between trade unions and social groups
that were strengthened by expansion of workers’ rights
Traditionally labor union have provided majority of funds for the
party
Early history of the party defined by controversial “Clause 4” that
called for nationalization of the “commanding heights” of British
industry
Trade Union Council (TUC) – a coalition of trade unions generally
associated with the Labour Party, has traditionally been a force in
British politics
Growing moderation of the party reflected by removal of clause in
early 1990s
Labour Party in 1990s
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Shift in policies toward more centrist views
Shift in political platform originated with Neil
Kinnock, party leader in the 1980s
Moderate-centrist views have continued under
leadership of John Smith (1993-94) and Tony Blair
(1997-present)
Tony Blair’s adopts “Third Way” platform and
creates “New Labour” Party
Conservative Party
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Dominant party in Great Britain between WWII
and late 1990s
Main party on the right
Traditionally pragmatic as opposed to ideological
Historically has supported a market controlled
economy, privatization, and fewer social welfare
programs – symbolized by Margaret Thatcher in
1980s
Under Prime Minister John Major (1990-1997)
gravitated towards center and away from
Thatcherism
Conservative Party II
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Characterized by Noblesse Oblige
Power centered in London
Party organization viewed as elitist
Leadership must submit to annual leadership elections
Weakened by division of party in late 1990s:
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Traditional Wing(one-nation Tories) – values noblesse oblige
and elitism, supports Britain’s membership in EU
Thatcherite Wing – strict conservatives, support full free market,
known as “Euroskeptics”, feel EU threatens British sovereignty
Liberal-Democratic Party
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Alliance between the Liberal and Social Democratic Parties
during the 1980s
Formally merged in 1989 into Liberal Democratic party
Attempted to create strong “in the middle” compromise to the
two dominant parties
Won a party high 26% of vote in 1983, but because of
single-member district plurality system only secured 23
seats in Parliament
Secured only 62 MP seats in 2005 even though they won
22% of the popular vote
Also managed to gain support in reference to their stance on
issues such as health, education, the environment, and the
Iraq War
Other Parties
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Scottish National Party
Plaid Cymru – Welch nationalist party
Sinn Fein – political arm of the IRA
Democratic Unionist Party – led by
Protestant clergymen
XVII. Mexican Political Parties
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Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)
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National Action Party (PAN)
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Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)
PRI
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In power from 1920-2000
Founded by coalition of elites led by President Calles
Originally elites agreed to trade favors and pass around power from one
cacique to another (Sexenio)
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Corporatist structure
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Patron-client system
– interest groups woven into the structure of
the party. Party has ultimate authority, but other voices heard by bringing
interest groups under the umbrella of the party. Structure is not democratic,
but allows for more input into government than other types of
authoritarianism. Cardenas allowed peasant and labor organizations to be
represented in the party and hold positions of responsibility
– party traditionally gets its support from
rural areas where patron-client system is still in control. Patron-client
system allowed the PRI to remain in control of Mexicans as long as
majority of population was rural-based, this began to change in the late
1980s
PAN (Right of Center)
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Founded in 1939
Represents business interests opposed to centralization and
anti-clericalism
PAN support strongest in the north
PAN generally considered PRI’s opposition to the Right
PAN candidate Vicente Fox won 2000 presidential election,
Felipe Calderon won 2006 election
Platform
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Regional autonomy
Less government intervention in the economy
Clean & fair elections
Good rapport with Catholic Church
Support for private and religious education
PRD (Left of Center)
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PRD considered PRI’s opposition to the Left
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Presidential candidate in 1988 & 1994 was Cuahtemoc Cardenas
(son of Lazaro Cardenas)
 He was ejected from the PRI for demanding reform that emphasized social
justice and populism
 In 1988 Cardenas won 31.1% of the official vote, and PRD captured 139 seats in
the Chamber of Deputies (500 total)
 Many believe had it been an honest election Cardenas would have won
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PRD has been plagued by poor organization, lack of charismatic
leadership, and most importantly the lack of an economic
alternative to the market-oriented policies of the PRI & PAN
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Andres Lopez Obrador, former mayor of Mexico City, was the PRD
candidate for president in the 2006 election. He lost by a slim
margin to Calderon (PAN)
Russian Political Parties
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Began forming after Revolution of 1991
Small, factional
Formed around particular leaders
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“Bloc of General Andrey Nikolaev and Academician Svyaloslav
Fyodorov”
“Yuri Boldyrev Movement” (“Yabloko”)
Formed around particular issues
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“Party of Pensioners”
“Agrarian Party of Russia”
“Women of Russia”
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Political Parties Today (United Russia, Communist Party, Reform
Parties)
United Russia
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Founded in April 2001
Merger between “Fatherland All-Russia” Party and the
“United Party of Russia”
 United Party put together by oligarch Boris Berezovsky
and other entrepreneurs to support Putin in the election of
2000
Merger put even more political support behind Putin
United Russia won 221 of the 450 Duma seats in 2004
elections
Putin won re-election in 2004 as the United Russia candidate
United Russia is hard to define other than that it is pro-Putin
Communist Party of the Russian
Federation (CPRF)
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Communist Party of the old Soviet Union (CPSU)
After 1995 elections held 157 of the 450 Duma seats
After parliamentary election of 2003 only retained 51 of the
450 Duma seats
Party leader Gennady Zyuganov finished second in the 1996
and 2000 elections, but support for the party dropped each
time, he withdrew from the race in the 2004 election
Party was weakened in 2004 when a breakaway faction led
by Vladimir Tikhonov split from the party
Party is less reformist than other parties, Zyuganov opposed
the reforms initiated by Gorbachev
Party emphasizes central planning and nationalism
Would like to see Russia regain territories it lost after Soviet
Union dissolution
Reformist Parties
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Yabloko
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Taken strongest stand for
pro-democracy
Survived since 1993
Grigori Yavlinski, leader,
finished 3rd in 2000
presidential election
Name is acronym for its
three founders, also means
“apple”
Gained 4.4% of vote in
2003 parliamentary
elections (4 seats) making
it ineligible for proportional
representation
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Union of Right Forces
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“Rightists” only in the
sense of seeking truth
Emphasizes
development of free
market
Supports privatization of
industry
Had 29 seats in Duma
prior to 2003
After 2003 elections only
won 3 seats (less than
5% of the vote)
Liberal Democratic Party
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Controversial party
Headed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky
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Extreme nationalist
Anti-semitic
Sexist
Attacks reformist leaders and disliked Yeltsin
Said he would use nuclear weapons on Japan if he were
elected
Party reformulated as “Zhirinovsky’s Bloc” for 2000
presidential election, he received 2.7% of vote
Party did receive about 11% of vote in 2003 Duma elections
(won 37 seats)
Iranian Political Parties
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Constitution legalized political parties, but they were not allowed
until Muhammad Khatami’s election (1997)
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The Iranian Militant Clerics Society – left wing reform party led by
Muhammad Khatami.
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Khatami president from 1997-2005
Several prominent politicians belong to this party including former Majlis
speaker, and a vice-president
Candidate in 2005, Mehdi Karroubi, came in third
The Islamic Iran Participation Front – reformist party led by
Khatami’s brother, Muhammad Reza Khatami
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Founded in 1998, motto “Iran for all Iranians”
Did well in 2000 Majlis elections
Guardian Council barred many members from running in 2004 so
membership declined
Political Parties II
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Executives of Construction Party – founded by several
former cabinet members of President Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani
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Important supporter of Rafsanjani and his political platform
Rafsanjani lost election runoff to Ahmadinejad by a large margin
The Islamic Society of Engineers – member of the
conservative alliance, party of current president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who secured office in presidential election of
2005
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The “society” however did not support Ahmadinejad in the
election, their candidate was Ali Larijani, who lost in first round
Reformist Parties
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Khordad Front (Alliance between Iranian Militant Clerics Society &
Islamic Iran Participation Front) – the alliance helped win reelection
for Khatami in 2000.
The Second Khordad Front did not survive in 2004 elections
as Guardian Council banned many reformist candidates from
Majlis elections
Liberation Movement – Moderate party, party founded by
Mehdi Bazargan (Khomeini’s PM), in 1961 it was banned in
2002 as subversive organization
National Front – headed by Mossadeq in 1950, it was
banned in late 1980s
Exile parties – Mojahedin (guerrilla group fought the shah); Fedayin
(Marxist guerrillas modeled after Che Guevara); Tudeh (communist party)
XII. Nigerian Political Parties
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Factionalism led to creation of many political parties
Failure to create coherent party system
Parties formed and faded around personalities
Multi-party system reinforced and strengthened ethnic and
religious cleavages
Independent National Election Committee (INEC) –
registered a number of parties following the death of
Abacha in 1998
In order to run candidates for the legislative and
presidential elections of 1999, a party had to qualify by
receiving at least 5% of the votes in two-thirds of the states
in the 1998 election
This cut the number of parties significantly, only 5 parties
were eligible to run candidates in the 2003 election
Political Parties II
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People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
 Well-established Party
 Began running candidates in 1998
 Party of President Olesugun Obesanjo (Igbo, Christian from
the North)
 Obesanjo received 62% of vote in 2003 election
 PDP gained majority in National Assembly and most of the
governors throughout the country
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All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP)
 General Muhammadu Buhari, Muslim from the North, ran
against Obesanjo
 Received about 32% of the vote
Other parties that ran presidential candidates include All Progressive
Grand Alliance (APGA), The Movement for Democracy and Justice
(MDJ), and the Justice Party
Alliance for Democracy (AD) did not have a presidential candidate in
2003, but did receive 9% of the votes for the legislative elections
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Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
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The Communist Party of
China (CPC), also known as
the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), is the founding and
ruling political party of the China
and is the world's largest
political party
The party has about 70 million
members, 5.5% of the total
population of China
The CCP was founded in 1921,
came to power in China after
defeating rival Kuomintang
(KMT) in Chinese Civil War.
Communist Party
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Ideologies: Communism, MarxismLeninism and Maoism
Internal organization of the CCP is a
hierarchy of party congresses and
committees extending from the top of
the system down to the grassroots.
Inner party rules for decision making
are based on democratic centralism
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Democratic centralism is a Leninist
doctrine that requires consultation until a
decision for an issue is reached by the
party. After a decision is made, discussion
concerns only planning and execution.
Official flag and emblem of the CCP
Party Structures
Key Party Structures
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National Party Congress
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Central Committee
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The Politburo
The Politburo Standing Committee
Chinese Communist Party
vests supreme authority in
National Party Congress
The Central Committee
determines the number of
Congress delegates and
procedures for their elections
National Party Congress ratifies
important changes in broad
policy already decided by
smaller party structures and
elects the Central Committee
Party Structures
Key Party Structures
National Party Congress
Central Committee
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The Politburo
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The Central Committee exercises
powers the congress between
sessions.
Candidates for the Central
Committee determined by
Politburo before congress meets
Changes in policy or leaders at
the political center need to be
approved by this committee
It is the Chinese political elite
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The Politburo Standing Committee
It is a collection of the most powerful
several hundred political leaders in
China
Party Structures
Key Party Structures
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National Party Congress
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Central Committee
The Politburo
The Politburo Standing Committee
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The Politburo is elected by the
Central Committee
The Politburo are all members
of the Central Committee
It is a top political elite, usually
no more than two dozen
leaders
The Politburo is in charge of
overseeing policymaking in
some issue area
Party Structures
Key Party Structures
National Party Congress
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Central Committee
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The Politburo
The Politburo Standing Committee
The Politburo Standing
Committee is also elected by the
Central Committee
It is typically no more than a halfdozen leaders who meet about
once weekly
The Politburo Standing
Committee, as well as the
Politburo, are the core political
decision makers