Transcript Slide 1

Political Parties
October 22, 2007
The Constitution’s Unwanted Offspring
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The Constitution contains no mention of political parties.
What is a political party?
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An organization whose purpose is to monopolize government. Power.
One definition: “A coalition of people who seek to control government
by contesting elections and winning office”
A party differs from a single candidate’s campaign because a party
runs an entire slate of candidates for a wide range of offices.
A party differs from an interest group because a party seeks to win
offices rather than to influence those in office.
Parties are made up of ordinary voters, officeholders, office
seekers, and activists
What do parties do?
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Organization
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Provide information, propagandize party ideology
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for the average citizen they simplify the political world
Parties recruit candidates
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organize people by bring people under one tent.
(more commonly, politicians are self-starters) But candidates
need the party label to get elected.
Contest elections
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Parties mobilize the electorate
Consequences of Party Action
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Form governments
Form organizations: committee/party leadership
 -inter-branch coalitions: between executive
and leg.; senate/house
 legislatures of 49 states and the US Congress
are organized along party lines.
Provide accountability
 provide a set of people to reward or blame
 Dispersal of power destroys political
responsibility
Why only two parties?
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The rules of our political system play a large role
in determining how voters and parties behave.
Our electoral system is based on “winner take
all”. It is referred to as a single member plurality
system (SMD). Also referred to as “first past the
post”.
Under such a system, voters are discouraged
from voting for smaller parties that have no
chance of winning.
Smaller parties are discouraged from contesting
elections
Multi-party Systems
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Most modern democracies have an electoral
system that is based on proportional
representation.
The system gives a party a share of seats in
the legislature matching the share of votes it
wins on election day.
In most cases, parties put forth a list of
candidates and citizens vote for the list. Thus
voters choose among parties, not individual
candidates.
Voters have less of an incentive to defect (from
their sincere preference) and smaller parties
have a greater incentive to contest elections.
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Sample (SMD) Ballot
Ireland
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Single Transferable
Vote (STV)
Voters select
candidates based
on their preference,
i.e Mark 1 in the box
for your first choice,
mark 2 beside the
candidate for your
second choice…
New Zealand Proportional (Mixed)
System
120 members total
About 55 elected by
party vote from one
large national district
Also divided into firstpast-the-post
(plurality winner)
single member
districts (electorate
vote)
Implications of Two Party System
Encourages parties to converge toward
the “median voter”.
 Parties adopt moderate platforms to
appeal to the broadest possible audience
 Difficult for voters to recognize differences
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Number of Voters
Example of Spatial Competition
Party C
Party A
Party B
Median Voter
Disadvantages with Having Only
Two Parties
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Normative concerns (what is lost)
Fairness
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Trust
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Should 50% of participating voters make govt.? Should
incumbent parties draw districts?
If voters are not aligned with major party, and their vote is
“wasted” on a third party, will they trust government?
Competition
Participation
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US has one of the lowest rates of participation
Why show up if vote will be wasted?
Advantages of Two Party
System
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Stability
 Multi-party
democracy said to be unstable
 Must form coalition governments
 Evidence is that coalition governments are
less stable than single party government
Illusion of Majority Rule
 Accountability
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 “responsible
party” thesis
How Could a Third US Party Form?
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Institutional Change
 Prospects
slim for US Congress to act
 State Legislatures
 Citizen’s initiative
Major split in existing party
 Rise of regional conflict
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Strength of Parties in the US
Generally “weak” as compared to parties
elsewhere
 Lack of recruitment (most candidates are
usually self starters)
 Lack of funding (most candidates have to
raise the bulk of their funds independently)
 Lack of party discipline
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Should Parties be
Strengthened?
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Strong parties would:
 Promote
party discipline
 Provision of a clear choice
 Concentration of power in hands of winning
party
How Can Parties be Strengthened?
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Campaign Finance Reform
 Allow
soft money?
 Limit contributions from interest groups…
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Reform primary system
 Closed
primaries