SSF1053 INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE LECTURE 7 POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS I. POLITICAL PARTIES A.

Parties often espouse an expressed ideology or vision bolstered by a written platform with specific goals, coalition among disparate interests. B. A political party is a group of officials or would be officials who are linked with a sizable group of citizens into an organization; a chief ob ect of this organization is to ensure that its officials attain power or are maintained in power. II. ORIGINS OF THE MODERN PARTY A. !ong before the coming of electoral democracy, the state had a varied structure of public officials " mayors, members of parliament, ministers for defense, and so on. Before democracy arrived, people attained these offices in a variety of ways# by being born into them, by buying the office, by bribery, by appointment. B. $nce democracy was introduced, however, many of these positions were filled by election. %n the old days, the person who wished to have the office dealt with a single king or perhaps with a few people who could be bribed# under democracy, the would&be official had to seek the votes of a thousand or more people. '. %t did not take long for politicians in the new democracies to see that some sort of club or organization that bound them together with large numbers of voters would help them to attain and hold office. (hus, the political party was born. ). (he first modern electoral democracy was the *+A, and it was here that the first political party developed. By the ,-./s, there were well&organized parties, and the )emocratic Party, which can trace its roots back to that time, is the oldest political party in the world. 0. %n Britain, ,-12 was the first year in which there was reasonably widespread extension of the vote. As of that year, ,/ percent of the population was entitled to vote. As a result of this expansion of the electorate, the first modern party organization Britain had known was established in the city of Birmingham; the !iberal Party. 3. +imilarly, all over 0urope, whenever a reasonably large and varied electorate was established with the coming of democracy, the political party appeared. 4. !ike elections themselves, political parties have been widely copied and are found in many countries that are not electoral democracies. (he 'ommunist parties of the 0astern 0uropean states were obvious examples of this, but many other autocratic states have had political parties that functioned importantly in their politics. 0gypt, for instance, is governed by the 5ational )emocratic Party, 6imbabwe by the 6imbabwe ,

African 5ational *nion, 7enya by the 7enyan African 5ational *nion, and +yria by the Ba8ath Party. III. PARTY SYSTEMS A. $ne party system ,. $ne party system is one which only a single political party is allowed to be active. (he former communist states of 0astern 0urope; 0gypt, (anzania and many other new states of the +outh; and the right&wing dictatorship of 5azi 4ermany are examples of the one party system. 'urrent examples of one party state are 'hina, 'uba, 0riteria, 5orth 7orea and !aos. .. %n such systems, the government and the party are closely identified, because the government enforces the rule that other parties are not allowed to be active. 9. (he party may closely control the governmental apparatus or the party may simply have been created by those in charge of government. :. (he party in a one party system concentrates heavily on the tasks of mobilization, communication and control. B. A dominant party system ,. A dominant party system is similar to the one party system in that a single party holds power all the time, but it differs from the one party system in that other political parties are allowed to function openly and with reasonable effectiveness. .. %n many ways, a dominant party system is like a one party system. ;owever, the tolerance of other parties in the system does lead to important differences. 9. 3or one thing, the existence of alternative parties provides a base for criticism of the government and guarantees that there will be more open debate about politics than in a one party system. :. (he largest opposition party in <exico, for instance, was for many years the 5ational Action Party, a party of the middle class that had been opposed to the P=%8s emphasis on labor and the poor. >. %n the ,??2 election, the P=% lost control of the lower house of 'ongress and lost the powerful mayoralty of <exico 'ity. 1. 'urrent examples of a dominant party state are <alaysia, 7azakhstan, +ingapore, +outh Africa and Angola. 2. (his pattern of long&term dominance eventually giving way to true competition is typical of dominant party systems. '. (wo party system ,. (he two party system is where no one party can count on always holding power but only two parties can normally expect to have a chance at doing so. .. A prime example is the *+ party system, in which only the =epublican and )emocratic parties are normally serious contenders for power. $ther examples are @amaica and <alta. 9. A two party system does not necessarily have only two parties; a dozen or so parties run regularly in a *+ presidential election, including the Aegetarian, the Prohibitionists, the !ibertarians, and the +ocialist .

Borkers8 Party. But only the two ma or parties usually have any expectation of winning. :. %n contrast to a dominant party system, a two party system offers somewhat more regular variety and choices in policies and candidates. At the same time, a single party usually wins an election cleanly and is able to govern by itself without forming a coalition with other parties. ). <ulti party system ,. (his system consists of more than two ma or parties. .. A good example is 5orway, whose Parliament, after the election of ,??2, consisted of representatives from the following parties# !abour party C1> seatsD, 'hristian People8s Party C.> seatsD, Progress Party C.> seatsD, 'onservative Party C.9 seatsD, 'entre Party C,, seatsD, !eft +ocialists C? seatsD, !iberal Party C1 seatsD, 'oast Party C, seatD. 9. (here are ,1> seats; therefore -9 are reEuired to control a ma ority vote in the Parliament, and no one party had enough seats to rule by itself. :. %n this case, no group of parties with -9 or more seats among them was willing to form a coalition. %nstead, the 'hristian People8s Party, the 'entre Party and the !iberal Party formed a coalition based on their :. seats; other parties agreed to support them on certain bills, while remaining out of the government. +uch a cabinet is called a minority government. >. <ost democratic states have multi party systems. (he one factor that seems strongly to determine whether a given state will have a two party or a multi party system is its electoral system. %f a state uses a form of single&member district plurality electoral system, it will almost surely have a two party system. 1. 'ompared with a two party system, a multi party system offers the voter a wider range of choice. 5ot only are there more choices, but the parties are able to be more distinctive than they could be in a two party system. 2. %n a two party system, because a party must command half or more of all votes cast in the election to succeed, there is great pressure on both parties to appeal simultaneously to many different groups. A party may not stake out a clear appeal to farmers, for instance, because it might alienate its supporters in the cities. +uch parties are apt to present a pretty fuzzy picture to the electorate. -. Parties in a multi party system do not have this problem. (he formation of a coalition is likely; therefore a party does not have to be huge to get some share of the power. ?. %n the 5orwegian example, the !abour Party represents the special interest of the labor unions, fishing crews, and various other groups. (he 'onservative Party represents especially the urban middle class while the 'hristian People8s Party represents devout !utheranism and favors the prohibition of liEuor and a ban on abortion. $ther examples are )enmark, 3inland, 4ermany, @apan, 5ew 6ealand, Pakistan and Philippines. IV. FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES 9

A. A basis for the mobilization of masses of citizens ,. A political party is a handy instrument with which to stir up the electorate and get them to the polls. %t is controlled by its leaders, who are at the same time the rulers of the state, and it may have a membership that extends down into every village, so it is strategically placed to turn out large numbers of people. %n the *+, political parties make great efforts to get out the vote. (hey do this not to bolster support for the regime, but to help themselves win elections. .. Aside from elections, political parties may serve to mobilize the people for special purposes or to meet crises. Bhen President Anwar +adat of 0gypt was assassinated in ,?-, and was succeeded by Aice President ;osni <ubarak, over a million people oined a demonstration in 'airo to show their support for <ubarak. (he demonstration was partly organized by the government apparatus itself but also by the ruling 5ational )emocratic Party. 9. A party may also mobilize masses of people against a regime. <any of today8s political parties in states of the +outh " the 'ongress Party in %ndia and the 5ational 3ront for !iberation in Algeria " were initially organized to carry out a campaign to overthrow a colonial ruler such as Britain or 3rance. B. A mean of recruiting and socializing political leaders ,. Another use to which parties have lent themselves, beyond what they were originally designed for, is the recruitment and socialization of leaders. .. %n Britain, for instance, an ambitious young woman who was interested in entering politics might work for a while at lesser tasks for one of the ma or parties, such as the 'onservative Party. 9. Before too long, if she were interested in standing for Parliament, she might be nominated from a district. (o get the nomination, she would have to convince the local selection committee of the 'onservative Party in that district that she was their best nominee. :. As a beginner, she would probably be selected in a hopeless district, where no 'onservative had much of a chance; but once she had proved that she could campaign well in one or two lost causes, she might get the nomination from a decent district, win, and enter the ;ouse. >. %n the ;ouse, she would continue to be molded and guided by the party. %f she were the sort that party leaders like " witty in debate, hard working and above all a faithful party voter " she might advance into positions of real responsibility, such as party spokesperson on defense or on health. 1. 0ventually, she might aim so high as to be prime minister. (o be selected for this position, she would have to win an internal election at which all the 'onservative members of the ;ouse of 'ommons vote to narrow the choice of nominees to two of their members; the 99/,/// enrolled members of the party then vote by mail ballot to choose which of the two will be party leader. 2. (hroughout this career, her advancement would have been primarily due to her support from her party organization, and she would have :

risen to the top only because she was the sort of person her party wanted and because, in each position she held, she had learned from the rest of the party how to behave in the ways they preferred. '. A mechanism to structure political identity at the mass and elite levels ,. Party can be an important part of one8s identity. (his source of identity is called party identification. .. 3or those who become Euite active, the political party may become a vital and central personal concern. 9. $ne important thing about party as a source of identity is that it can provide continuity in a political world that is otherwise Euite fluid. :. By furnishing individuals and politically active people with a lasting political identity, the party can give them a source of political community throughout their lives. >. Parties may provide an even longer&range continuity in politics than that of a single lifetime if party connections are passed on from parents to children or if local party organizations continue their activity across generations. ). A method of control within a government structure ,. Political party offers an excellent channel for political leaders to control the actions of other political leaders or the citizens. .. (he leaders of a party have many punishments and rewards at their disposal " nomination for various offices, support in passing favored legislation, advancement to more powerful positions within the party and so on. 9. !eaders use these inducements to force obedience on lesser party figures in legislative votes, campaign activity, and so on. :. Parties may also be used as a channel for power by which the leaders of the state control the masses. (his is more common in authoritarian states than in democracies, where direct control of citizens is supposed to be the expectation rather than the rule. V. ELECTIONS A. An election is a decision&making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office. (his is the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy fills offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and udiciary, and for regional and local government. (his process is also used in many other private and business organizations, from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations. B. %n his book The Spirit of Laws, <ontesEuieu states that in the case of elections in either a republic or a democracy, voters alternate between being the rulers of the country and being the sub ects of the government. By the act of voting, the people operate in a sovereign Cor rulingD capacity, acting as FmastersF to select their governmentGs Fservants.F '. 0lections with broad mass participation are rather new. +uch elections originated with democratic government, which means that they came along at the end of the ,-th century and the beginning of the ,?th century.

>

). (oday elections are widespread around the world, even though a number of the world8s states are not democracies. <any non&democratic states, such as the pre&,?-? +oviet *nion, have held them regularly. 0. Bhy are elections so in vogueH ,. Part of the answer, of course, is that democracy is a word that comes with respectability. 0ven states that are not democratic wish to appear democratic, and holding elections is one of the easiest ways to follow some of the forms of democracy even if the state is not democratic. .. A second reason is that elections can serve more purposes for the state than merely the democratic one of allowing the masses to help in the selection of leaders and policies. 0lections were invented to make democracy possible; but once invented, they turned out to have further uses. %n this case, the thing that recommends elections to the leaders of autocratic states is that they can serve two main purposes# C,D to mobilize its people and to build up their support for the state, and C.D to allow the masses to have some direct say in the choice of leaders and policies. VI. FUNCTIONS OF ELECTIONS A. 0lections as a mean of building support ,. $ne example of an autocratic state in which elections figured importantly is the +oviet *nion before ,?-? Csince ,?-?, most parts of what had been the +oviet *nion, including =ussia, have moved toward open electoral democracyD. .. Before ,?-?, there was never any suspense over the outcomes. $nly a single candidate was nominated for each position. Aoters could vote against that candidate by crossing out the name, and if a ma ority of those voting did this, the candidate was not elected. (hat happened rarely. 9. $f the ... million candidates for election to local soviets in ,?22, only 1, were dumped this way, and almost all of these were from small villages. :. 'learly, the purpose of all this electoral activity was not to choose who would govern the +oviet *nion, but it must have had some purpose or else the authorities would not have invested so much in it. >. (he most responsible guess is that the main purpose of elections in the +oviet *nion was to renew the people8s enthusiasm and support for the regime. 0lections provided a recurring opportunity for the newspapers to pour out praise for the leaders of the state and for citizens to feel that they were part of it. 1. (he +oviet *nion was not unusual among autocratic states in investing a great deal of time and energy in elections. 5azi 4ermany8s election extravaganzas were famous, and approximately ?? percent of the 4erman people regularly proclaimed their loyalty to Adolf ;itler in this way. %n modern times, such states as 4uatemala, 0gypt, =omania, Algeria, 'hile, 5orth and +outh 7orea, Paraguay, ;ungary, 'zechoslovakia, 'uba, the %vory 'oast, and many others have staged elaborate elections of which the outcome was never in doubt. (he only plausible reason for such elections is to strengthen the people8s attachment to the state. B. 0lections as a mean of selecting leaders and policies 1

,. 0lections may also be the mean by which leaders and actual policies are chosen by the people. .. 3or this to be the case, an election must involve a choice between candidates or a choice whether a particular policy is to be followed. %n democratic states, elections are set up in this way. 9. %n democracies, the choice of political leaders at all levels is made by competitive elections. :. %n addition, some democracies provide for the referendum, a device by which the voters choose directly through their ballots whether a particular proposal will become law. >. (he *+ does not have any provision for national referendums, but many localities and states do provide for them. 'alifornia is particularly noted for their use, as in the famous Proposition ,9 =eferendum in which the state8s voters chose to limit property taxes to , percent of the value of the property. 1. Beyond these few instances, many democracies that would not accept the regular use of referendums do use them on rare occasions for decisions of great gravity, where it is felt that all the people should be involved in the decision. +pain, for instance, when it initiated its new democratic 'onstitution in ,?2-, held a referendum is that the 'onstitution could be ratified by the people. VII. TYPES OF ELECTIONS A. Presidential election " is the election of any head of state whose official title is president B. 4eneral election " an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. (he term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation8s primary legislative body. (he term originates in the *7 general elections for the ;ouse of 'ommons. '. Primary election " is an election in which voters in a urisdiction select candidates for a subseEuent election. %n other words, primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the following general election. Primaries are common in the *+, where their origins are traced to the progressive movement. (here, primary elections are conducted by government on behalf of the parties. ). By&election " is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly&scheduled elections. *sually this occurs when the incumbent has died or resigned, but it may also occur when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office, for example because of a recall or a sufficiently serious criminal conviction. 0. !ocal election " is an election held to fill positions in the local government " city or town councils.