Political Parties

Political parties consist of three parts: the party as government (members of the party who
hold public office), the party as organization (committees, leaders and activists who work to
promote the party and the candidates), and the party as electorate (citizens who support the
party through party identification).

Party in the Electorate Definition?

Party in the Electorate refers to the people within a population that identify with a particular
political party by registration, tendency to vote for that party, identifying themselves as
supporters of that party or inclined to encouragement policies of that party. Researchers view
this as a form of social uniqueness. This is a group of members who see themselves loyal to the
party.

Citizens in the general population who identify with a particular party make up the Party in the
Electorate. Party identifiers (partisans) could be described by their support in the following
ways:

 They register as a member of the particular party when registered to vote.

 They show a strong tendency to vote for candidates in their preferred party in most
elections.
 When surveyed, they identify themselves as members of that particular party.
 They are inclined to support policies endorsed by the particular party.
 They volunteer for campaigns to support party candidates more than the general
population.
 They have a higher voter turnout in primary elections than the general population.

Party in the Government Definition?

Party in government constitutes the organized partisans who serve in office, such as members
of the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. Parties provide an organizational
structure for leaders in office, develop policy agendas, and ensure that majority and minority
party opinions are voiced. The party in government seeks to represent its supporters, achieve
policy objectives, and enhance the prospects for reelection. It is the center of democratic
action. Party coalitions of many officeholders can be more powerful mechanisms for voicing
opinions than individual leaders acting on their own. Coalitions from opposing parties spar
openly by taking different positions on issues.
A. registered party voters who hold civil service jobs in the government and are influencing
policy.
B. winning candidates who become the main spokesperson for the party that nominated them.
C. coalitions of interest and ideologies that support a party's candidates.
D. party workers who hold patronage jobs in government and can influence policy.
E. party members who perpetuate the party, make its rules, and keep it running.

Terms

 Majority government A majority government is a government formed by a governing

party that has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a
parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the
largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support
from other parties in order to pass legislation and avoid being defeated on motions of
no confidence.
 Divided government A situation in which one political party controls the White House
while another party controls the majority of the Congress
 Majority party The party in a two-party political system that typically holds more than
50% of the seats in the legislature

The political party organization

The roles political parties play in society - from policy making to recruiting people for positions
in government - depend heavily on a party's internal organization. The better organized the
party is internally, the stronger its responses when faced with sudden challenges such as
leadership changes, elections or reforms within society. International IDEA is currently
developing a range of tools to help political parties perform their internal operations better: for
organizational strategic planning, for the training of individual party members and for
developing party policy platforms.

Strategic planning tool

Political parties, like any other organization, rely on strong institutional structures and clear
strategic directions. In reality, however, parties are too often distracted by urgent external
developments that take place in the immediate future: elections, societal changes, leadership
crises etc. The ad hoc nature of politics therefore leads many parties to discard their
institutional build-up, which often leads to the demise of the party once an election is lost,
funding dries up or leadership changes.

International IDEA's Strategic planning tool for political parties was developed with the
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD). It helps parties to prevent such
organizational problems through a step-by-step plan to develop parties' longer term strategy.
The tool is a hands-on instrument for both performing organizational self-assessments and
planning the future course of the party. The practical element is in its clear detailed process-
descriptions, availability of practical worksheets and real-case examples from pilot countries.
Upon its launch in the first quarter of 2013, political parties will be able to use the tool
independently, or with guidance by International IDEA and NIMD.