Political Parties, Politics & Voting

Voting
Political Parties
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Political Parties
 A political party is group of people who run candidates for
public office under its banner.
 A party is a group that seeks to elect candidates to public
office by supplying them with a label (party identification),
by which they are known to the electorate.
 United States parties have become weaker as labels, sets of
leaders, and organizations.
© iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved

By Selection of Members
Cadre Parties
Cadre refers to a nucleus or small core of indoctrinated
leaders who promote ideological interests.
Examples: Socialist Workers’ Party, American Nazi
Party, Communist Party
Mass Parties
Mass party refers to an organization where anyone is
encouraged and free to join. There are few if any tests
for membership.
Examples: American
Democratic and
Republican Parties.

By Nature of Ideology
Missionary Parties
 Missionary party refers to a highly ideological organization
whose members must be recruited and converted to the
tenets or values of the organization.
 Examples: Prohibition Party, Communist Party
Broker Parties
 A Broker is someone who buys and sells on a commission.
A broker party is an organization that is less ideological
and is willing to modify its positions on issues in order to
secure the most votes.
 Examples: American Democratic and Republican Parties
Broker Parties Want VOTES!

Ideology
 Ideology is a systematic set of attitudes and opinions people
use to justify their view of the political world.
 There is no one ideology.
 Ideology is thought to exist on a continuum from left to right on
the political spectrum.
Centralized Power Decentralized Power

By Degree of Discipline
 Strong Party Discipline
 Discipline refers to the degree of authority and power
the leaders hold over their rank and file members.
Parties with strong party discipline hold a great deal of
leverage over party members.
 Examples: British Labor and Conservative Parties
 Weak Party Discipline
 Discipline refers to the degree of authority and power the
leaders hold over their rank and file members. Parties
with weak party discipline have relatively little leverage
over party members.
 Examples: American Democratic and Republican Parties

Democrats and Republicans
 Mass Parties--virtually anyone can join.
 Broker Parties--looking for votes, not converts.
 Decentralized Parties--power is widely dispersed.
 Weak Party Discipline--leaders exert few sanctions.
Democrat
Republican

Functions of Political Parties
a) Promote stability
b) Recruit leaders
c) Organize government
d) Help educate citizens
e) Provide loyal opposition
f) Spawn civic engagement
g) Simplify choices

Promote Stability
 Major political parties serve as a buffer to soften the class of
extremism. They do so by building coalitions and brokering
compromises.
Recruit Leaders
 Modern governments need quality leaders. Political parties
serve as personnel agencies to identify, recruit and promote
competent public servants.
Organize government
 Without some mechanism to organize the law-making process,
legislative bodies would be nearly impossible to function. Party
leaders set legislative priorities and help enact laws.
Help Educate Citizens
 Parties help define issues and educate voters about their
positions on public policy.

Provide Loyal Opposition
 The party out of power serves as watchdog to keep the
governing party from abusing its authority.
Spawn Civic Engagement
 Parties help register voters and organize get-out-to-vote
drives.
 Voter turnout in partisan elections, all things being equal,
is significantly higher than in non-partisan elections.
Simplify Choices
 Most voters do not have the time, resources or inclination
to study every candidate and issue. The parties help
simplify their choices.

A Two-Party System
 Tradition
 It seems the United States has
nearly always had a strong two-
party system.
 It is part of our nation’s history
and tradition.
 Social Consensus
 If a nation can achieve a
“consensus” on fundamental
values, then two parties are all
that is needed to resolve
secondary issues.
 Economic Divisions
 Some believe our two major
political parties represent an
economic division between the so-
called “haves” and “have nots” in
American society. Development of the
America’s Two-Party System© iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved

 Political Socialization
 The primary agent of partisan transmission is the family.
 Most American families are either identify with or lean to
either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
 Few American children are socialized to be anything else.
 Legal Restrictions
 Most legal restrictions are imposed by the 50 state
constitutions and legislation.
 Historically, state governments have enacted laws that
favor the two major political parties.
 For most U.S. elections, political candidates are elected
from single-member districts where the winner-takes all.

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