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Parties and Interest Groups
- 5. Growing Autonomy of Parliaments Expansion of Suffrage Avenues to Political Power
- 7. “A body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed” Edmund Burke
- 8. Inter and Intra-PartyVariation Political Party vs. Political Ideology Conservative Democrats, Liberal Republicans Politicians’ Choices ▪ Vote or caucus with another party ▪ Defect party and join another
- 10. A broad coalition of individuals who: (1) Recruit, nominate, and elect candidates for office (2) Under a given label (3)To control the government (4) In accordance with their ideas and policies.
- 13. Party-in-the-Electorate Loyalty and Identification with Party Party Identification (“PID”) Case Examples: United States, United Kingdom What happens if someone has different views? ▪ Likert Scale Strong Lib Weak Lib Lean Lib Mod Lean Cons Weak Cons Strong Cons
- 14. Party Organization Party Officials, Committees,Volunteers, Staff Functions of Party Organizations Party-in-Government Officeholders and Candidates Local, State, National Levels Examples: President, PM, Majority/Minority Leaders
- 16. Intermediary Between Citizens and Govt. Bring PublicTogether; Define and Accomplish Objectives Competition with Others (e.g. interest groups, media) Nominate Candidates for Office National, State, and Local Levels Role of PartyVaries (e.g. party list) Contest Elections Mobilize Electorate; EncourageVoting Engage Supporters, Persuade Undecided, Minimize Opposition
- 18. Organize Government RoleVaries (Parliamentary vs. Presidential System) Provide Accountability Government Responsibility Importance of PID Prospective and RetrospectiveVoting Manage Conflict Reconciling Group Demands
- 20. Elite or Cadre Parties Mass Parties Catch-All Parties
- 22. Membership restricted to political elites Quality of membership Internal development within legislatures Example: “King Caucus” in United States
- 24. Replaced elite control of parties Challenges from non-governmental actors Quantity of membership “Cradle-to-Grave” organizations
- 26. Ideological flexibility What is their political strategy?
- 27. Policy-Seeking Party Focused on issue positions Vote-Seeking Party Goal isWinning Elections Office-Seeking Party Emphasis on holding office
- 30. Dominant-Party System One party controls government Lack of competition in elections Subtype: Single-Party System (e.g. Nazis, CCP) Two-Party System Two major parties struggle for power Platforms highlight party differences Multiparty System More than two parties Emphasis on coalitions
- 31. Dominant-Party System One party controls government Lack of competition in elections Subtype: Single-Party System (e.g. Nazis, CCP) Two-Party System Two major parties struggle for power Platforms highlight party differences Multiparty System More than two parties Emphasis on coalitions
- 32. Dominant-Party System Degree of dominance by major party ▪ 100% or 51% of vote Two-Party System Alternation of power between two parties One party wins often in certain period Multiparty System Fragmentation (large # of small parties Concentration (small # of large parties)
- 34. Can’t you just count them? Effective Number of Parties Calculation: ▪ Proportion of seats held by party squared ▪ Add squares together and divide by 1 ▪ Example:Three parties (P1 – 40%, P2 – 40%, P3 – 20%) ▪ 1 / [(0.40*0.40) + (0.40*0.40) + (0.20*0.20)] ▪ .16 + .16 + .04 = .36 1 / .36 = 2.78
- 36. Persistence and Electoral Success How many electoral cycles is party around for? Stability of Ideologies / Platforms Leads to degree of party cohesiveness Emphasis on Institutions, Not Individuals Significance of party name
- 38. Duverger argued that two-party systems will emerge in countries operating with a simple plurality vote.
- 43. Interest groups are groups of citizens who: (1) Share common interest (2)Try to influence policy
- 44. What is relationship with the State? Pluralism – Many groups; “marketplace of ideas” Corporatism – Relationship w/ groups, State
- 45. What is relationship with the State? Pluralism – Many groups; “marketplace of ideas” Corporatism – Relationship w/ groups, State
- 47. Representation Represent members’ views to institutions / agencies Persuading policymakers = Lobbying Participation People sharing interests can participate toward group goals Education Influence policymakers on relevant issues; brochures/publications Agenda Building Provision of Program Alternatives Program Monitoring – Deals with policy implementation
- 49. Equal Opportunity Interest Groups Protects rights of disadvantaged groups Example: NAACP Public Interest Groups Groups advocating for public-at-large Government Interest Groups Foreign governments lobby to change policy
- 50. DIRECT LOBBYING “Inside Lobbying” Interaction with decision makers in government INDIRECT LOBBYING “Outside Lobbying” Mobilizes interest group membership / general public to contact govt. officials on given issue
Editor's Notes
- The following lecture slides and notes are the sole materials of Austin Trantham. You may NOT copy or reproduce this material in any form without express permission from the author.
- This chapter focuses on three interrelated topics that all play important roles in politics: 1) Political Parties, 2) Party Systems, and 3) Interest Groups We will discuss each in some detail .
- The formation of modern political parties can be linked to three developments: #1: Growing Autonomy of Parliaments Political elites had to ensure that decisions could be reached. #2: Expansion of Suffrage Elites had to appeal to masses as they got voting rights, and new types of parties appealed to these new voters. #3: Avenues to Political Power Elites saw value in creating parties as way to wield political power.
- What exactly is a political party? Edmund Burke, a British philosopher, defined “party” this way: “A body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest, upon some…principle in which they are all agreed.”
- What’s wrong with this definition? It does not take into account the inter and intra-party variation present in modern parties nor separates a political party from the idea of political ideology. These are very different components. As an example, in the United States, we have conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans serving in Congress. Politicians may choose to vote with another party on an issue, caucus with them, or defect one party and join another altogether.
- Think about your answer to this question.
- We can better define a “party” as: A broad coalition of individuals who recruit, nominate, and elect candidates for office under a given label in order to control the government in accordance with their ideas and policies.
- A political scientist named V.O Key, Jr. argued that the term “political party” was used too generally and could describe many different groups. Therefore, he proposed a three-part structure to better conceptualize the idea of political parties.
- #1: Party-in-the-Electorate Voters and ordinary citizens with a sense of loyalty to and identification with the party . Public opinion surveys in various countries often ask respondents about their “PID” or party identification Example: United States: “Do you consider yourself to be a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or something else?” Example: United Kingdom: If there was a general election tomorrow, would you vote Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat or some other party? What happens if someone supports liberal and conservative views? We could develop a way to accurately measure their issue attitudes Likert Scale: Used to scale responses when conducting survey research Seven points are generally used Strong-Weak-Lean Liberal Independent Strong-Weak-Lean Conservative
- #2: Party Organization Comprised of party officials, committees, volunteer workers, and staff - Functions of Party Organizations: 1) Raise Money for Campaigns 2) Recruit and Nominate Candidates 3) Organize and Facilitate Campaigns 4) Register Voters 5) Mobilize Voters to the Polls 6) Conduct Party Conventions #3: Party-in-Government Includes party candidates for governmental office and public officeholders at the local, state, and national levels. Examples: President, Prime Minister, Speakers of Legislatures, Majority and Minority Party Leaders
- Now we turn to learning about the various functions political parties perform.
- Political parties serve a variety of functions, including: 1) Serving as Intermediaries Between Citizens and Government - Parties function as institutions to bring different elements of the public together, to define objectives, and to achieve goals through policymaking. - Parties must compete with others for this role, such as interest groups. 2) Nominating Candidates for Office - Many national, state, and local elected officials are nominated by parties. - As we have seen, the role of party in carrying out this function based a country’s electoral system (e.g. use of party list). - Outcome of partisan nominations can significantly influence a party’s electoral chances and future course of development. 3) Contesting Elections - Parties mobilize the electorate, encouraging them to vote for their slate of candidates. - This requires ensuring your party base will vote, persuading undecided voters to support you, and diminishing the opposition—not an easy task.
- This chart demonstrates how political parties serves as intermediaries between citizens and government. Parties are also called “linkage institutions” for this reason.
- #4: Organizing Government - This role can also vary, as we have seen in our previous discussions of legislatures and executives - Parliamentary System: Majority party forms government - Presidential System: Branches centralized around partisanship #5: Providing Accountability - Parties provide voters with means to hold public officials accountable for the actions of government. Party labels (or PID) allow voters to sort through complex policy issues and come to voting decision. - Periodic elections give voters a chance to register general approval or disgust toward party’s stewardship of government. Retrospective Voting: Looking toward Past Incumbent: “Are you better off now than four years ago?” (keep status quo) Challenger: “Are you better off now than four years ago?” (want change) Prospective Voting: Looking toward Future Incumbent: “Keep us on the job, we’ll go forward together” Challenger: “Throw the bums out, elect us, and get something better #6: Managing Conflict – Reconciling competing group demands
- We will now discus the major types of political parties.
- For most people, the differences in political parties center on what views they hold. Party platforms allow voters to differentiate these views during elections. However, there are also differences in how parties are structured. Goes back to our opening question of “Who Rules?” There are three general types of parties, which the following slides discuss in detail.
- Membership and scope of this group of parties were restricted to political elites. There was a focus on quality of members and NOT quantity. Politics centered to connections to aristocracy. Voting or suffrage rights were then based on property so limited electoral audience. Platforms did not have to appeal to mass audiences, and so groups developed internally within a legislative body. Coalitions of politicians sharing common political interests. Emergence of electoral caucuses to promote candidates Example: “King Caucus” in United States Members of Congress would come together and decide on presidential nominees.
- Over time, mass parties replaced elite control of parties. Popular calls for suffrage expanded in society., and challenges from non-governmental actors(i.e. working classes) began to develop. Members of the working class movements could not depend on elites to represent interests, so they formed external parties. In doing so, they drew on mass support (quantity NOT quality). Mass parties were “cradle-to-grave” organizations for members. Elite parties based on social NOT ideological connections Now needed support from electorate (e.g. constituency) to remain in office and hold power. Each party pushed for a larger membership than rivals. Devotee Parties are a type of mass party. Goal: Enroll masses but maintain “purity” of movement More open than caucuses BUT more restrictive than mass parties Examples: Communist, Fascist Parties
- Catch-all parties are those that are flexible in their ideological orientation. Try and attract support from broad range of society. Strategy includes: - Not having “ideological baggage” - Reducing role of individual and boosting role of party - Argument is that when one party becomes a catch-all organization, it will put political pressure on other parties to follow suit - US parties make “catch-all” appeals for median voters
- How can we define these three types of parties; Policy-Seeking Party Issue-oriented, giving priority to policies. Includes well-defined parties and single-issue parties. Redefine political agenda to highlight important issue or issues Vote-Seeking Party Primary goal is winning elections. Policies and positions are manipulated to win votes (Catch-All Party). Organized to win office at all levels of government. Office-Seeking Party Emphasis is on winning office, at expense of policy or getting votes. Hold power alone or with others (coalitions). What type of party would you want to be in?
- The next topic of this lecture focuses on party systems.
- Parties are important, but their overall influence can hinge on the national party system. Is your party strong and popular enough to political difference?
- How many major parties can compete in elections to participate in government? #1: Dominant-Party System - Occurs in both democratic and authoritarian systems. - One party dominates politically, controlling main branches of government. - Leads to lack of competition in elections; clear choices for voters. Single-Party System - Subtype of dominant party system. - Any parties besides dominant party are banned or disallowed Examples: Historic: Nazi Germany; Modern: Chinese Communist Party (China) Why might single-party systems be a good thing? - Cultural values of deference to authority. - Multiparty systems are too divisive #2: Two-Party System - Struggle for political power and authority between two major parties. - Persists over multiple election cycles - Each party has different set of policy positions in a platform. - Statements highlight economic and social differences
- #3: Multiparty Systems - More than two significant parties have opportunity to govern. - Might have two major parties, but they are competing with minor parties who continually win enough seats to influence governance. - No party wins a majority of seats, forcing coalition governments.
- All of these systems can still vary a bit: Dominant-Party Systems: - Different degrees of dominance by leading party. - Single party wins 100% of seats in legislature every time. - Single party barely wins 51% of vote Two-Party Systems: - Frequent alternation of power between two parties Example: Present Day GOP and Dems - One party wins more often for a period of time Example: Early Twentieth Century GOP and Dems - GOP in power in 1920s (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) - Dems in power in 1930s-1950s (FDR, Truman) Multiparty Systems: Degree of fragmentation or concentration in the system. Fragmented System: Party system has a large number of smaller parties Concentrated System: Party system has a small number of larger parties
- How do you determine the number of parties in a system? - Seems easy enough to just count them, but it actually more complicated. - If minor party wins one seat in legislature in two-party system, does this make them viable third party? Example: United Kingdom: Liberal Democrats are prominent partner in coalition with Conservative Party Effective Number of Parties - Measure designed to capture number of meaningful parties in a given party system that weights number of parties by their size. - Represents degree of fragmentation or centralization in a system - Calculated by taking proportion of seats held by each party, squaring each, then adding squared sums together and dividing by 1 Example: Three parties exist in a system. Party 1 gets 40% of the vote, Party 2 gets 40% of the vote, and Party 3 obtains 20% of the vote. Completing the math that is on the slide above, we arrive at approximately 2.78 effective parties in this system. You will find a worksheet on Canvas to practice calculating the effective number of parties in a system. I would highly encourage you to complete it on your own time, as questions asking you to identify the effective number of parties may appear on the upcoming Second Exam.
- This slide provides you with some other examples of effective party calculations. Can you arrive at the stated correct answer?
- How can we know the stability of a party system over time? Party System Institutionalization: Main Aspects: 1) Persistence and Electoral Success of Party - Do parties endure or only around for 1-2 cycles? 2) Stability of Ideologies, Programs, and Platforms - Coherent nature and cohesiveness of party 3) Parties as Institutions, Not Individuals - Party name has significance - Less associated with someone and ideas
- The final section of the political parties section of this lecture concerns how these elements influence the issue of representation in politics.
- Duverger’s Law was developed by Maurice Duverger, a French jurist, sociologist, and politician. It suggests a connection between a party system and an electoral systems. When elections are based on a plurality vote, they marginalize smaller political - parties resulting in a two-party system. Example: - Country X has three viable political parties. - Party A takes 40% of vote, Parties B and C take 30% each - Party A will always win unless B and C join forces, eliminating them as independent entitles. Be sure and read more about Duverger’s Law on p. 266 of your textbook
- The median voter theory represents one consequence of the two-party system. Says that two major parties will work to attract median voter, or voter / group of voters at center of the political spectrum. We need to return to the distinction between sincere and strategic voting. - Very conservative or liberal voters would still strategically vote for a more moderate version of the party if is prevented other party from winning. I have placed a video on Canvas on the Median Voter Theorem. Please review it.
- When might median voting not be viable? #1: When the distribution of voters looks like a bimodal distribution - Many voters on each side of the political spectrum but not many in the center. - Liberals and Conservatives would gravitate to middle, the other major party and a more ideologically-extreme party in their own part of the spectrum would cut them off on either side. - Liberals and conservatives would more likely fight for the median voters on their ; respective sides—leading to polarization rather than moderation. #2 When voters cannot be arranged on a left-to-right spectrum - Idea of cross-cutting cleavages - People have different issue positions within society - Issues like Religion, Economy, Race, etc. - Leads to confusion on what the “left” and the “right” really means? #3: “Safe Seats” in American case - Areas are simply more liberal or more conservative in nature - Politicians less likely to move toward middle due to representation
- Now we will turn to discussing interest groups.
- Interest groups are groups of citizens who 1) Share a common interest… This could be a political opinion, religious affiliation, ideological belief, social goal or economic objective …and 2) Who try to influence policy Either on behalf of their specific membership, or for the broader good of the community and society
- Interest groups seek to influence government for their cause or mission What is relationship between interests and the State? Pluralism - Groups compete in “marketplace of ideas” - Large number of group competing to affect policy change - Madison argued that factions were not good for democratic government, and he encouraged multiple groups to have political clout Criticism of Pluralist Model: Action gets bogged down due to having too many “interest groups in the political kitchen,” leading to government inefficiency
- Interest groups seek to influence government for their cause or mission What is relationship between interests and the State? Corporatism - Major groups designated as representative of certain interests. - These have centralized interaction with State. - People belong to certain groups (e.g. labor unions), so this system actually makes for better representation. - Argument that corporatist structure does better job of integrating interests and ensuring that large societal sectors are adequately represented. Disadvantages to this model: - Interest groups getting too close to the State - May lead to charges of corruption and favoritism - Decision-making by small number of elites (govt. , business, labor) - Step toward authoritarian rule
- Interest groups play six main roles: #1: Representation: Representing members’ views to national political institution and administrative agencies; Act of persuading policymakers to support their members’ preferences is called lobbying, a central activity of interest groups #2: Participation: Interest groups provide an avenue for citizen participation in politics that goes beyond voting in periodic elections. #3: Education: One of the most important functions of interest groups to educate policymakers regarding issues that are important to the group. Interest groups provide details on issues about which they are experts. #4: Agenda Building: Interest groups have the—responsibility or privilege— to alert the proper government authorities about its issue positions, get onto the political agenda, and make the issue a high priority for government action. #5: Provision of Program Alternatives: Interest groups can be effective at supplying alternative suggestions for how issues should be dealt with once they have been put on the agenda. #6: Program Monitoring: Interest groups keep an eye on passed policies. This helps the government decide whether to continue or change a given policy—and it also helps to keep politicians accountable by ensuring that someone is actually paying attention to what they do.
- Three are three main types of interest groups which all engage in lobbying to some degree.
- #1: Equal Opportunity Interest Groups Organized to promote the civil rights of groups that do not believe that their members’ interests are being adequately represented and protected in national politics through traditional means (Example: NAACP) #2: Public Interest Groups Try and influence government to produce socioeconomic non-economic benefits that cannot be restricted to interest groups’ members or denied any member of general public. (Example: Environmental actions by Greenpeace). #3: Government Interest Groups Foreign governments also may lobby Congress and the President, in hopes of affecting positive policy change between the United States and their country Example: A nation informs us they are making democratic changes to their country in hopes that we provide them with aid for this purpose
- There is a direct between direct and indirect lobbying: Direct Lobbying “Inside Lobbying,” interaction with actual decision makers within government. Indirect Lobbying “Outside Lobbying,” mobilizes interest group membership / general public to contact governmental officials on given issue.