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:!: LECTURE 18Party systems: origins and developments (focus mainly on…
:!:
LECTURE 18Party systems: origins and developments (focus mainly on Europe)
cleavage party systems
cleavages originated around two revolutions in the 19th century:
the national revolutions:
religion and modern state vs traditional power of churches
centre vs periphery
the industrial revolutions:
working class vs upper class (marxist)
rural vs urban
party systems developed around these cleavages in the 20th century -
"Parties make for a ‘system’, then, only when they are parts (in the plural); and a party system is precisely the system of interactions resulting from inter-party competition.”
(Sartori 1976: 43-44)
not all cleavages were politicised into 'political cleavages'
dependent on the electoral system
depending on the social structure of the country
electoral systems
one member district systems
generates one or two party systems generally e.g. UK
:) clear winners in elections - rarely coalitions needed
:) each MP has a mandate from voters
:( weak opposition
:( minorities poorly represented
:( in many districts there is nothing at stake -- strategic voting
:( gerrymandering
gerrymandering - Michigan
Percentage of votes in elections for house of representatives: almost 50-50.
63 seats went to candidates of Republican Party and 47 to candidates of Democratic party
district systems are very beneficial to big parties e.g. Labour, Tories in the UK, Republique en Marche in France,
proportional representation
generates multi-party systems
:) good for representation of minority opinions
:) power sharing means compromise which = stability
:( coalitions are difficult to form and can take ages
:( no clear link between election outcome and government formation
:( most MP's lack an electoral mandate
Multi-party systems provide more opportunities to politicize cross-cutting cleavages than two party systems
social structure and cleavages in western europe
class based cleavages: almost everywhere e.g. tories, labour??
centre-periphery e.g. in Spain and Belgium -- regional or cultural
urban-rural - power of the landowning aristocracy e.g. Conservatives and agrarian parties
religious diversity
Party families after universal suffrage
Socialists / social-democrats
Christian-democrats / conservatives
Liberals
Agrarian parties/
Communists
loss of mainstream parties due to
demand: individualisation
supply: parties convert to center so less radical support
this leads to uncertainty about electoral support and makes rooms for new parties
important new parties
greens
radical right/left wing populists
reasons for party changes
dealignment: no more long term political relationships between voters and parties
realignment: there are new conflicts that create new stable alignments between social groups and political parties - more emphasis on values than identity
realignment
Mass parties developed on the basis of long lasting conflicts between center-periphery, church-state and social classes.
Conflicts originated from the national and industrial revolutions of the 19th Century
Globalization of markets is a new ‘critical junction’, which creates a new structural conflict between winners and losers.
This changes the ‘cleavage structure’ of the party systems.
left vs right
core concept is equality
left = equality
right = natural inequality
in the 70s and 80s
left = big government, intervention, progressive, state, equality
right = small government, laissez-faire, conservative, market, opportunity
globalisation:
This is a ‘cultural’ dimension
Main poles are demarcation (closed borders) vs. integration (pro-EU en pro-migration)
According to Kriesi (and many others) this is a new ‘cleavage’.
Van Praag chapters 5 and 7
Hague et al. chapters 16 and 17
Van der Eijk chapter 6 (again)
the formation of political parties:
formed in western europe around the introduction of universal suffrage
before universal suffrage the main political division was the church and nobility vs liberal citizenry
after universal suffrage, mass parties emerged and representatives founded based on cleavages