Political Parties
Functions:
Representation:
They represent the views and beliefs of large sections of society and act in their interests
Participation:
Parties enable individuals to participate effectively in the political process, and to influence the decisions that affect their lives
Elections:
They offer the electorate choice in elections
Government:
They hold government office and run the country
Organisation:
They organise and bring together a variety of demands into a coherent political programme
Education:
Parties educate and inform the general public
Features:
Parties aim to become a goverment by putting candidates up for election and mobilising support
Parties are organised bodies with a formal membership
Parties typically adopt a broad-issue focus, addressing major issues of goverment policy
To varying degrees, parties are united by shared political preferences and a shared ideological identity
Political Ideas
Left Wing:
Left-wing political ideas are those associated with a desire to introduce change into the political system. Left-wing ideas look to make society more equal and favour the group solution above the individual, and thus support state intervention and collectivism. They are usually associated with welfare, economic intervention and wealth distribution
Right Wing:
Right-wing political ideas emphasise a widespread acceptance of the status quo and the need for stability in society. Right-wing ideas seek to give individuals more freedom and favour the individual in preference to the group, and thus favour the market and individualism. They would therefore support low taxes, limited welfare and free market economics
Do political parties enhance or threaten democracy?
Political parties encourage people to participate in politics via party activity, election campaigning, voting and standing for office
Political parties engage in adersarial politics, which threatens to reduce Parliament and politics to silly rituals and point-scoring
They provide voters with choices, and help to make electoral choice clearer and more coherent
Turnout at elections is not particulary high, which may indicate that the publics faith in political parties is low
They help to educate and inform the electorate about key political issues through political debate and by presenting a range of arguments
Parties may sometimes oversimplifiy issues or present information in a misleading way, especially in election campaigns
They uphold the authority of Parliament and reinforce respect for political institutions
The need for increasing amounts of fianance for election campaigns creates a situation in which rich interest groups become exessively influential
They facilitate representation by serving as a channel of communication between goverment and people
They administer elections, encouraging people to vote and presenting election issues clearly to the electorate
Legitimate political parties ensure that there is a peaceful transition of power after elections
They fail to reflect the society they 'represent'. Women and ethnic minorities are under-represented, particulary in senior party roles
Funding of parties
While MPs are paid by the state, political parties must find their own activities, which usually consists of membership fees and donations
Political parties can accept donations if they come from 'permissible sources'.
- someone on the UK electoral register
- a registered political party
- a registered trade union or building/friendly society
There are no rules limiting the amount of money that individuals may give, as long as the donation is declared and the donor is permissible. It is the amount that parties may spend that is limited
Two-party system
(Westminster is argued to oporate under this system)
Two major parties dominate the poltical system, each has a chance of gaining power
Usually, one of these parties can be secure a majority to govern alone
Government power regulary alternantes between the two parties, but not necessarily at each election
Other parties may exist but they have low representation in Parliament
Multi-party system
More than two parties competing for power with a realisitc chance of gaining powers
The outcome of an election is most likely to be a coalition
Parties' electoral strengths tends to fluctuate and new parties can gain power more easily
The distinction between major and minor parties is harder to identify
Office-holding can and does change at election times but can also fold in between elections, and new coalitions are set up
Many countries in Europe have multi-party systems - Italy, for example. In the UK, we would look to the devolved assemblies to see evidence of mulit-party systems at work
Factors affecting party success
Policies
A party's policies should be the most important factor when deciding how to vote
Leaders
Leadership can make a key difference to the suceess of a party. Charismatic leaders are often trusted more by voters which may result in voters ignoring other factors.
Media
The influence of the media cannot be underestimated in modern politics. It had been said that if you have the support of The Sun, you have a good chance of winning an election. More recently, social media platforms have taken on the older media and are seen as a force to be reckoned with. This was certainly true in 2017
Campaign
In general, campaigns rarely make a significant difference to the outcome of elections. There may be a slight widening or tightening in opinion polls but, generally, a party with a clear lead in the polls at the beginning of a campaign tends to win, even if there are occasional mishaps. When polls are tight, however, the campaign can make a difference. On there occasions, one party wins by just a small margin.
However, 2017 broke all political assumptions, showing just how significant a campaign can be. May was 20 points ahead in the polls when she called the election in April 2017. By 8 June, she had lost her parliamentary majority and was seen as an ineffectiveleader and PM
Jeremy Corbyn smashed another widely accepted fact that once the electorate have made their mind up about you, it is impossible to change.He ended the campaign being hailed as the new socialist messiah
Party Unity
Disunity in political parties is damaging. Voters like to feel that the party they vote for has a clear vision for governing
Opposition
The quality of the opposition has an effect on how successful a party may be. On the one hand, the opposition has less experience and staus of office.
Equally, however, the goverment has a track record, which a skillful opposition can exploit to their own advantage.
Voting Behaviour
Trends in voting behaviour
Class and partisan dealignment
Class alignment refers to individuals identifying with a certain class
Partisan alignment refers to the attachment that exists between an individual and a certain political party
Class alignment, normally coexists alongside partisan alignment. So, when people strongly identify with a social class, they also strongly associate with a certain political party. Equally, as people stop identifying so strongly with a social class, they stop identifying strongly with a political party
Regions
Regional voting is closely associated with class, with parties having electoral heartlands and electoral deserts
Age
Age also influences electoral turnout. The older you are, the more likely you are to vote, This was even true in the 2017 election
Gender
Femake voters tend marginally to favour the Conservatives. The difference, however, is small. Over the past five elections, the disparity between the percentage of men and women voting either Labour or Conservative hasn't gone over 4%
Ethnic groups
Evidence suggests that ethnic groups are more likely to vote Labour. There is an overlap here with class, as poorer ethnic minority groups vote Labour and the more prosperous groups favour the Conservatives
Class voting
Certain classes have a connection with specific political parties, and will principally vote for them. Traditionally, working- class voters, whereas middle-class voters have voted Conservative
The 1950s were a high point for partisan alignment, Since then, there has been a blurring of class identification with a rising aspirational middle class, which was evident in the 1979 election and increasied in the 1980s-1990s. Nonetheless, even as recently as 1992, middle-class voters were still significantly mre likely to vote Conservative than Labour. The real change occurred in 1997 when there was a huge switch across calsses to Labour under Blair
Short-term factors affecting voting behaviour
Rational choice theory
Voters act like individual consumers, choosing the most suitable 'product' on offer. Voters consider how they would be affected by having different parties in government, and make their decision based on who will benefit them and their families
Issue voting
Voters make decisions on a range of issues by going through several stages
Issue voting is problematic as it relies on a high level of political engagement from voters. It is also not particularly good in explaining voting patterns
Valence
Valence is the idea that people support the party best able to deliver on issues they care about. So, valence suggests that voters aren't solely concerned with policies, but also on how much they trust a party to deliver those policies
Party leader
The charisma and personality of party leaders is now crucial to a party's success- they are the 'brand' of their party and are often put in good positions for photo opportunities
Governing competency
Governing competency is an assessment of how effective a party has been in goverment.
Economic management
it is widely accepted that voters are more likely to support a party if it has managed the economy successfully while in goverment or it is thought likely to be able to deliver economic prosperity
Should the state fund parties?
It stops wealthy groups influencing parties
Parties can focus on representing the electorate, not fundraising
Smaller parties will get fair financial support
Less wealthy pressure groups will get a more equal hearing by parties
Politicians may be less interest in what pressure groups have to say
Taxpayers should not be funding political parties
There would be disagreement over how funding would be allocated