Political Parties in context (UK):
Party Systems:
One-party
Different types of politics:
Consensus politics:
General agreement over policies
40s-70s: Labour & nationalisation was very popular + both parties agreed Britain's colonial past was over
1997-2015: both parties agreed on strong welfare state, constitutional reform, support for human rights
Adversary politics:
Conflict over basic principles of ideologies
1979-97: Labour opposed Thatcher's New Right - Labour moved left - cons put restrictions on TUs and privatisation of public industries
2015-present: Disagree over relationship with US after Trump elected + EU + cost of living
2-party system:
Dominant party system:
Multi-party system:
1 political party has the right to form the gov e.g China only the Communist Party has the right to govern
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Efficient, free to enact their policies
Competition not allowed therefore people not allowed to try new methods
Voting = easy for electorate
Long-term planning is possibel
Time is wasted on criticism
Makes passing laws and carrying out operations easier
Democracy is eroded and dictatorship takes over
Opponents are detsotyed by fear or punishment
Not all opinions are represented
Political system where opposition is permitted, but single party dominates electorally e.g SA - African National Congress (ANC) led by President Ramaphosa in office since Feb 2018 - party has been in power since 1994 - 2018 ANC won 230 seats out of 400
System where 2 major parties dominate the political landscape e.g Republicans Vs Democrats
Disadvantages:
Isn't much diversity - therefore doesn't give electorate much choice
Limits political competition - hinders democracy as doesn't challenge politicians
Discourages or downplays alt pov
May not promote inter-party compromise as it becomes very polarised
Advantages:
Tend to be less extreme as they support policies that appeal to wider section of soc
Provides broader rep of people
Prevents smaller, radical parties from gaining power
Multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for election and have the capacity to gain public office e.g Germany
Disadvantages:
Cause parties to form coalitions, which can dissolve easily
May find consensus decision making difficult
Failure of coalitions can lead to instability of gov
Advantages:
Promotes electoral participation from opposing sides
Encourages voter participation
Reps broader scope of people
More responsive to will of people as they coudld easily lose their seats
Gives voters more choice at the polls
Is the UK a 2 party system:
Yes:
No:
Systems using FPTP tend to return 2 party systems
UK not always 2 parties - 2005-15 Lib Dems claimed 62 seats then joined tories in coalition
CA: only applicable to England as devolved nations using PR - SNP is dominant in Scotland (roughly half in 2021 election - 64/129)
Only small periods of time where there has been more than 2 parties legitimately running for office and only 1 coalition since WW2
Accurate to say that in terms of seats and votes in GEs UK continues to be 2 party sys - cons (2019): 365 seats and 14m votes - lab: 202 seats and 10.3m votes vs SNP: 48 seats and 1.2m votes
What makes parties successful?
Party leaders
Funding
If they do what they say they will do
how they are portrayed in the media
Public opinion
unity within the party
What makes a good leader?
moving closer to a presidential system - individuals are more important than parties
Good media portrayal
good communicator
charismatic
decisviseness
good general opinion on their ability to lead
intelligence
experience
Boris Johnson - an example:
experienced cabinet minister - foreign secretary under may and London mayor from 2008-16
intelligence - Oxford educated
ability to lead - front runner in leadership campaign and won by 66% of members' vote
decisiveness - 'get Brexit done'
media portrayal - depends on source - has been portrayed as Buffon - but also tough and decisive by others - get Brexit done
Jeremy Corbyn - an example
Experience - no ministerial experience
Honesty - seen as honest by supporters - but meany lab supporters weren't convinced by stance on Brexit
ability to lead - 2 leadership contests 2015 &16 - won both with substantial majority
media portrayal - poor media image - portrayed as weak and disfunctional
Intelligence - presented by media as not that intelligent because he is radical
SNP and leadership:
Sturgeon made large impact in 2015 polls for SNP - won 56 out 59 seats
did well in tv debates
success in 2017 and 19 elections
good media image, particularly in Scotland - praised for handling and cautious approach to covid
UKIP and leadership:
Farage made impact in polls in 2015 elections - this difficult as new parties in uk pol don't really exist
Did well at appearing different to other politicians in tv debates
good with media - UKIP always in the news
subsequent leaders have not had the same impact
Brexit party did well in 2019 EU elections - less so in 2019 ge
seen as cult leader - his supporters follow him from party to party
UK isn't 2 party sys outside of Westminster - local- 444 Green councillors - just under 2,600 Lib Dem district councillors
Smaller parties have been essential e.g DUP in the confidence and supply agreement - 2017
CA: after the coalition the support for the Lib Dems collapsed - today: 13 seats