Political Parties Interest Aggregation Interest Representation March 30 th, 2004

Political Parties vs. Interest Groups interest groups strive to influence political outcomes political parties strive to become the governing party both represent political interests  political parties also aggregate interests  in doing so, political parties act to filter of interests

Type of Political Parties basis of organization  electoral-professional parties vs. mass parties basis of electoral competition  pragmatic parties (brokerage parties)  ideological-programmatic parties  interest parties

Ideological/Programmatic Parties organized around social cleavages  class  religion  ethnicity  region traditional conceptions of ideology  left vs. right

The Ideological Spectrum The Left -- Socialist The Right -- Conservative government regulation of the economygovernment regulation of the economy policies to help disadvantaged groupspolicies to help disadvantaged groups policies to redistribute incomepolicies to redistribute income greater reliance on the marketgreater reliance on the market fewer government regulationsfewer government regulations no special treatment for special interest groupsno special treatment for special interest groups lower taxeslower taxes More Gov’t Less Gov’t

General Trends -- Political Parties the rise of pragmatism

The Ideological Spectrum The Rise of Pragmatism The Left -- Socialist The Right -- Conservative Tony Blair (Britain) New Labour Bill Clinton (US) New Democrats George W. Bush (US) Compassionate Conservatism

General Trends -- Political Parties single member plurality systems encourage pragmatic parties; PR promotes ideological/interest parties the rise of pragmatism  parties increasingly competing to occupy the centre of the political spectrum  reasons?  success of pragmatic parties has been self-reinforcing  the fall of communism  affluence of western industrialized societies

Political Parties & Democracy mass parties vs. electoral- professional parties  mass parties encourage greater participation in politics by the public  majoritarian democrats  electoral-professional parties  elite democrats

Political Parties & Democracy ideological/interest parties vs. pragmatic parties  ideological/interest parties  gives clear electoral choices help make elections meaningful encourages greater mass participation  majoritarian democrats  pragmatic parties  depend on party elites (to broker deals among various interests)  elections differences between parties are limited electoral choice is really about best management team  elite democrats

Political Parties & Democracy liberal democrats  crucial point is that individuals remain free to form political parties (and contest elections) free from state interference