WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY?

WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY? An organized group of people sharing common policy preferences and usually a general ideological position. Simply to have a common view does not make the group a party. It is necessary that it seeks or has political power LIKE MINDED GROUP SEEKING POWER

FUNCTIONS OF A POLITICAL PARTY: TO RAISE POLITICAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATE THE ELECTORATE, STIMULATE DEBATE TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC OPPINION AND RAISE SUPPORT TO CAMPAIGN AND RAISE FUNDS TO RECRUIT AND TRAIN NEW POLITICIANS TO SEEK POWER AND PREPARE FOR OFFICE TO FORMULATE NEW POLICY- POLICY THINK TANK TO SCRUTINISE THOSE IN POWER TO WIN POLITICAL POWER BY ELECTION HELP MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY, HELP THE ELECTORATE UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM, HELP THEM TO VOTE

WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY? Shared; Beliefs, Views, Ideology, Oppinions + Organisation/ Structure Seeks Power/ Contests Elections

WHAT IS A Pressure Group? Voluntary organisations formed to defend a particular interest group in society OR promote a cause or political position

PARTY? PRESSURE GROUP? OTHER? Socialists Animal Liberation Front socialists SINN FEIN BNP A cross-bench life peer of the House of Lords Save the Pound Communist Party

PARTY? PRESSURE GROUP? OTHER? Conservative Future The Queen Trade Unions IRA The Government Reform Party (Ross Perot) The BBC The Church of England

THE EFFECTS OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS ON PARTIES Financial Constraints Outright banning of Parties Duverger’s Law Constituency Element

All Majoritarian 5.22 3.33 83 Alternative vote 9 3 1 Mean number of parliamentary parties (with at least one seat) Mean number of Relevant Parliamentary parties (with more than 3% of seats) Number of Countries All Majoritarian 5.22 3.33 83 Alternative vote 9 3 1 Bloc Vote 5.6 4.57 10 2nd Ballot 6 3.2 23 FPTP 4.78 3.09 49 All Combined 8.85 4.52 26 Independent 8.89 3.94 19 Dependent 8.71 6.17 7 All Proportional 9.52 4.74 61 STV 5 2.5 2 Party List 9.68 4.82 59 TOTAL 7.05 4.12 170

Median Voter Theorem- Anthony Downs If voters can all be represented along one dimension (i.e., if every voter's political type can be pinpointed on a line), then politicians seeking to win the election will realize that the pivotal voter required to win the election is that voter who lies at the median (middle) of the voter distribution. This is supposed to explain why in a two-party system, candidates often end up looking strikingly similar — they both have to pitch their platform to try to win the same median voter. The parties A and B want to catch the median voters and they will walk to the centre. The red and blue areas represent the voters already won.

Advantages/Disadvantages of the 2 Party System To what Extent is there a trade off between Proportionality and Stability within Electoral Systems. How do you strike a balance? How democratic are parties in the election process? INSTABILITY PROPORTIONALITY