Political Parties Interest Aggregation Interest Representation

Political Parties vs. Interest Groups both represent political interests  political parties also aggregate interests interest groups strive to influence political outcomes political parties strive to become the governing party

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

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  parties increasingly competing to occupy the centre of the political spectrum

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?  the fall of communism

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  elections differences between parties are limited electoral choice is really about best management team elite democrats

Interest Groups Interest Representation

Interest Groups are organizations whose members act together to influence gov’t policy on specific issues, without contesting elections (different from parties!)  lobbying play an important role in representing citizen demands to gov’t

Determinants of Interest Group Influence: size (membership) and cohesion information, expertise leadership, level of organization resources high-status (celebrity) membership values, goals, tactics, issue - compatible with broader political culture? e.g., Sierra Club vs Greenpeace vs Earth First!

Determinants – cont’d links to decision-makers gov’t receptivity, is function of:  budgets  philosophy compatible?  public opinion supportive?  media attention?  credibility? institutionalization: degree to which a group has become an acknowledged actor in/part of the political process institutional/associational/anomic interest groups co-optation?

Interest Groups and Democracy liberal democracy  pluralism  as long as individuals are free to form interest groups, interest group competition represents interests in society  groups do not have to be equal; have to have equal opportunity to compete

Interest Groups and Democracy majoritarian democratic critique of pluralism  interest group politics is grossly uneven  well-financed, privileged interests hold the advantage  the paradox of interest group influence  the strongest interest groups (e.g. economic interests) do not have to lobby in order to have influence

Interest Groups and Democracy elite democracy  interest group competition and lobbying (even if grossly uneven) is fine so long...  as political elites retain the power to make overall decisions in the general welfare the summation of all interest group demands does not equal the general welfare