1. PARTY AND INTEREST GROUPS

2. Functions of Parties Coordination Contesting Election Recruitment
Organizing political act and discipline party members
Coordinating within government, within society, between government and society
Contesting Election
Conducting electoral campaigns
Developing policy programs.
Recruitment
Selecting candidates for elections
Recruiting and socializing political activists and supporters
Representation
Speaking for their members and supporters
Being the organizational embodiment in the political sphere of categories of citizens.

3. Types of Party System in Demo
Dominant Party
One large party with more than absolute majority (India until 1975, Japan between 1955 and 1993, Mexico until 2000)
Two Party
Two parties dominate votes and seats; alternation between two parties (Austria, Israel, UK until 2000, US)
Multiparty
Several or many parties with none approaching half of votes and seats; alternation through coalition changes (most European industrial nations)
Bipolar
Two large coalitions composed of several parties; alternation between coalitions (Germany since 1990, Italy since 1994, Portugal).

4. Pluralism of Interest Groups
Interest groups are viewed as an essential source of liberty rather than a potential threat to the sovereignty of the democratic state.
Two strands of Tocqueville’s analysis: (1) Denial of absolute moral claims of political authority because they represent a danger to liberty, even if they are meant to advance the general will of the people. (2) Mutual acknowledgement of conflicting interests enable the accommodation of conflict within democratic procedures.
State should not only guarantee its citizens’ right of association but also have the responsibility to ensure the freedom of association of its citizens.

5. Corporatism of Interest Groups
Rise of “consociational democracy” or consensus democracy in which parties that represent different sections of society share power.
Concerned that free competition of interest groups would lead to the stronger interests prevailing over weaker interests.
The state should not only guarantee freedom of association but also contain free competition because it challenge governability, undermine social justice, and hamper the economic performance of modern mass democracies.
Neocorporatism vs. the authoritarian corporatism.

6. Coverage for Quiz 2
Democracy theories (dependency theory, modernization theory, global-system theory)
Welfare state
Political parties and party system
Interest groups
Economic models around the world
Important figures: Karl Marx, Tocqueville, John Maynard Keynes