Political Parties

and Parties

Campaign and Elections

Definition of Political Party:

• A political party is an organization of people which seeks to achieve goals common to its members through the acquisition and exercise of political power. Most countries have single-party, two-party, or multiparty systems.

“A political party is an autonomous group of citizens having the purpose of making nominations and contesting elections in the hope of gaining control over governmental power through the capture of public offices and the organization of government.” (Huckshorn)Political parties are groups of people who come together out of a desire to obtain political power.

POLITICAL PARTIESThe obvious way to obtain such

power is to gain control of the government, but political parties also exercise power by influencing the policies of governments not under their control.

ACTUAL CONTROL is the primary aim, and political parties are oriented toward that goal and attempt to realize it by legal means, extra-legal means, and illegal means.

Party System Political system in which

individuals who share a common set of political beliefs organize themselves into parties to compete in elections for the right to govern.

Party systems are typically categorized according to the number of parties that participate meaningfully in the struggle for power.

Types of party systems

1.Single-party party systems– Legal or constitutional bans on opposition parties

2. Two-party system– Periodic alternation in government and opposition, other minor parties exist in the electorateand legislature

3. Moderate multi-party system– Several (4/5) parties, none approaching 50% of votes/seats, coalition governments

4. Fragmented multiparty system– Multiple parties (6+) in the legislature

Party Structure

Political parties can be categorized in terms of two types of party structure: cadre parties and mass parties.

Cadre Parties. In the United States and Canada only a small fraction (between 2 and 5 percent) of the population formally belong to one of the political parties in the sense of actually being members of one of the local clubs or organization. Most of the remainder of the population do, in fact, identify with one of the parties and call themselves (in the United States) Democrats or Republicans.

The work and the financing of the party is left to a small elite group of political activists.

Mass Parties. Mass-membership parties are more issue oriented than cadre parties. An issue-oriented party system is consist of competing groups of people whose participation in politics derives from their desire to translate certain policy preferences into public policy.

One of the motives for joining a mass-membership party is a desire for job preferment and other advantages that may accompany membership. In such countries, party member ship often carries such benefits as preference in government housing and school acceptance for their children.

Select Candidates. Political parties nominate candidates for political office. They narrow the field from a multitude of wannabes to a manageable few credible candidates. This simplifies the voters' role and brings a certain order to what could be a chaotic electoral process.

Mobilize Voters. Political parties inform and energize their members. They send out brochures, run media campaigns, knock on doors, and call voters on the phone. Individual candidates can do the same thing, but parties maintain elaborate networks of state and local offices that can be immediately pressed into the service of a candidate once the party nomination is secured. In addition, parties have fundraising apparatuses in place that simplify their candidates' ability to finance their campaigns.

Facilitate Governance. Parties also bring order to the process of policymaking. As party members, individual politicians have a ready-made group of allies that will usually cooperate with their efforts to pass and implement legislation. At the national level, this means that a rookie Congressperson arrives with a network of allies that will support his efforts and that he must support in turn. In addition, party alliances close the gap between the legislative and executive branches. While separated by the Constitution, the existence of political parties narrows the distance between the branches and helps them work together.

Monitor the Opposing Party in Power. Parties also serve as critical watchdogs for the public. The adversarial relationship between the major parties ensures that the party out of power (not in possession of the presidency) will keep a close eye on its opponent and notify the public of any wrongdoing or policy misstep.

POLITICAL

CAMPAIGN

A political campaign is consists of activities, by a political party or a candidate for public office, designed to attract voter support in an approaching ELECTION.

Organizing Campaigns and Elections

KEY POINTS

• The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) are the central organizations devoted to campaign and political activity. They establish connections between followers of the Democratic and Republican parties with the respective leadership of each party.

• At the start of the preliminary election season, the DNC and RNC are responsible for establishing the rules for the caucuses and primary elections.The DNC and RNC supervise the presidential nominating conventions that officially declare the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Once a presidential candidate is chosen from each respective party, the Committees provide crucial candidate support and party-building activities.

TERMS

• Presidential nominating conventionConvention in which presidential and vice presidential candidates are determined, party platforms are established, and rules governing the election cycle are adopted. The most influential presidential nominating conventions include the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

• CaucusA meeting, especially a preliminary meeting, of persons belonging to a party, to nominate candidates for public office, or to select delegates to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting.

• PrimaryA primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of apolitical party.