Lecture 5

Political Parties

Read and Quiz on: Blondel Ruritania The 5 Great Concepts  system comparison power culture organization theory Almond and Powell pluralism critiques of pluralism Notes on Blondel

Party Systems Along with the study of political parties (as individual organizations), we may also study how parties interact in various societies.  This is generally called a "party system". For Maisel, a party system is defined as: "Electoral arrangements in which two or more parties compete for support of the electorate and control of the government and take each other into account as they set various electoral and governing strategies".  (p. 15) His emphasis suggests that we should explore: 1)  only those parties that have a realistic chance of controlling (or participating in government);  2)  the nature of the electoral system which identifies parties that can participate in government; and 3) their strategies for winning and governing. Could we expand the factors that should be explored when discussing "party systems"? Blondel argues that, "if undertaken on a worldwide basis, the analysis of party systems would require a consideration of: 1)  the number of parties; 2)  their strength; 3)  their place on the ideological spectrum; 4)  the nature of their support; 5)  their organizational structure; and 6)  their type of leadership Blondel argues that when exploring Western liberal democracies, we can limit a discussion of the party system to just the first three characteristics! Why? "Do all parties in "legitimate Western liberal democracies" support the system?  What about the Rest of Canada Party? The Western Canada Concept? Are all political parties organized along the same lines? Do they all have the same type of leadership (including leadership selection processes)? In any political system we can also explore the "totality" of political parties and the function(s) they play in the political system. Political scientists have tended to concentrate on two questions when exploring party systems: 1)  what notion should be utilized in exploring their development and their differences?; and 2) how responsive is the "party system" to change?   When exploring the notion of the development/ differences in "party systems", most political scientists have focused upon one of three approaches:   1)  sociological factors this approach argues that parties develop in any political system in response to the social phenomena which dominate a society if class is a dominant factor, then class-based parties will be discovered if regionalism is important, then regional parties will be discovered   2)  institutional factors this approach argues that the institutional setting in which politics takes place is the key to the development of political parties things such as the nature of representation, electoral rules, etc. are the keys to the development of party systems unit rule, regularity, plurality in U.S. proportional representation   3)  competition factors this approach argues that the key to exploring any political systems' party system is to examine the nature of competition among the parties in part, this approach is an offshoot of the institutional approach however, it argues that nothing other than the number of viable, competing parties really matters In the debate over responsiveness the question is often asked: Do the parties reflect the dimensions of conflict in a society? As conflict changes, does party system change?