Political parties Why do we have political parties Government and Opposition Rise of cartel parties What is an - link between the state and civil society (Heywood 2014) - Parties make the state and representatives responsive and accountable - In a democracy, parties are means for winning government - autocracies have political parties too, where single part rule used to maintain power e.g. Soviet Union with/without rigged elections - Election are way for parties to initiate policy change - Parties fit on spectrum left or right 1) Left wing - state intervention in the economy, commitment to equality of outcomes/reducing inequality, solidarity at home and abroad 2) Right wing- Economic and individual freedoms, less government intervention, nationalists - Traditional divides over welfare and state and redistribution, not clear how it applies to 21st century - In UK opposition is government in waiting, positioning to exploit hostility towards ruling party - British govt divide is a function of two-party system born of electoral system - Duverger's Law: Plurality rule election, don't need majority votes just the most votes- Two party system - Proportional systems favor multiparty systems (leading to fragmentation and coalition)- number of seats represent number of total votes that went to that party. Leads to multi party system. More parties could get into government via coalition - Multiparty system, competition amongst more than 2 parties reducing chance of single-party government and increasing likelihood of coalitions .. less adversarial - Parties accustomed to being in govt labelled 'cartel parties' - Cartel parties, fewer and fewer members, more interested in being in power than ideology and policy change - Dominant-party systems, no of parties compete for power but its dominated by a single major party that enjoys prolonged periods of power e.g. LDP in Japan - seen as supply-side problem i.e. product of political system - questions of accountability - How can cartelized parties in opposition hold counterparts in govt to account - Govt/opposition divided accompanied in many developed countries by establishment/insurgent divide - Tell us people think about a certain topic
Opinion poll Tips on reading polls 1) Pollsters asks question from representative sample of bigger population and calculate a figure for what people in that bigger group think 2) Media uses public opinion polls to drive stories on politics, business, environment - Questions about reliability revolve about how a question is asked, whether its truly representative and if they are a being truthful 1) What is the most important problem facing the UK today versus is immigration the most important problem facing the UK today 2) Twitter poll is not representative 3) Problem of shy voters: far right voters less likely to express their preferences - Polls can have political influence 1) Predicting a large margin of victory can depress turnout e.g. Clinton 2) Narrow race can motivate voting and get politicians to change their policies e.g. Scottish Independence - Underestimated Conservatives and overestimated Labour. UKIP and Lib deb were pretty accurate. - Trust but verify - Be conscious