Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Rob Ford, Unthinkable, Social Inequality
4 Oct 2016
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Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Lecture 13 - Party Systems
—STILL ON EXAM—, Lecture 12 - Political Parties
What is a party?
-A group of people (following distinguish between a special interest group and a political party)
•Organized for the purpose of winning governmental power
•Usually with common ideological orientation and
•A program covering a wide array of issues
-Parties try to create a platform that covers every conceivable issue that might come up,
thereby convincing people they should be voted for
When is the party?
-It’s a Modern Institution
•Emerging 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries
•Came about at that time to manage representative government in an age of mass suffrage
•Initial resistance — 18th century: parties as “factions” (sources of division and conflict in
society. Initial sense was that through a revolution, people have spoken and said parties
aren’t good — people should govern themselves, not parties that divide the population.
Parties seen as partisan, factional)
•Shifting popularity of parties ever since
Party Democracy
-EE Schattschneider:
•“Modern Democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties” —
-Rob Ford
Party Functions
-Representation
-Elite Formation and Recruitment
-Goal Formulation — setting the agenda of what goals the party will achieve, and then citizens
choose the party that has goals aligned with them. However, nowadays many parties don’t
state their positions too early so they face less criticism [b/c political consultants]
-Interest Articulation and Aggregation — Expressing the positions of key constituencies.
-Socialization and Mobilization (people door knocking etc)
-Organization of Government — Parties organize government in a way that makes it ___ and
functional
Party Types
-Cadre - Elitist:
•Before Mass Suffrage [organized around a certain member of the social elite (aristocrat),
wanted things his own way, didn’t want people telling him what to do], or
•Emphasizing Ideological Leadership [similar to chiense/russian parties — claim to
understand the scientific history, ideological knowledge justifies their position in power,
knowledge elites]
-Mass:
•Dependent on Membership [Elite parties had access to wealth from the aristocracy, mass
parties had to make money from a LARGE base of membership, made maximum use of
the power of the people]
•(For resources to challenge elites) [Members of parties “pay their dues”, that way they can
compete with the funding of aristocracy parties]
-Catch-All:
!1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Still on exam , lecture 12 - political parties. A group of people (following distinguish between a special interest group and a political party: organized for the purpose of winning governmental power, usually with common ideological orientation and, a program covering a wide array of issues. Parties try to create a platform that covers every conceivable issue that might come up, thereby convincing people they should be voted for. Initial sense was that through a revolution, people have spoken and said parties aren"t good people should govern themselves, not parties that divide the population. Parties seen as partisan, factional: shifting popularity of parties ever since. Ee schattschneider: modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties . Goal formulation setting the agenda of what goals the party will achieve, and then citizens choose the party that has goals aligned with them. However, nowadays many parties don"t state their positions too early so they face less criticism [b/c political consultants]
