POL 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Party System, Good Governance, Critical Role
14 Feb 2020
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Document Summary
Across most western democracies, the number of citizens who seek out membership in a political party has declined dramatically, at least between elections. In contrast, earlier generations were active members in political parties, since they were a key source of political information and were a social network voters felt a stronger attachment to parties. Political party: an organization of like-minded individuals interested in winning power, organizing government, and implementing their preferred policies. Parties matter and are a key part of the political process and scholars support this in the form of a party consensus. Party consensus: the agreement among scholars that modern democracy requires entrenched and stable political parties to articulate political interests and organize government. Vital, resilient democracies are not possible without strong, prosperous parties. We can see how this consensus holds by examining countries that have fledgling/transitioning democratic systems (e. g. , russia, thailand, egypt).
