Political Parties and the US Political System

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Political Parties and the US Political System

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What is a political party?

• a group of persons who seek to control government
  through winning elections and holding public
  office.

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Coalitions

• unions of many persons of diverse interests.
• Each political party is actually a coalition.

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What Do Political Parties Do?
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The Nominating Function

• recruit and choose candidates.
• provide nominees with a solid base of support.

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The Informer-Stimulator Function

• take stands on issues
• criticize the stands taken by their opponents.

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The Seal of Approval Function

• try to ensure that the people they nominate are
  qualified and of good character.
• work to ensure that elected officials perform
  their duties well.

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The Governmental Function

• both State and federal public officials are
  regularly appointed on a partisan basis.
• parties are the major agent for cooperation
  between the legislative and executive branches.

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The Watchdog Function

• the party out of power scrutinizes and criticizes
  the action of government officials.

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Roles of political parties
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Reasons for the Two-Party System

• The Historical Basis
• The Force of Tradition
• The Electoral System
• The American Ideological Consensus

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Multiparty Systems

• parties represent a wide variety of class,
  religious, sectional, and political interests,
  often tend to produce political instability.

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One-Party Systems

• a political system in which only one party
  exists, or in which only one party has a
  reasonable chance of winning elections.

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Membership of the Parties

• voluntary
• generally composed of a cross-section of the
  population.

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Four Types of Minor Parties in the United States

• The ideological parties
• based on a particular set of beliefs, a
  comprehensive view of social, economic, and
  political matters.
• Ex- The Communist and Libertarian

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Single-issue parties

• concentrating on a single public policy matter.

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economic protest parties

• rooted in periods of economic discontent

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Splinter Parties

• broke off from one of the two major parties.

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The Key Role of Minor Parties

• spoiler role
• Innovator and critic