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Unit 3: Linkage Institutions
How Do People Influence Government?
This unit will discuss linkage institutions which are a vital part of our democracy. Democracy is
government controlled by the people. Theoretically, those who are elected to political office are
there to represent the people and should be accessible at all times. Linkage institutions are
mechanisms that help connect average citizens to representatives. They are called linkage
institutions because they link what the people want to what the government does.
There are four main types of linkage institutions, which can be remembered using the acronym
MIPE: Media, Interest groups, Political parties,
and Elections. As political scientists would
describe it, linkage institutions translate inputs
from the public (what people want) into outputs
from the policymakers (what the government
does).
The Media is where we get our news and
information. Media includes television, radio,
internet and pretty much any other outlet that
helps keep people informed. Media is
considered a linkage institution because it helps
link what the people want to what the
government does by providing the public with
information.
If the government causes a problem or performs ineffectively, the media is supposed to let people
know about it. People can then take action and potentially fix the problem. For example, an exposé
by the national media on the housing crisis causes people to demand free public housing. They
write letters, stage protests, and otherwise pressure the government to take action. Candidates and
elected officials are sensitive to what public thinks, so they decide to pass laws to create more
public housing. Media is therefore a linkage institution because it links what the people want—an
end to the housing crisis—to what the government does: create free housing.
Interest Groups are the second kind of linkage institute. These are private groups that attempt to
influence the government by providing politicians with information, political support, or political
pressure. There are all kinds of interest groups which attempt to impact what the government does.
The NRA is one of the most famous interest groups—they try to persuade the government to protect
gun rights. They provide the government with information about why firearms are necessary,
provide money to candidates that support gun rights, and oppose those who do not. Racial interest
groups like the NAACP, on the other hand, might try to ensure that the government creates an
environment in which African Americans are treated fairly.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club might lobby the Environmental Protection Agency for
better environmental protections. Finally, religious groups like Prolife America might try to
pressure the government to outlaw abortion. Notice that in each case these groups try to link what
the people want to what the government does by attempting to influence government policy.
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Political parties are another linkage institution. Candidates for office (people who want to be the
President or become members of congress, etc.) are selected by political parties. People can
influence government by helping to select those candidates. For example, let’s say people want a
balanced budget (input), the Republican Party can recruit or support candidates who promise to
pursue a balanced budget amendment (output). As linkage institutions, political parties serve the
role of translating inputs from the public into outputs from policymakers.
The final linkage institution is Elections/Voting. This one should be obvious. Elections help
determine who will shape policy or laws. The outcome of a congressional election, for example,
will determine who gets to make laws. If people want the government to hand out free machine
guns they can vote for candidates who promise to do this.
Now let’s look at one more concrete example involving all of the linkage institutions: Image that
people begin to demand free universal healthcare in response to rising costs. How might each
linkage institution respond?
Perhaps an interest group could form called “People for Free Healthcare.” They could mobilize
people to fight for free healthcare by engaging in protests and demonstrations. The media could
publicizes rising costs and makes it an issue. Political Parties could make healthcare part of their
platform and also mobilize people. During elections people could vote for candidates who support
universal healthcare. In the end, each linkage institution could potentially create a link between
what the people want (free healthcare) and what the government does (Medicare for all).
Part I: Political Parties
Political Parties
What exactly is a Political party? A Political party is a group of citizens who organize to win
elections, hold public offices, operate the government and
determine public policy. They are people with similar beliefs
that seek political power by electing people to office so that
their positions and philosophy become public policy. The
two most famous political parties in the United States are the
Democrats and the Republicans. Both of these parties try
to influence policy by getting their members elected or
appointed to government office.
American Political Parties
While there are many political parties in America, there are
only two major political parties with representation in the
national government. One of the main parties in American
politics, which traces its origins to Thomas Jefferson's
Democratic-Republican Party, is now the Democratic
Party. Most Americans see the Democrats as the more
liberal party, in the sense of favoring an active federal
government. Liberalism is a political ideology that advocates the use of government to promote
the welfare of society.
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Democrats tend to support things like gun control and a woman’s right to choose. Republicans
oppose both. The Democratic Party enjoys its greatest advantage on "compassion issues" like
helping the poor, the elderly, and the homeless. Generally speaking, the Democratic Party has been
able to maintain an image of “party of the common people,” while the Republican Party has long
been saddled with an image of “favoring the rich.” This could partially be due to the fact that the
Republican Party almost always raises more money than the Democratic Party. Nonetheless, it
should be pointed out that the Democrats are also backed by a coalition of lawyers and law firms,
TV, and the music and movie industry.
The American political party that traces its origins to the antislavery and nationalist forces that
united in the 1850s is the Republican Party, otherwise known as the “Grand Old Party” or G.O.P.
Republicans have a reputation of being better at “holding down taxes” and are considered to be
the conservative political party in America. Conservatism is a political ideology that favors less
government involvement in the economy. Republicans proclaims that border security is essential
for national security, want an energy policy
that includes more domestic oil drilling, and
at the time of the 2004 presidential election,
most people felt that the Republican Party
would do a much better job dealing with
terrorists.
The public perceives the Republican and
Democratic parties as different on a wide
range of issues and both parties differ
strongly over means to achieve policy goals.
Which party is better? When asked about
political parties most Americans say the
following: they have no new ideas, they are
corrupt, but they are necessary.
Party Identification
So how do you join a political party? While some states require party registration (declaring
party affiliation) when you vote, this is not a requirement to be a member of the party. In the United
States, to become a member of a political party all you need to do is claim to be a member.
Washington State does not require party registration and many local and judicial elections in most
states also require no party affiliation. These are called nonpartisan elections.
A citizen's personal affinity for a political party that usually results in a citizen voting for
candidates of that political party is known as party identification. It is one’s self-described
identification with a political party.
Recall that there are many factors which influence party identification including socialization and
demographics. The single greatest influence on young citizens' initial party identification, for
example, is their parents, but other environmental factors also influence a person’s preferred party.
Democrats for example tend to have the greatest support from groups such as: African Americans,
Hispanics, younger people, the working class, unmarried women, and east and west coast urban
voters. Republicans on the other hand tend to have great support from older white males, members
of traditional families, Southerners, and those who are strongly religious.
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Many Americans do not associate with either major political party and instead claim to “vote for
the person and not the party.” Ideology may be understood as an organized set of beliefs about the
fundamental nature of the good society and the role government ought to play in achieving it. With
respect to ideology, most Americans tend to locate themselves in the middle.
Political Party Functions
So what do political parties do? Political parties play a crucial role in helping to organize how our
government works. First and foremost, political parties recruit and nominate candidates for
public office. In other words, they help to pick the people who run for president or congress. A
party's endorsement to officially run for office as the candidate of that party is called a nomination.
Additionally, political parties manage political campaigns—they help politicians get elected by
teaching their candidates how to run a political campaign, as well as providing technical assistance
and campaign advice.
Political parties also propose alternate forms of government. There are (or should be)
differences between the two political parties which allow voters to express their preference for one
form of government over the other. Both parties formulate and promote different policies. Voters
choose which ones they like the best. For example, one party might be more inclined to go to war
than the other. One party might support free college whereas another party might be opposed to it.
Voters can then choose which party (and policy) they like best.
Additionally, political parties coordinate and organize the actions of government officials.
People in the same political party tend to work together. If one Democrat decides to vote against
a law there is a very good chance that most of the other Democrats will too. In fact, the voting
patterns of members of Congress correlate most strongly with their political party affiliation. In
other words Republicans tend to vote like other Republicans and Democrats tend to vote like other
Democrats.
Parties also organize diverse interests within society. In order to function and gain power
political parties have to bring huge groups of people together. This is the only way that you can
win an election. Think about it: in order become the President you and your political party have to
convince more than half of the American Public that you are correct. That’s a tough job considering
most people can’t even agree on what kind of pizza to order. Political parties work magic and are
capable of persuading dissimilar groups to work together. They can get gun owners to unite with
people who oppose abortions or LGBT activists to rally with working class union members.
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To pull this off political parties sometimes have to compromise and appeal to people at the center
of the ideological spectrum. Some political scientists argue that political parties therefore provide
a force for stability and moderation.
Political parties also inform the public about political issues and mobilize voters by getting
them to the polls. The Republicans in particular have been very effective at registering voters and
having supporters turnout on Election Day. Similarly, political parties mobilize support for issues
and candidates.
Perhaps most importantly political parties provide cues for voters and a platform of issues to
support. Most people who vote for a local candidate have no idea what policies that candidate
actually supports. In fact they probably know nothing about that candidate except for their political
party. Since people in the same political party often support the same policies most people will
vote based solely on a candidate’s political party. People assume that if a person runs for office as
a Democrat, they will act like a Democrat. They will support Democratic policies once voted into
office. Therefore the most common criterion people use when voting for a candidate is
partisanship or partisan identification: the candidate's party identification.
In this way political parties help make officeholders more accountable by simplifying the task of
voters in determining how to place blame or credit by allowing for collective responsibility. If
people are unhappy with a policy they will often blame the party that created that policy. Finally,
Political Parties work as linkage institutions. As mentioned earlier political parties link citizens
to the government. They connect what people want to what government does.
Party Functions in Government
What do political parties do in government? While political parties are non-governmental
organizations (they are not even mentioned in the Constitution), they play a strong role in
organizing how the government works.
Political parties are most visible and important in the legislative
branch where they promote their party’s public policy agenda.
Republicans in Congress, for example, often work together to pass
laws which protect gun rights, cut taxes for the wealthy, and limit
a woman’s right to choose. Democrats often do the opposite and
work for programs and laws which they support.
Republican Representative Joe
Wilson represents increasing
party polarization. He was
famous for shouting “You lie!”
during an Obama speech to
Congress.
The percentage of members of a party who vote together on roll
call votes in Congress on which a majority of the members of one
party vote against a majority of the members of another party is
called a party unity score. This measures how closely parties
work together. Party unity has increased considerably among both
Democrats and Republicans since the 1970s. Today,
approximately 95 percent of U.S. legislators say that they desire
to support their political party's position on issues. Presidents are
also inclined to push policies similar to those advocated by their
party's congressional leaders.
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Additionally, leadership positions in Congress are assigned on a party basis. The Speaker of
the House—the most powerful position in the House of Representatives—is always picked by the
political party which holds the most seats and controls
Congress (this is called the majority party). The same is true
for the Senate Majority leader and the President Pro
Tempore—two of the most powerful positions in the Senate.
Party leaders articulate the legislative policy priorities of
the party and facilitate the legislative policy priorities of the
party. In other words, they tell their fellow party members in
Congress which laws should be passed and which should be
stopped. They explain which programs should be saved and
which ones should be ended. Additionally, political parties
explain to their fellow members which laws demand attention
now and which can wait until later.
The majority party also controls floor debates: they get to The current Speaker of the House
pick who gets to speak and when. Because they hold the most is a Republican named Paul
seats they can control the rules committee which decides Ryan. He is from Wisconsin—the
when a law will be voted on. They can create a calendar land of cheese.
favorable to the majority party’s policy priorities. Their laws
will be voted on first and the minority party’s (the party with the fewest seats or the least amount
of people in Congress) laws will be voted on last—if at all.
Finally, the majority party appoints and controls the standing committees. These are the structures
in Congress that actually write the laws and the majority party gets to pick who will be in these
groups. In other words, the majority party chooses who will be in the group that gets to write laws
about taxes and who will be in the group that gets to write laws about turnips. They also select
committee chairs who run these groups and these leaders help to promote the party’s legislative
priorities in committee.
Despite what it looks like, political parties do not have total control and compared to other
countries political parties in the U.S. are actually undisciplined. This is largely because in general,
leaders of American political parties cannot issue orders to those down the chain of command. In
fact, if they try members of Congress don’t have to listen. After all Congress is elected by the
American people, not the political parties.
During George W. Bush's second term (when he became unpopular), a significant number of
previously loyal Republican members of Congress abandoned support for Bush's policies
concerning Iraq, Social Security, and immigration. People turned against Bush’s policies and so
did many Republicans in Congress.
What can political parties do about this? Not much. They can limit the amount of support and
money they will give when it comes time for reelection—this decision is made by congressional
campaign committees—but most money comes from private individuals and interest groups, not
political parties.