Political parties
What is the Republican party?
Who are the Republican party?
What is the Democratic party?
Who are the Democratic party?
What issues do they compete over?
Political Parties
• What do parties do?
– 1)
– 2)
– 3)
Political Parties
• What do parties do?
– 1) Private organization
– 2) Govern
– 3) Brand label
What are Parties?
• Organization dedicated to winning elections
• Primary institution for organizing mass
democracy
• Democracy, representation impossible w/o
parties
Elections and Party Systems
•Party System = basis of party competition
•not all systems the same...
•different types of parties
•different number of parties
•different issues that parties compete
over
•What is basis of party competition in US?
Responsible party model
Argument: two party system =
One Controls Government
One Acts as Opposition
Elections a referendum on the Government
Requires “discipline,” unified parties; but provides simplicity,
accountability
Parties and Responsible
Government
Parties present clear choices to voters
Cohesive platform
Control nominations -- how??
MPs all vote their party’s line
Number of choices limited
Government
Opposition
Accountability
What makes a party system?
• What unites groups / people under one
party label
• What divisions are reflected by major
parties?
Lippset & Rokkan Model
A nation’s party systems function of:
Coalitions of social groups defied by historical
cleavages
• National Revolution (State building)
• Industrial Revolution
• Post - material Revolution
Lippset & Rokkan Model
Thinking about party systems:
How well does this model / logic explain the
US party system?
What about other countries?
Lippset and Rokkan: Old
Coalitions
Party Cleavages:
Reflect historic patterns
Land-based elites vs. liberals/merchants
Church vs. State
City vs. Country
Owners vs. workers
Dominant culture vs. distinct regions
Political Parties: Old
Coalitions
National Revolutions
• Cleavages:
• Center v. periphery
• US revolution, civil war; Quebec,
Scotland
Political Parties: Old
Coalitions
National Revolutions
• Cleavages:
• Federalists vs. Anti-federalists
• Original Liberal Parties
• vs. land owning class
Political Parties: Not so Old
Coalitions
Industrial Revolution
Cleavages:
Owners vs. workers
Capital vs. Labor / workers
Land-based interests vs. Capital
Political Parties: Not so Old
Coalitions
Industrial Revolution
Cleavages:
• UK Liberal Party (old version)
• Labour vs. Conservatives (UK)
• Social Democrats (SPD) vs Christian
Dems (CDU), Germany
• US Democrats 1930s
Political Parties: New
Coalitions?
A third era of cleavages:
Post-material / post-industrial revolution
(Inglehart, Dalton)
•Societies move beyond ‘material’ economic concerns
•Newer cleavages around ‘cultural’ values
•‘Process’ oriented concerns
Party Coalitions
How do these ‘old’ cleavages define contemporary parties?
• Religion (CDU in Germany, US Democrats pre‘68?)
• Region (Scotland SNP, Germany CSU, Canada BQ, )
• Class (Torries v. Labour in UK; Socialists in FR, IT,
SP; Dems v. GOP in US)
Post Materialism
Dalton:
“Most parties and party systems are still oriented
primarily toward the traditional political alignments
that L & R described”
New coalitions: Values based, environment, lifestyle,
minority rights, social/moral issues
Post Materialism
Post material
• post scarcity
• aesthetics
• political rights, speech
• participation
• ideas count more than
money
Material
• national security
• economic growth
• law and order
• fight inflation
Post Materialism
% post material
• Germany 14%
• UK 15%
• Netherlands 22%
• France 20%
• Denmark 25%
• Ireland 12%
% ‘mixed’
• Germany 59%
• UK 64%
• Netherlands 64%
• France 53%
• Denmark 67%
• Ireland 60%
Party Coalitions
How much do ‘old’ cleavages matter?
Does this model work in US (why?
why not?)
•Class?
•Land-elite based parties (Conservatives vs..... Liberals)
a dead cleavage?
•Church v. State Cleavage (religious v. secularists)
Old Politics v New Politics?
In US
Old “New Deal” system: Dems = party of working class
GOP = party of business
Since then, ‘values’:
Women’s movement, Civil Right Movement,
Environmentalism, sexual-orientation concerns,
changes in economy, family structure
But: Rising income inequality
Old Politics v New Politics?
New politics = decline of class voting
= parties have less class basis
= rise of values cleavages
= greater mix of material / post mat. issues
What is class?
Old Politics v New Politics?
Most important issue 2004 election?
1992? 2008?
And the economy
Party Identification
“Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Democrat,
Republican, independent, or what?”
Where do attachments to party come from?
New Politics, US?
Party ID
1952 1968 1980 1996 2000 2008
Low income
64% 65% 60% 63% 62% 63%
% Democratic
High income
% Democratic
30% 41% 32%
41% 36% 28%
Old vs. New Politics, US
Party Vote
Low income
% Democratic
2012
60%
High income
% Democratic
44%
Old vs. New Politics, US
Party ID
1952 1968 1980 1996 2000 2008
Unskilled
71% 81% 56% 52% 50% n/a
% Democratic
Professional 52% 44% 47%
% Democratic
41% 46% n/a
Old vs. New Politics, US
Is there more / less “class” voting in the US?
Dalton, Chpt. 8 p, 161
% “working class” = % middle class
Class v. income
Is there an upper class?
Old vs. New Politics
Why might class voting be decreasing?
•Growth of the “new middle class”
•“Workers” have income similar to middle class”
•“Increased social mobility”
•“Social modernization”
•Parties have broadened their appeal to attract
middle class voters
• Even European socialists appeal to center
• Obama, 2015 SOTU
Old vs. New Politics
Is class voting decreasing?
• Change in political conflict
• Parties less likely to make appeals on classbased issues
• Or, all parties have abandoned working
class, low income voters
Old Politics v New Politics: If
not ‘class’, then what?
• Traditionalists vs..... Non-traditionalists?
• Small public sector vs..... larger public sector
(old cleavage?)
• Materialists vs..... Post materialists?
environment over economy vs....
economy over environment
Review: Cleavages and
Voters
National revolution
region, religion, center v. others
Industrial revolution ‘middle/upper’ class vs. working class
Postindustrial
materialist / post material
Party Systems: Number of
Parties
Types of parties & basis of competition in a nation
(Dalton)
Number of parties
• Two-party systems (US, UK..sort of)
• Multi-party systems (FR, IT, Ger...sort of)
Why 2, 3, more parties?
Institutional design (yesterday)
Electoral system rules:
PR vs FPTP
Multi-member constituencies
Number of cleavages
Comparing parties
How do US parties compare to Europe?
Does a two party system = less distinct parties?
more distinctive parties?
Does a multi-party system = more ideological diversity?
Party Identification
“Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Democrat,
Republican, independent, or what?”
Where do attachments to party come from?
Sociological determinism
You have no free will?
Funnel of Causality
Early life-->PID----------------->vote