Political Parties
Development of Parties
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Political Party: a group of people with broad
common interests who organize to win
elections and to control and influence
governments and their policies.
One-Party Systems
◦ In a one-party system, the party, in effect, is the
government.
◦ Such one-party systems are usually found in
authoritarian governments.
◦ One-party systems also exist in countries like Iran
where the government is dominated by religion in a
system called theocracy.
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Multiparty Systems
◦ In nations with a multiparty system, several
political parties compete to control the
government and must often form coalitions to do
so.
 Coalition government: one formed by several parties
who combine forces to obtain a majority
◦ France has 5 major parties and Italy has 10
leaving voters with a wide range of choices on
election day.
◦ Many nations with multiparty systems are
politically unstable.
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Two-Party System
◦ In the dozen nations with a two-party system, two
major parties dominate the government.
 In the United States, the two parties are the
Republicans and the Democrats.
◦ Minor parties can exist in this system.
◦ Minor Parties in the US include:
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Libertarian Party
Green Party
Constitution Party
Pirate Party
United States Marijuana Party
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Although many of the Founders distrusted
factions, by the end of President
Washington’s second term, two political
parties had formed.
◦ Federalists- believed in strong central government
◦ Democratic-Republicans- believed the states
should have more power than the central
government
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The two-party system in the United States
changed as political parties appeared and
declined.
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Parties Before the Civil War
◦ After the election of Federalist John Adams, the
Federalists began to fade.
◦ Democratic-Republicans held the office of President
for nearly 3 decades.
◦ Conflicts drove the Democratic-Republican party to
split into factions.
 Democrats
 National Republicans (Whigs)
◦ On the eve of the Civil War, the Republican Party
was born.
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Parties After the Civil War
◦ After the war, Republicans dominated the national
scene with the Democrats the minority party.
◦ Democrats held the Presidency for only 4 terms
between 1860 and 1932.
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Parties in the Great Depression and After
◦ During the Great Depression, the Democratic Party
gained power and remained the majority party for
most of the next 50 years.
◦ The Republican Party gained the presidency in 6 of
the next 9 terms, starting in 1968, and in 1994
regained control of both houses of Congress.
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Third parties have been part of the American
political scene since the early years of the
Republic.
◦ Third Party: any party other than on of the two
major parties
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All third parties have one thing in common:
They do not believe the two major parties are
meeting certain national needs.
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Types of Third Parties
◦ In general, third parties fall into one of three
categories:
◦ the single-issue party
 Focuses exclusively on one major social, economic, or
moral issue.
◦ the ideological party
 Focuses on overall change in society rather than on an
issue.
◦ the splinter party
 Splits away from one of the major parties because of
some disagreement.
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The Impact of Third Parties
◦ Occasionally, third parties influenced the outcome
of national elections by drawing enough votes to tip
the balance to one of the major parties.
◦ Third parties’ ideas often were later adopted by the
major parties.
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Obstacles to Third Parties
◦ Third parties face many obstacles:
◦ 1) It is difficult for them to get on the ballot
◦ 2) most voters support the major parties
◦ 3) raising campaign funds is difficult.
Party Organization
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Party Membership
◦ Both Republicans and Democrats are organized into
50 state parties and thousands of local parties, as
well as a national party.
◦ Voters may become members of a party when
they register to vote, usually joining the party
whose ideas and candidates, in general, they
support.
◦ Party membership involves no duties or
obligations beyond voting.
◦ Some members contribute money or do volunteer
work.
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Local Party Organization
◦ The basic local unit in the party’s organization is
the precinct, or voting district, and wards made up
of several adjoining precincts.
◦ The county level is the one in which the party is
most united, and the county chairperson usually
exercises a good deal of political power in the
county.
◦ But counties are the weakest link in the party’s
organizational chain because they are largely run by
volunteers.
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State Party Organization
◦ The state central committee, composed of members
from the party’s county organizations, is the most
important part of the party in each state.
◦ Its main function is to help elect the party’s
candidates for state office.
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National Party Organization
◦ The national convention and the national committee
are the two main parts of the party’s national
organization.
◦ The national party chairperson, elected by the
national committee, manages the daily operations
of the national party.
◦ Both parties have independent campaign
committees for Congress.
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Recruiting Candidates
◦ Political parties recruit candidates to run for office.
◦ Both parties are candidate-oriented rather than
issue-oriented.
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Educating the Public
◦ Political parties bring important issues to the
attention of the public, publish the party’s
position on these issues, maintain Web sites, and
help form public opinion.
◦ Personal attacks against the other party’s
candidates sometimes obscure issues.
◦ Since many Americans are not well informed on
issues or the candidates, political party
membership simplifies their choices.
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Operating the Government
◦ Political parties play a key role in running the
government.
◦ Congress and state legislatures carry on their
work on the basis of party affiliation.
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Dispensing Patronage
◦ Political parties also dispense patronage,
including jobs, contracts, and appointments to
government positions.
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The Loyal Opposition
◦ The party out of power assumes the role of
“watchdog” over government.
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Reduction of Conflict
◦ Because parties need to draw support from many
different and sometimes conflicting groups, parties
encourage compromise and adopt moderate
policies with mass appeal.
Nominating Candidates
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Historically, individuals have sought
nominations for public office in one of four
ways:
◦ Caucus
◦ Nominating Convention
◦ Primary Election
◦ Petition
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In 19 states party leaders hold caucuses to select
candidates for public office.
◦ Caucuses: private meetings of party leaders.
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The caucus became widely criticized because
most people had no say in selecting the
candidates.
Modern caucuses have candidates selected at the
neighborhood level, then voted at the county,
congressional district and state levels.
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As party caucuses came under attack, the
nominating convention to choose candidates
became popular.
◦ Nominating Convention: an official public meeting
of a party to choose candidates for office
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Local party organizations send
representatives to a county nominating
convention that selects candidates for county
offices and chooses delegates who will go to
a state nominating convention.
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State nominating conventions select
candidates for statewide office and chooses
delegates who will go the national
convention.
In theory nominating conventions are more
democratic than caucuses but their openness
to corruption made them undemocratic.
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The direct primary is the method most used
by parties today to nominate candidates.
◦ Direct Primary: an election in which party members
select people to run in the general election
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Most states hold closed primaries, in which
only party members vote, but some states
have open primaries, in which any voter can
participate.
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Primary elections, run according to state law
and held at regular polling places, are used to
select party candidates for the House, Senate,
governor, and other state and local offices.
In most states, candidates need only a
plurality of the votes to win, not a majority.
In other states, a runoff primary is held if a
candidate does not receive a majority of the
votes.
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A person can file a petition, signed by a
specified number of voters, to be placed on
the ballot.
The caucus or convention candidate of the
major parties has an advantage because of
party backing and resources.
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Every four years, each major party holds a
nominating convention to choose candidates
for president and vice president in the
November general election.
The task of the delegates to the convention is
to select a ticket that will win the general
election.
◦ Ticket: candidates for president and vice president
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Before nominating conventions,
congressional caucuses selected presidential
candidates.
From 1800 to 1824 congressional leaders
from each party met in secret to select their
party’s ticket.
The caucus movement lost steam and since
1832 a convention of party members has
chosen major party presidential candidates.
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For years when citizens voted in primaries, they
chose from groups of party members who
supported a specific candidate.
The group that won the state primary would vote
for their candidate at the national convention.
Today major parties provided a more democratic
nomination process with party rules encouraging
participation by women and minorities.
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Most primaries operate in one of the
following ways:
◦ They may be a delegate selection process or
presidential preference poll, or both.
◦ Either the candidate who wind the primary gets all
the state’s convention delegates or each candidate
gets delegates based on how many popular votes
he receives.
◦ Delegates selected on the basis of the popular vote
may be required to support a certain candidate at
the national convention or they can be
uncommitted.
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Criticisms of presidential primaries include:
◦ 1) the process extends over too long a period.
◦ 2) the primaries focus on the image of a candidate
more than on the issues.
◦ 3) relatively few people vote in primaries, thus the
winner may not be as popular as the victory would
indicate.
◦ 4) primaries often result in one-sided conventions
that become rubber stamp operations.
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Preconvention Planning
◦ Each party’s national committee chooses
the site and date of the convention and
decides how many votes each state will
have.
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Assembling the Convention
◦ Many of the delegates who assemble at the
convention are already pledged to a candidate,
though some are not.
◦ On the evening of the opening day, an important
party member gives the keynote address, a
speech intended to unite the party for the coming
campaign.
◦ In the next day or two, the delegates listen to
committee reports and speeches about them.
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The Rules Committee
◦ Each party’s rules committee governs the way the
convention is run and sets the convention’s order of
business.
◦ The delegates must approve any rule changes from
the previous convention.
◦ Most delegates accept the rules committee’s report,
but sometimes bitter battles are fought by
delegates who oppose decisions made by the rules
committee.
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The Credentials Committee
◦ The credentials committee must approve the
delegations from each state.
◦ Rival delegations can come to the convention
claiming to be the delegates of their state.
◦ Sometimes lively fights have occurred between
rival delegations for a state’s seats.
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The Committee on Permanent Organization
◦ A committee on permanent organization selects
the permanent chairperson and other permanent
officials for the convention.
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The Platform Committee
◦ The platform committee is assigned the
important task of writing the party’s platform—a
statement of its principles, beliefs, and positions
on vital issues.
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Nominating the Candidates
◦ The highlight of the convention is the selection of
the party’s candidate for president.
◦ The convention chairperson instructs the clerk to
read the alphabetical roll call of the states and the
chairperson of each state calls out the delegates’
vote.
◦ The candidate who receives a majority of the vote
becomes the party’s nominee.
◦ In recent years, front-runners have had enough
committed delegates that it was known they would
be the party’s nominee, and they were selected on
the first roll call ballot.
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The Vice-Presidential Nomination
◦ The vice presidential nomination sometimes creates
some suspense because the presidential
candidate’s choice, who is always selected by the
delegates, is not known in advance.
◦ The vice presidential nominee usually is chosen
to balance the ticket, with a person who has a
personal, political, or geographic background
different from the presidential candidate’s.
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Adjournment
◦ The convention adjourns after the presidential and
vice presidential candidates have delivered their
acceptance speeches.
◦ Speeches are intended to unify the party and appeal
to the national television audience.