Calm Before the Storm?
The 2007 Provincial Election and Beyond
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7-9pm, Room EN-2006
(Engineering lecture theatre – All Welcome)
An engaging evening of pundits sharing their views on the 2007
election campaign, the future of the province’s political
parties, and what to expect during Danny Williams’ second
term as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Discussants:
• Chris O’Neill-Yates, CBC TV
• Christopher Dunn, Department of Political Science
• David Cochrane, CBC TV/radio
• Rob Antle, The Telegram
• Steven Wolinetz, Department of Political Science
Parties and party systems
Varieties of parties
Ways of classifying parties:
According to their relationship to patterns of cleavage:
• Aggregative or brokerage parties – try to bridge societal
cleavages
– Example: Canadian or US parties
• Cleavage-based parties: parties represent or organize a
particular cleavage or group in society – e.g. parties in
most European countries
According to the ideological family to which they belong:
Parties arrayed from left to right according to their
positions on social & economic issues
According to their type – how they are organized
Relationships to political cleavages
• Parties may reflect (and sometimes
reinforce, or even create) societal divisions
OR
• Parties may try to bridge (and often blur)
cleavages, societal divisions
Aggregative v. cleavage-based parties
Aggregative or
brokerage parties
United
States
Republicans
Democrats
Canada
Liberal; PCs
Conservatives?
New Labour
UK
Germany
Cleavage-based
parties
NDP, Bloc Quebecois
Reform & Alliance,
Conservatives,
Labour
Social Democrats
(SPD) Christian
Democrats (CDU)
Ideological families
Left:
• Social Democratic, Socialist & former
Communist parties:
• Initially opposed church involvement, favoured
secular state
• Early and mid 20th c: favoured re-distribution of
wealth, greater equality, greater state
involvement in the economy
• Late 20th c: favour a fairer distribution of wealth
and opportunity; less certain about state
intervention
Ideological families – con’t
Right:
• Initially favoured church, monarchy, order,
authority, a stratified society
• Today
– allocation via the market
– Oppose redistribution,
– Prefer to reduce state involvement in the
economy
Political cleavages today
Divisions between left and right have
become blurred; new parties have
emerged
• Greens and other left-libertarian parties
demanding post-material values,
democratization, improved quality of life
• New Right: ambiguous – typically antiestablishment, populist, anti-immigrant,
anti-refugee, anti-European Union
Types of parties
• Elite or caucus: party is run by a small group –
the caucus – without extensive membership or
membership involvement
• Mass: party has a mass membership, which it
attempts to involve, educate and shape
• Catch-all: has a membership but they are
rarely involved: party attempts to broaden out,
represent a broad swath of society – like the
aggregative or brokerage type, but with a
different heritage
Examples
Elite or caucus
Mass
Liberal Democrats
(UK)
Canadian parties
Earlier
socialist
parties
Liberals, Germany
(FDP)
Catch-all
Social
Democratic
Party Germany
(SPD) today
Christian
Democratic
Union (CDU)
Germany
New types
Cartel party:
• Distant from members
• Not fully competitive: willing to share power with
others rather than compete fully
• Relies on state funding
– can no longer raise sufficient funds from members
• The mass or catch-all party in middle age?
Calm Before the Storm?
The 2007 Provincial Election and Beyond
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7-9pm, Room EN-2006
(Engineering lecture theatre – All Welcome)
An engaging evening of pundits sharing their views on the 2007
election campaign, the future of the province’s political
parties, and what to expect during Danny Williams’ second
term as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Discussants:
• Chris O’Neill-Yates, CBC TV
• Christopher Dunn, Department of Political Science
• David Cochrane, CBC TV/radio
• Rob Antle, The Telegram
• Steven Wolinetz, Department of Political Science