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PARTY AND INTEREST GROUPS

Explore the functions of parties and interest groups, different party systems, and the importance of interest groups in democratic societies. Learn about democracy theories, welfare state, economic models, and key figures.

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PARTY AND INTEREST GROUPS

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  1. PARTY AND INTEREST GROUPS

  2. Functions of Parties • Coordination • Organizing political act and discipline party members • Coordinating within government, within society, between government and society • Contesting Election • Conducting electoral campaigns • Developing policy programs. • Recruitment • Selecting candidates for elections • Recruiting and socializing political activists and supporters • Representation • Speaking for their members and supporters • Being the organizational embodiment in the political sphere of categories of citizens.

  3. Types of Party System in Demo • Dominant Party • One large party with more than absolute majority (India until 1975, Japan between 1955 and 1993, Mexico until 2000) • Two Party • Two parties dominate votes and seats; alternation between two parties (Austria, Israel, UK until 2000, US) • Multiparty • Several or many parties with none approaching half of votes and seats; alternation through coalition changes (most European industrial nations) • Bipolar • Two large coalitions composed of several parties; alternation between coalitions (Germany since 1990, Italy since 1994, Portugal).

  4. Pluralism of Interest Groups • Interest groups are viewed as an essential source of liberty rather than a potential threat to the sovereignty of the democratic state. • Two strands of Tocqueville’s analysis: (1) Denial of absolute moral claims of political authority because they represent a danger to liberty, even if they are meant to advance the general will of the people. (2) Mutual acknowledgement of conflicting interests enable the accommodation of conflict within democratic procedures. • State should not only guarantee its citizens’ right of association but also have the responsibility to ensure the freedom of association of its citizens.

  5. Corporatism of Interest Groups • Rise of “consociational democracy” or consensus democracy in which parties that represent different sections of society share power. • Concerned that free competition of interest groups would lead to the stronger interests prevailing over weaker interests. • The state should not only guarantee freedom of association but also contain free competition because it challenge governability, undermine social justice, and hamper the economic performance of modern mass democracies. • Neocorporatism vs. the authoritarian corporatism.

  6. Coverage for Quiz 2 • Democracy theories (dependency theory, modernization theory, global-system theory) • Welfare state • Political parties and party system • Interest groups • Economic models around the world • Important figures: Karl Marx, Tocqueville, John Maynard Keynes

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