A level People and Politics (Political Parties) Mapa Mental sobre (4) What is the function
of a political party?, criado por Marcus Danvers em 12-02-2014.
Parties link government to the
people by responding to and
articulating public opinion
The major UK parties are
therefore "catch-all parties"
A party that develops polices that will
appeal to the widest range of voters, by
contrast with a programmatic party
Parties translate public
opinion into government policy
The effectiveness of parties in ensuring
representation has also been questioned
The electorate is not always well-informed and rational in
choosing between parties. Factors such as a party's image
and the personality of leaders maybe important as its policies
The "first-past-the-post" election system,
means that parties may only need the suport
of 35-40% of the electoate to win a GE
Policy formulation
Political parties are one of the key means
through which societies set collective goals
and formulate public policy
In the process of seeking power, parties
develop programmes of government
Party forums
Annual conferences
Election manifestos
Not only does this mean that parties often
initiate policy, but they also formulate coherent
sets of policy options that give the electorate a
choice of realistic and achievable goals
The effectiveness of parties in formulating
polices has also been questioned
As the major parties distance themselves from their tradtional
ideologies, they have becoem less interested in formulating
larger goals for society, and generally less interested in ideas
Parties have become more eager to
follow public opinion than trying to shape
it by adopting clear ideological stances
Recuitment of leaders
All senior political careers start with
the decision to join a political party
As a party member, a budding politician can
gain experience of canvassing, debating
issues and helping to run a constituency
party
Parties recuit and train the
politcal leaders of the future
The effectiveness of parties in recruiting and
training the leaders has also been questioned
As government are appointed from the ranks
of the majority party in the Commons, they
rely on a relatively small pool of talent
Electioneering and other party activites
may be poor training for running a large
government department
Organization of government
The operation of government
relies on parties in many ways:
Parties help to form governments,
meaning that the UK effectively has a
system of "party government"
Parties give government a degree of stability and
coherence, especially as the members of the government
are usally drawn from a single pparty and are therefore
united by common sypathies and attachments
Facilitate cooperation between the
two major branches of government
and Parliament and the executive
Provide a source of opposition and criticism,
helping to scrutinize government policy and
provide a "governmnent in waiting"
The effectiveness of parties
in organizing government
has also been questioned
The decline in party unity since the
1970s has tended to weaken the majority
party's control of the Commons
Participation and
mobilization
Political parties foster
participation in two ways:
Provide opportunities for citizens to join
political parties and therefore help to
shape policy and government policy
Help to educate and mobilize the electorate through a
range of activities - canvassing, public meeting, advertising
and poster campaigns, party broadcasts..
Parties are at the heart of electoral machines,
operating though the building up of loyalty and
identification amongst the electorate
The effectivness of parties in ensuring
participation and mobilization had also
been questioned
Voters loyalty towards, and identification with, parties has declined. Whereas
44% of voters claimed to have a "very strong" attachment to a party in 1964, this
had fallen to a mere 10% by 2005 though the process of partisan dealignment
Turnout in GE has fallen sharply since 1997, with only
59% voting in 2001, the lowest turnout since 1918
The membership of parties in the UK has
fallen- from over 3 million in the 1960s to
around 800,000 in the early 2000s