What are parties Party coalition of groups with intense preferences organized to gain control of the government American political parties have a strong focus on elections whereas European parties focus more on spreading ideologies and keeping elected officials faithful to the party Three components of a party Party organizations Party in government Party in the electorate Party responsibilities Electing candidates Educating citizens Influencing the government Parties provide organized opposition and are crucial to the functioning of democracy Parties generally prefer slim majorities makes it easier to be politically aligned with a small group of interests and means greater efficiency and discipline easier to control a small group of people Bawn et al Parties don t act in response to voters they act in response to their own goals taking advantage of a voter blind spot to be more radical than voters would prefer if they knew more about the elected officials Parties select candidates that appeal to specific interests but campaign on vague ideas leaving voters confused and likely to vote based on heuristics Voters are not complete idiots they try to sift through political obfustication to make rational choices through heuristics Nominations entail long coalitions in which interest groups band together to choose a candidate that will marginally represent all of their interests These special interests drag parties as a whole away from the median Voters only react to differences in policy radicalism when it is sufficiently large to notice Extreme polarization makes voters much less likely to vote for candidates if they are aware of how extreme the candidate is but often they don t When it is easier to monitor elections like when congressional districts overlap with media markets voters are more likely to vote for moderates Legislators generally try to make monitoring as difficult as possible Conclusion Policy demanding groups not voters control elected officials Politicians as a result are generally more extreme than their electorate When the electorate is well informed more moderate candidates are elected History of Political Parties Beginning Federalists v Anti Federalists Divided by the question of the Bill of Rights Sympathizers of the antifederalists organized committees of correspondence to circulate ideas Even while immersing themselves in committees of correspondence and debate over federalist vs anti federalist beliefs the framers still viewed parties negatively 1820s onward Party loyalists like Martin Van Buren would see parties as good for democracy Parties allowed the common man to rise through politics if he worked hard for the party Van Buren was remarkable for rising above party politics to treat friends and political foes alike Van Buren recognized that parties were flawed but considered them necessary nonetheless because they forced members to subordinate their own personal desires to that of the party Three major schools of thought about political parties in the first generations after the signing of the Constitution Background English Civil War 100 years before the American Revolution Warring factions foment conflict between Catholics Anglicans and Puritans Leads Framers to be wary about warring factions I Parties are intolerable Predominate view A Patriot king ruler that is good represents everybody B Party of everyone II Parties are flawed but necessary A Origins stem from human nature B Attempts to suppress parties cause worse harms C Aim should be to contain parties not to destroy them III Parties are a useful device A Initially an uncommon view B Parties had already existed in England Tories Whigs Five major political parties I Federalists 1788 1816 A Narrow base of monied northerners II Democratic Republicans Jeffersonians 1800 1832 A Prefered authority of states to authority of the national government III Democratic Party 1832 Present IV Whig Party 1834 1856 A Opposed business friendly policies and supported people of low privilege A Henry Clay and Daniel Webster big emphasis on legislative supremacy V Republican Party 185 Present A formed as an anti slavery party Trends in the History of Political Parties 1820s onward Markedly more popular participation in Democracy end of the landowner only franchise highest voter turnout in the late 1800s Populist reforms late 1800s Direct election of senators Extension of the franchise Primary elections no longer just party nominations 1970s onward Re strengthening of party organizations More money in politics Changes in Party Coalitions Key facets Realignment durable change in the strength or composition of party coalitions Consistent with the idea of party identification Occurs because of coalition maintenance and coalition group incorporation Mechanisms of realignment Conversion Rise of GOP in 1854 as a reaction to pro slavery forces Mobilization Catholics in Boston in the 1920s Blacks in 1960s Replacement White Southerners Critical Fast realignment 1850s Civil War realignment rise of GOP collapse of Whigs 1930s New Deal realignment Secular realignment Far slower than critical realignment South post 1940s Change because of increasing civil rights focus of the Democratic party black integration into the Democratic party Theories of Parties Candidate centered theory of politics Political parties are for and by politicians Parties help control the legislative agenda and create better outcomes Parties help candidates build a brand identify with heuristic clues to gain voters Party centered view of politics Coalitions of public policy demanders Intense policy demanders have more radical ideas than voters and take advantage of the blind spot voter ignorance about political extremism Bawn et Al Voters have a difficult time distinguishing between policies this is especially true about active voters Party universalism People join a party in order to best advance their own interests Everyone votes yes on eachothers bills Parties are based on people with orthogonal non competing interests What is not party identification Party Identification Formal party membership exists in many countries but not the United States Party registration closest equivalent in the US to party membership Partisan voting patterns voting consistently for one party does not make you auto identify with that party What is party identification Influences on party identification Stable state of mind how people view themselves in relation to a group party