POLS 1101 Lecture 23 Outline of Last Lecture I What are Parties II Party in Government III Party as Organizations IV Party in the Electorate V First Party System 1796 1824 VI Second Party System 1832 1860 VII Third Party System 1860 1896 VIII Fourth Party System 1896 1932 IX X Fifth Party System 1932 1980 Sixth Party System 1980 present Outline of Current Lecture I A Puzzle II Solving a Coordination Problem III Answering the Puzzle IV Why Do Party Systems Change V Party Trends VI Why Two Parties VII Maurice Duverger s Law VIII IX Would you ever vote for one of these candidates In Comparison Parties Current Lecture I A Puzzle Why are parties criticized yet indispensable in a democracy President George Washington warned of evils of parties Political parties are a bad thing for democracy I don t want to be any part of that Scholars think parties are necessary for democracy a Solve collection action problems o Parties in government can solve unstable coalitions coalition rating coordination problems II Solving a Coordination Problem Coordinating candidate selection is not easy Used to be chosen at conventions Party loyalists could show up and vote for the local level You could be chosen to be a delegate for the national convention more democratic and inclusive Historically party insiders chose candidates a smoke filled rooms party leaders get together without members to decide what s best for party and their nominations Candidates are now chosen by primaries or caucuses most inclusive means Varies state to state Caucuses meeting for a party where you vote on who your parties nominees for various offices should be among other issues From organization standpoint builds up the party and party loyalty more 2008 TX said 2 3 of votes to DNC will be decided by the primary 1 3 will be decided by the caucus RARE Primaries ordinary election Single member plurality whoever has the most votes wins not the majority NOT GA III Answering the Puzzle Parties clearly help democracy function properly Serve as labels that help members of the public identify who can take the heat Serve as labels who people want to vote for Why do people dislike them Bodies with political conflict can impair the system Parties are associated with conflict that is inherent in system a Polarization is at a high with the two parties on all of the issues people are strictly on the party lines not a lot of cross over with compromises etc Media portrayals of partisan bickering without context IV In the halls of Congress as well How can parties be useful Hear the bad without seeing the good Why Do Party Systems Change Major issues split existing coalitions a Slavery end of 2nd party system WHIGs fell apart and replaced by Republicans b Civil rights 1950 60s 1964 presidential election key toward realignment towards the 6th party system LBJ for civil rights Goldwater against Party activists exploit new issues or raise salience of existing issues a Abortion Roe v Wade various evangelical church leaders raised the importance of this issue pro republican party lol b Tariff V Party Trends Increased democratization JFK 1960 saw as opportunity to lock up a lot of delegates before the DNC to win on the second ballot a Campaigning actively in Primaries Increased central organization a Nationalization of parties and elections Two Party system endures a Few small parties persist during the 4th party system progressive party longest lasting of third parties VI Why Two Parties Two major parties have consistently dominated American politics a 95 of votes cast are for one of two parties Duverger s Law a Single member plurality SMP electoral institutions produce two party systems Single member Plurality when you vote for offices the entire country single districts who elected one official to office whichever candidate has the most votes wins you lose by one vote you lose one member of the legislature at a time British House of Commons Conservatives Liberal democrats joint team o Strong third party UK Canada have parliamentary systems of government more susceptible to regionally defined politics parties We vote for legislature president forces us to think about politics in a national way all 50 states with two parties VII UK regional parties emerge Scottish National Party running in seats in local parties beating others out majority of Scottish National Parliament Presidential system forces a national competition and local parties align with that national party Strong alignment of social cleavages in the U S Religion race income urban v rural are important to what the partisan divisions are overlap in cleavages in US Cleavages overlap in US and UK s cross cut Maurice Duverger s Law Mechanical Effect of SMP a Parties not in the top two do not reap a proportional reward Psychological Effect of SMP there s a third party candidate that you find appealing what are people going to say to you Why are you going to go waste your vote Only the top two will win a Aware of the mechanical effect voters do not waste votes b Contrast the Netherlands 150 seat House of Representatives proportional representation i 0 67 2 3 of the vote 1 seat VIII Would you ever vote for one of these candidates Third Party Candidates IX You d be worried about wasting your votes Vote if you thought there wasn t a dimes worth of difference between top two In Comparison Parties Most parliamentary democracies have more than two parties a Key factor proportional representation PR Coalition governments are common in parliamentary systems Party discipline is greater in other countries a Ballot access