Essay on "Political Parties and Democracy"

Essay 7 pages (2285 words) Sources: 20

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Each of the major parties has a significant opportunity that it will become the ruling party or the loyal opposition in parliament. There is no need for nor the possibility of formal/informal grand coalitions to dominate the system.

Once the party is in office, there are very few political and institutional hurdles to impede it. There are no institutional constraints on its power of the being the majority in parliament.

Interest groups therefore can exert pressure in a stable manner in parliament, government. Their influence is thus moderated by the pluralistic competition and also by the fact that the public policy is performed solely by compromise in public administration. There is no incorporation of interest. However, the presidential system has not been without its critics. The most stable example in the third world outside of the U.S. is Chile and even this system broke down in 1970. For this reason, the most stable model could actually be that of parliamentary democracy and multi-party systems (Linz 1990, 51-52).

Conclusion-

To review, a central claim of any democratic theory is that installation of democracy induces governments to be much more responsive to the preferences of the people. The purpose of political parties is to serve to organize politics in almost every modern democracy in the world today (in both presidential and parliamentary systems). Some observers claim that the parties are what induce democracies to be responsive. As we have seen in this essay, political parties are an integral part of political democracies and the stability that they need to work, grow and to thrive and be healthy. It is hard to imagine a democracy functioning stably without them, although there have been those who nations that have tried (usually unsuccessfully) to make this so. As Allan Ware put it succinctly:

"Entering government can provide a variety of opportunities for individual politicians to pursue their own goals-whether those goals be advancing their particular policy priorities, enjoying the rewords of office or increasing their influence within the party (Ware 1996, 511). " Political parties keep them politicians and not from being dictators or Caesars.

We have considered and shown what scholars and observers claim which is that the parties are the factors that induce democracies to be responsive. However, beyond being the glue that keeps democratic systems together, political parties keep democracy on track and working by a public administration that is centrist and does not allow large swings in public opinion to happen. If such swings are allowed, then the system can not work effectively. Only when political parties and other social institutions can work together can this process be fully seen as effective.

References

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and Party Systems in Africa. In: Basedau, M., Erdmann, E. And Mehler, A. Votes, Money and Violence Political Parties and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa. Stockholm: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. pp. 7-20.

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pp. 23-37.

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Roberts, K. And Wibbels, E.. (1999). Party Systems and Electoral Volatility in Latin America. The… READ MORE

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