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Summary Political Parties Notes

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Notes on Political Parties in the UK

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  • Chapter 12
  • July 2, 2021
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  • 2020/2021
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Political Parties - Notes

What is a political party

 Group of likeminded individuals who seek to realise their shared goals by fielding candidates
at elections and thereby securing election to public office


Manifestoes and mandates

 A political party uses its manifesto to set up the policies it would seek to pass into law if
elected to office
 The party that is returned to power at Westminster in the wake of a general election is said
to have earned an electoral mandate - the right to implement its stated policies
- Example: the 1997 labour party manifesto promise to remove the rights of hereditary
peers to sit and vote in the house of lords
- The landslide victory in the election therefore handed the party a strong mandate to
fulfil this reform, leading to the house of lords reform act 1999



Roles of political parties in the UK

 Providing representation
- Parties were said to represent the views of their members, when voters were divided
along class lines
- Nowadays there is class and partisan dealignment, so this primary role has been
undermined

 Encouraging political engagement and facilitating political participation
- By making citizens aware of the issues of the day, parties perform an educative function
that encourages political engagement
- Parties promote political participation by encouraging citizens to engage with the
democratic process

 Engaging in political recruitment
- Parties assess the qualities of those seeking election to public office, casting aside those
who are considered unsuitable
- Parties also give those who will ultimately become the nation's leaders an opportunity
to serve a form of political apprenticeship at a local level before going to high office

 Formulating policy
- Parties discuss and develop policy proposals before presenting them to voters in their
manifesto

 Providing stable government
- Without parties, it is argued the house of commons would simply be a gathering of
individuals, driven by their personal goals and political ambitions
- Parties present the voters with a clear choice, while also providing order following a
general election - by allowing a single party to form a government and secure the safe
passage of its legislative proposals through the commons

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, Types of political parties in the UK

Mainstream parties

 In the modern era, UK politics has been dominated by three main national political parties
- The conservative party
- The labour party
- The liberal democrat party

Minority or niche parties

 Nationalist parties
- Parties that like to nurture the shared cultural identity and language of those indigenous
to a given geographical area
- Scottish national party

 Single issue parties
- Recent years have seen a rise in the number of single-issue parties contesting elections
in the UK
- In some cases, these parties offer a wide-ranging programme of policies rooted in a
particular ideological perspective (Green Party)
- They may also campaign on a particular issue (UKIP on the EU)


The UK party system

 Britain has traditionally operated under two party system
- Two party system: where two fairly equally matched parties compete for power at
elections and others have little realistic chance of breaking the duopoly
 There have been times where the domination by a single party has led onlookers to herald
the emergence of a dominant party system
- Dominant party system: where a number of parties exist but only one holds
government power
- Conservatives in office from 1979 to 1997
- Labour in power from 1997 to 2010
 UK has never witnessed a single party system
- Single party system: where one party dominates, bans other parties, and exercises total
control over candidacy at elections
- Nazi Germany
 The rise of the liberal democrats and a range of other smaller parties has led some to
suggest that the UK was morphing into a multi-party system, though most regarded it as the
two-party model
- Multi-party system: where many parties compete for power and the government
consists of a series of coalitions formed by different combinations of parties




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