POLSCI 11. Second Exam Reviewer.

CHAPTER 8.

I.
CENTRALIZATION
- Political power is
1. National Unity – interests of the whole
(nation) rather than the various parts
(sectional, ethnic or regional groups).
2. Uniformity – uniform laws and public
services that help improve geographical
mobility.
3. Equality – central governments can rectify
inequalities that arise from the fact that
areas with greatest social needs are those
with least potential for raising revenue.
4. Prosperity – economic development and
centralization go hand in hand.
 Diseconomies of scale
DECENTRALIZATION
- Expansion of local autonomy through
transfer of powers and responsibilities
away from national bodies.
1. Participation – local or regional
government; it helps create a better
educated and more informed citizenry.
2. Responsiveness – peripheral institutions
are usually ‘closer’ to people; strengthens
democratic accountability (government
responds not only to overall needs but
specific).
3. Legitimacy – ‘local’ level decisions are
more likely to be seen intelligible and
legitimate; rightness of decisions.
4. Liberty – protects liberty by dispersing
government power, thereby creating a
network of checks and balances.

II. Territorial organizations.

FEDERAL
- Central feature: sharing of sovereignty between central and peripheral institutions – ensures
that neither level of government can encroach on the powers of the other.
- Factors of formation: importance of establishing a strong centralized government while
preserving state and individual freedoms; existence of an external threat/desire to play in
international affairs; geographical size; cultural and ethnic heterogeneity.

- Features of Federalism:
1. Two relatively autonomous levels of government: federal (central) government and state
(regional) gov’t can’t encroach upon each other’s powers; include legislative and executive
authority and capacity to raise revenue (fiscal independence).
2. Written constitution: a single authoritative document that allocates duties, powers and
functions amongst the institutions of gov’t and so constitutes ‘higher’ law; neither is able to
amend the constitution unilaterally.
3. Constitutional arbiter: the formal provisions of the constitution are interpreted by a
supreme court, which thereby arbitrates in the case of disputes between federal and state
levels of government.
4. Linking institutions: regions and provinces must be given a voice in the processes of central
policy-making through bicameral legislature, in which the second chamber or upper house
represents the interest of the states.
 - Advantages:
 Gives regional and local interests a constitutionally guaranteed political voice.
 Creates a network of checks and balances that help to protect individual liberty.
 Unity and coherence among fractured societies.

- Disadvantages:
 By constraining central authority, implementation of bold economic or social programmes
becomes more difficult.
 By breeding governmental division, it may strengthen centrifugal pressures and ultimately lead
to disintegration.
UNITARY
- Power is located in single, central (national) institutions.
- Two distinct institutional forms of peripheral authority:
 Local government – government that is specific to a particular locality (i.e., village, town, city or
country); has no share in sovereignty and is entirely subordinate to central authority (i.e., state
or regional authority)
- Check on central power and a means through which popular participation and thus political
education could be broadened; has the ability to control tax levels and determine its own
spending policies.
- Central-local relationships are conducted through a process of bargaining and negotiation
rather than by diktat from above.
- Preservation of local autonomy relies on self-restraint by the centre.
- Local democracy – a principle that embodies both the idea of local autonomy and the goal
of popular responsiveness.
 Devolution - transfer of power from central government to subordinate regional institutions
- Devolved bodies – constitute an intermediate level of government between central and
local; but they have no share in sovereignty like federalism; their responsibilities and powers
are derived from and conferred by the centre.
- Usually created in response to increasing centrifugal tensions within a state; and to
conciliate growing regional and nationalist pressures; even ethnic nationalism.
- Administrative devolution – no control over taxation, and only subordinate or ‘secondary’
legislative power.
CONFEDERATION
- Vests sovereign power in peripheral bodies
- A qualified union of states in which each state retains its independence, typically guaranteed by
unanimous decision-making.
- Intergovernmentalism

Federalism

 Cooperative federalism – based on partnership of sorts between federal government and the
states.
 Coercive federalism – a system through which federal government has increasingly brought
about the compliance of the states by passing laws that preempt their powers and imposing
restrictions on the states and localities in the form of mandates.
  Separatism – quest to secede from a political formation with a view to establishing an
independent state.

 Quango – an acronym for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization: a public body

staffed by appointees rather than by politicians or civil servants.

Ethnic politics

- Created pressure for political decentralization, and sometimes precipitated major constitutional
upheavals.
- Black nationalism – black consciousness movement; highlights the desire to challenge economic
and social marginalization and sometimes racial oppression.
- Post-modernism – problem: it promotes diversity and weakens traditional and social identities.
- Ethnicity may replace nationality as principal source of social integration – whereas nations are
bound together by ‘civil’ loyalties and ties, ethnic and regional groups are able to generate a
deeper sense of ‘organic’ identity.

Community politics

 Communes – small-scale collective organization based on the sharing of wealth and power,
possibly extending also to personal and domestic arrangements; small decentralized
communities.
 Communitarianism – belief that the self or person is constituted through the community, in the
sense that individuals are shaped by the communities to which they belong and thus owe them
a debt of respect and consideration; at odds with liberal individualism – legitimized selfish and
egoistical behavior and downgraded the importance of the idea of the public good.
o Left-wing communitarianism – unrestricted freedom and social equality (anarchism).
o Centrist communitarianism – grounded in an acknowledgement of reciprocal rights and
responsibilities.
o Right-wing communitarianism – requires respect for authority and established values.

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CHAPTER 9.

 Economic system – form of organization through which goods and services are produced,
distributed and exchanged.

CAPITALISM (Capitalist economy) SOCIALISM (Socialist economy)

- Generalized commodity production, a
commodity being a good or a service
produced for exchange – it has market
value.
- Means of production is held
predominantly in private hands.
- Economic life is organized according to
market principles: the forces of demand
- System of production for use, geared, at
least in theory to the satisfaction of
human needs.
- Public or common ownership of
productive wealth, certainly including the
‘commanding heights’ of the economy.
- Economic organization is based on
planning, a supposedly rational process of
 and supply. resource allocation.
- Material self-interest and profit- - Work based on cooperative effort that
maximization  motivation for enterprise results from a desire for general well-
and hard work. being.

- Developed from feudal societies - Abolish private property and replaced by a

(Feudalism – agrarian-based production system of collective or social ownership;
generated to the needs of landed estates, economy serve material needs of society
fixed social hierarchies and a rigid patter rather than the dictates of an all-powerful
of obligations and duties. market.

 There is no pure ‘capitalist’ or ‘socialist’ system.

 Agricultural Revolution – pressure to expand output and increase productivity; enclosure of
overgrazed common land, increased use of fertilizers and scientific methods of production.

CAPITALISM

Types of Capitalism:
1. Enterprise Capitalism – widely seen as “pure capitalism”; an ideal towards which other
capitalisms are inevitably drawn.
- Central feature: faith in untrammeled workings of market competition; belief that the
market is a self-regulating mechanism (‘invisible hand’); emphasis on growth and
enterprise.
o Marketization – extension of market relationships, based on commercial exchange and
material self-interest, across the economy and possibly, society.
o “New” Political Economy – depoliticized form of economic management in which direct
state intervention is scaled down and market is placed at the center of economic life.
 Emphasis on technological innovation and development.
 Governments increasingly targets investment in ‘human capital’ (especially in
education and training)
- Disadvantages of Enterprise Capitalism:
 Tendency towards wide material inequalities and social fragmentation.
 ‘Turbo’ features may have less to do with the dynamism of the market or
technological innovation than with the willingness of consumers to spend and
borrow and the willingness of businesses to invest.

2. Social Capitalism – idea of ‘social market’: an attempt to marry the disciplines of market
competition with the need for social cohesion and solidarity.
o ‘Stakeholder’ capitalism, takes into account the interests of workers and those of wider
community, rather than ‘shareholder’ capitalism (US & UK).
o ‘Economic miracle’ – high and stable levels of capitals investment, together with a
strong emphasis on education and training (vocational & craft skills) enabled Germany
to achieve the highest productivity levels in Europe.
o Drawbacks of social market model:
 Places heavy stress on consultation, negotiation and consensus, so it tends to
encourage inflexibility and make it difficult for business to adapt to changing
market conditions.
  Relatively high levels of social expenditure required to maintain high-quality
welfare provision.

3. Collective Capitalism – emphasis on cooperative long-term relationships; this allows the

economy to be directed not by an impersonal price mechanism but through ‘relational markets’.
- Critics say it’s underpinned by authoritarianism – duty placed above respect for rights.

Managed or Unmanaged capitalism?

Two economic strategies:

 Keynesianism – level of economic system is geared to ‘aggregate demand’: that is, the total level
of demand in the economy, which government has the capacity to manage through its tax and
spending policies.
o Designed to boost output and reduce unemployment.
o Multiplier effect – mechanism through which a change in aggregate demand has an
increased effect on national income as it circulates through the economy.
 Monetarism – signaled a shift in economic priorities away from reduction of unemployment to
control of inflation; shift attention away from demand-side policies that encourage consumers
to consume ad towards supply-side that encourage producers to produce.
o Deregulation and tax cuts.

SOCIALISM

1. State socialism – state controls and directs economic life, acting, in theory, in the interests of
people; existence of central planning: advantages – eradicate unemployment, homelessness and
absolute poverty, but disadvantages – inherent inefficiency.
o State capitalism – a system of state ownership that replicates capitalist class
relationships by concentrating economic power in the hands of a party-state elite.

2. Market socialism – an economy in which self-managing enterprises operate within a context of

market competition, supposedly delivering efficiency without exploitation.
o Provide a guarantee of consumer responsiveness and efficiency, and dangers of
bureaucratic power is kept at bay.
o Encourages cooperation and ensures a high level of material equality; but self-
management might conflict with market disciplines, in that it dictates that enterprises
respond first and foremost to the interests of their workforces.

Social structure and divisions

a. Social culture
b. Race
c. Gender

 Individualism (Liberal tradition) vs. Collectivism (Socialist tradition)

 o Individualism – primacy of individual over an social group or collective body; individual is
central to any political theory or social explanation; human beings are naturally self-
interested and self-reliant.
o Collectivism – capacity of human beings for collective action; achieving goals by working
together than through self-striving.
 Social class – a group of people who have similar economic and social positions, and are united
by a common economic interest.
 Deindustrialization – decline of traditional labor-intensive industries.
 Underclass – those who suffer from multiple deprivation and are socially-marginalized: ‘the
excluded’.

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CHAPTER 10.

Participant Political Culture
 Citizens pay close
attention to politics and
regard popular
participation as both
desirable and effective.
POLITICAL CULTURE
Subject Political Culture
 More passivity amongst
citizens, and the
recognition that they only
have limited capacity to
influence government.
Parochial Political Culture
 Absence of a sense of
citizenship.
 People identifying with
their locality rather
than the nation.
 Neither desire nor the
ability to participate in
politics.

1. ‘Civic culture’ – stable democracy; blend of all three; reconciles the participation of citizens
in the political process with the vital necessity of government to govern; blend of activity
and passivity of citizens, and balance between obligation and performance of government.
o ‘Sleeping dogs’ theory of democratic culture – low participation indicates broad
satisfaction with government.
o May be a consequence of democracy than its cause.
2. Social Capital – social and cultural factors that underpin wealth creation; social
connectiveness as represented by networks, norms and trust that promote civic
engagement.
o Postmaterialism – assumes that conditions of material scarcity breed egoistical and
acquisitive values, meaning that politics is motivated by economic issues.
3. Politics of Difference (Identity Politics) – reflects a shift away from universalism and towards
particularism.
o Politics of recognition – identity should be fully and formally acknowledged and that
difference should be embraced.
o Transnational community – community where cultural identity, political allegiance and
psychological orientations cut across national borders.
 A “deterritorialized nation”
o Attempts to reconcile
 Cultural diversity and identity – related difference with civic and political
cohesion.
4. Multiculturalism – cultural diversity and communal (normative) diversity
 o Individual identity is culturally embedded; understanding of the world and their
framework of moral beliefs from the culture in which they live and develop.
o Minority/Multicultural rights:
1. Self-government rights – national minorities; people who are territorially
concentrated, posses a shared language and characterized by a ‘meaningful way of
life across the full range of human activities’.
2. Polyethnic rights – help ethnic groups and religious minorities, developed from
immigration, to express and maintain their cultural distinctiveness.
3. Special representation rights – redress underrepresentation of minority or
disadvantaged groups in education, etc.
o 3 Models
1. Liberal – commitment to freedom and toleration;
2. Pluralist – politics of indifference.
 ‘Particlarist’ multiculturalism – maintenance of cultural distinctiveness.
3. Cosmopolitan – endorses cultural diversity and identity; equality, but must see the
contribution to civic and political community; diversity of what each culture can
learn from other cultures.
o Drawbacks
 Multiculturalism can work in other countries but not in others.
 May lead to instability and violence.
 (Liberal individualism) personal identity is embedded in a group or social
identity.
 ‘Solarist’ theory: human identity is formed by membership of a single
social group.
 (Conservative and nationalist thinkers): shared values and a common culture;
“unity in diversity is a myth.
 (Progressive theorists): multiculturalism fails adequately to address the interests
of the disadvantaged groups or sections of society.

o Culture – can explain a particular phenomenon in politics.

o Legitimacy – rightfulness, authority, power, etc.
o Legal-rational – based on laws/constitution
5. Legitimacy and Political Stability
o Legitimizing powers of:
 Traditional authority – ‘always existed’; sanctified by history because earlier
generations had accepted it.
 Charismatic authority – based on power of an individual’s personality; capacity
of a leader to make a direct and personal appeal to followers.
 Legal-Rational authority – links authority to a clearly and legally defined set of
rules; authority is attached to an office rather than a person.

 CHANGE is a product of either evolution (reform, gradual, incremental improvements) or

revolution (abrupt violent break)
- Theories of Revolution:
o Structural (Marxist) – social change; destruction of one economic system or ‘mode of
production’ or class and replacement by another.
o Systematic imbalance (disequilibrium) – brought about by economic, social, cultural or
international changes to which the system itself is incapable of responding.
 o Relative deprivation – brought about by the gap between what people expect to receive
(value expectations) and what they actually get (value capability).

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CHAPTER 11.

- “Communication lies at the heart of politics”

- is central to politics.

Who?  Says what?  Using which media?  To whom?  With what effects?
SENDER MESSAGE CHANNEL REVEIVER IMPACTS
Ownership and controllership  Content  “Media”  Audience  Effects

- Media? Mass media?

o Mass communication – directed to unlimited number of people.

- 3 developments that led to the rise of media influence?

1. Political Socialization – impact of ‘primary’ agents such as family and social class declined.
2. Emergence of Television – reconfigured the way politicians conducted their
3. Media are not just neutral components.
o Global political actors
o Powerful economic actors and transnational actors

- What makes communication political?

o Focus on the owners/senders.
o Bias in the way the message is communicated (like when they mention “Muslim” in
describing the suspect, etc.)
o Main goal is to evoke certain emotions, persuade, get the desired outcome.

A. Theories of the Mass media  E

1. Pluralist model  N
o Ideological marketplace in which a wide range of political views are debated and
discussed.
o It sees the media as neutral transmitter of information; neutral arbiter despite the
owners’ own biases.
o Level playing field promotes balance.
2. Dominant-Ideology model – C  D
o Preserve the status quo or who is dominant; ownership determine.
o In a Marxist perspective, it’s just the bourgeoisie; maintain capitalist hegemony.
o Aligned to the interests of economic and social elites, promotes compliance or political
passivity amongst the masses.
o Media filters:
 Business interests of owner companies
 Sensitivity to views and concerns of advertisers and sponsors
 Sourcing of news and info from ‘agents of power’ i.e., governments
 ‘Flak’ or pressures applied to journalist including threats of legal action
  Unquestioning belief in the benefits of market competition and consumer
capitalism.
3. Elite-Values model  M
o The bias comes from the mechanisms involved in the political communication.
o Attention on mechanism through which media output is controlled.
o Media’s political bias reflects values of groups disproportionally represented amongst its
senior professionals.
o Elites dictate the final scripts.
4. Market Model  R
o Media as merely business; profit-oriented media than mirror reality.
o Give people ‘what they want’.

B. Media, Democracy and Governance

o Politics of ‘spin’ – favorable presentation of information and policies; practiced by ‘spin-
doctors’, the facts are:
 Careful ‘vetting’ of information and arguments before release to the media.
 Control of sources of information to ensure that only an official ‘line’ is
presented.
 Use of unattributable briefings or ‘leaks’
 Feeding of stories only to sympathetic media sources
 Release of information close to media deadlines to prevent checking or
identification of counter-arguments
 Release of ‘bad’ news at times when other more important events dominate the
news agenda.

o In democracy, media…
 Foster public debate and political engagement.
 Act as public watchdog to check abuses of power
 Redistribute power and political influence
 Provide a mechanism through which democracy can operate.

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CHAPTER 12.

 Representation – relationship through which an individual or group stands for or acts on behalf
of a larger body of people.
 Theories of Representation
1. Trusteeship – Burkian notion of representation; elitist view.
o Representation as a moral duty: those who possess education and understanding should
act in the interests of those who are less fortunate.
o Professional politicians as representatives insofar as they are members of an educated
elite.
2. Delegation – delegate acts as a conduct conveying the views of the represented, having little
or no capacity to exercise his or her own judgment of preferences; close to ideal of popular
sovereignty.
o Provides broader opportunities for popular participation and serves to check the self-
serving inclinations of professional politicians.
3. Mandate – party is the agency of representation; not the individuals.
 o Party carries out whatever policies or programs it outlined during the election
campaign; party can only act within the mandate it has received.
4. Resemblance – representative government constitutes a microcosm of the large society;
microcosmic representation – representatives drawn from all groups and sections in society.
o People who have shared experiences with a certain group can be the only one who can
fully identify with its interests.

 Elections – necessary action for political representation.

 Four considerations:
o Scope – which offices or posts are subject to the elective principle?
o Franchise – Who can vote?
o How are votes cast? Are elections fair?
o Competitive? / Non-competitive?
 Competitive – political parties

 Functions of Elections
o Conventional view – bottom-up functions: political recruitment, representation, making
government, influencing policy, etc.
o Radical view – top-down functions: building legitimacy, shaping public opinion and
strengthening elites.
o Central functions:
 Recruiting politicians
 Making governments
 Providing representation
 Influencing policy
 Educating voters
 Building legitimacy
 Strengthening elites
 Electoral System – how are votes converted into seats?
o Rules that govern the conduct of elections.
1. Non-proportional or the Majoritarian System
 Parties win a higher proportion of seats than the proportion of votes they gain
in the election.
a.) First Past The Post (FPTP) or single-member plurality (SMP) system [UK [House
of Commons], USA, Canada]
 Voters (divided into single-member constituencies) select a single
candidate; winning candidate needs to achieve a plurality of votes.
o Majority Rule – 50%+1 (absolute majority)
o Plurality – highest percentage (relative majority); most number
of votes.
b.) Second Ballot or the Two-Ballot System (France)
 Single-candidate constituencies and single-choice voting like FPTP is
held; candidate needs overall majority of votes, if no one wins first-
ballot majority, a second run-off ballot is held between two leading
candidates.
 c.) Alternative Vote (AV) System or Supplementary Vote (SV) – ranked according
to preference; 1, 2, 3, etc.; 50%+1 (UK [mayor], Australia [House of
Representatives])
 AV – voters rank the candidates in order of preference 1~whatever.
 SV – only a single ‘supplementary’ vote.
 AV – Candidates must gain 50% of all votes cast, if no candidate gains
50%, bottom candidate is eliminated and his/her votes are redistributed
to the second preferences, until one candidate reaches majority votes.
 SV – all candidates drop out except top two.

Example:
c.1
c.2
c.3
c.4  votes for c.4 are distributed until 50%+1 is reached and all positions are
occupied.

2. Proportional Representation System (P.R.)

 Guarantee a more equal relationship between the seats won by a party and the
votes gained in the election.
a.) Additional Member System (AMS) or Mixed member Proportional System
(Germany, Italy, Russia (State Duma), New Zealand, UK (Scottish Parliament
and Welsh Assembly))
 Hybrid w/ Party list
 A proportion of seats are filed by the FPTP system using single-member
constituencies; remaining seats are filled using a party list.
 Voters cast 2 votes (one for candidate in the constituency election + one for a
party)
b.) Single-transferrable vote (STV) (The Republic of Ireland and the UK (Northern
Ireland Assembly)
 Multi-member constituencies, each of which returns up to 5 members;
parties may put as many candidates as there are seats to fill.
 Vote in order of preference; candidates are elected if achieve the quota:

Quota = [total number of votes cast / (number of seats to be filled + 1) + 1

 Ranking  Quota
 Votes counted accdg to preference; if not all seats are filled, bottom
candidate is eliminated and votes are redistributed, and so on.
c.) Partylist/Party-list System (Israel, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium,
European Parliament)
 Electors vote for parties not individuals
 Parties are allocated seats in direct proportion to votes they gain in the
election.
  Threshold may be imposed.
o Voting Behavior – why do people vote the way they do?
 Theories:
1. Party Identification (Individual)
 Identify with a party by being long-term supporters; political loyalties.
2. Sociologist Model (Group/Social)
 Identify with a specific social group (class, gender, ethnicity, religion,
etc.)
3. Rational Choice Model (I)
 Individual’s self-interest.
4. Dominant-ideology model (G/S)
 Votes reflect the dominant ideology; voting is seen to reflect a person’s
position in the social hierarchy.
 Choice is influenced by mass media.

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CHAPTER 13.

- Political parties – political machines organized to win government power through elections.
- Types of political party:

Cadre party Mass party Representative Integrative

 ‘Catch-all parties’  Adopt proactive,

 Formed from the rather than
 ‘Party of notables’
outside; party for reactive, political
 Formed from inside
farmers/peasant; strategies.
the
tackles post-  Delegate (delegation  Attempt to
legislature/assembly
materialist issues theory from chap12); mobilize,
; for the elites.
 Emphasis on passive. educate and
 Reliance on a
broadening  Attempt to reflect, inspire the
politically active
membership rather than shape, masses, rather
elite, capable of
(recruitment) and public opinion. than merely
offering ideological
constructing a wide respond to their
leadership to the
electoral base than concerns.
masses.
ideology and  ‘Conviction
political conviction. politics’

Constitutional Revolutionary Left-wing Right-wing

 Acknowledge rights  Antisystem or  Ideological  Ideological
and entitlements of anticonstitutional orientation orientation
other parties and parties.  Progressive, socialist  Conservative
thus operate within  Aim to seize and communist and fascist
a framework of rules power and parties. parties.
and constraints. overthrow the  Commitment to  Uphold existing
 Acknowledge existing change (social reform social order; a
 division between constitutional or economic force for
the party and state structure using transformation). continuity.
institutions. tactics like  Mainly supported by  Mainly
 Enjoy formal outright the poor and supported by
independence and insurrection and disadvantaged. business interest
political neutrality. popular and materially
revolution. contented
middle class.

- Cadre and mass parties tend to become 'catch-all parties'-catch all votes; undivided issues

- Functions of parties:

 Representation – capacity to articulate views of both members and the voters, and popular
preferences.
 Elite formation and recruitment – responsible for providing states with political leaders.
 Goal formation – means through which societies set collective goals and ensure they’re
carried out; source of policy initiation.
 Interest articulation and aggregation (Political parties act as bridge between society and
government) – draw different group forces’ interests into a coherent whole, balancing
competing interests against each other.
 Socialization and mobilization – encourage groups to play by the rules of the democratic
game, thus mobilizing support for the regime.
 Organization of government – give government a degree of stability and coherence;
facilitate cooperation between the assembly and the executive.

- Political spectrum:
o Linear political spectrum – summarizes different attitudes to the economy and the role
of the state: left wing – intervention and collectivism, right wing – market and
individualism; depends on the country you are in.
o Horseshoe-shaped political spectrum – highlight totalitarian and monistic (antipluralist)
of fascism and communism by contrast with alleged tolerance and openness of
mainstream creeds; top: TOTALITARIAN, base: TOLERANCE
o 2-dimensional spectrum – top (authority): strengthen the role of the state; low regard
for freedom; base (liberty): strengthen the role of the individual; note: anarcho-
capitalism --> no regard for authority.

ATTITUDES: Radical, Moderate, Liberal, Conservative, Reactionary, corresponds to...

IDEOLOGIES: Communism, Socialism, Liberalism, Conservatism, Fascism

- Iron Law of Oligarchy (Michels)

 There is an inevitable tendency for political organizations, and by implication all organizations,
to be OLIGARCHIC.

- Party systems – description of the number of competitors.

 o One-party system – a single party capturing seats in government in a competitive;
monopoly power; many competitors but this one specific (dominant) party is always
elected; non-democratic.
o Two-party system – duopolistic; only two ‘major’ parties get to capture seats;
alternating shifts of power.
o Dominant-party system – there is a party that capture majority of seats; enjoys
prolonged periods in power; intraparty conflicts rather than competition between
parties.
o Multiparty system – competition amongst more than two parties, reducing the chances
of single-party government and increasing the likelihood of coalitions.
 Moderate pluralism – slight ideological differences and general inclination to
form coalitions and move towards the middle ground.
 Polarized pluralism – more marked ideological differences separate major
parties, some adopting an anti-system stance.
 Coalitions – grouping of rival political actors brought together either through
the perception of a common threat, or through recognition that their goals
cannot be achieved by working separately.

Issues
 Decline of parties (Party dealignment)
o Less people join/believe in parties.
Are they relevant today?
Advent of new media- no need to join parties; just ask voters directly