Political Parties

POLITICAL PARTIES

• ‘Modern democracy is unthinkable save in

terms of political parties.’
- Schattschneider ,1942

• ‘Parties are inevitable… and no one has shown

how representative governments could work
without them.’
– Bryce, 1921
 Political Parties
Political Party – a group of people who seek to control
government through the winning of elections and the
holding of public office
•People who have joined together based on certain
common principles/beliefs
• It is a group of people who come together to contest
elections and hold power in the government.
• They agree on some policies and programmes for the society
with aview to promote the collective good.
• A political party tries to convince people that its policies are
better than others’ policies. They try to win elections so that
they can implement their policies.
• Thus, parties reflect fundamental political
divisions in a society.
• Parties are about a part of thesociety and
thus involve PARTISANSHIP.
• Thus a party is known by which part it stands
for, which policies it supports and whose
interests it upholds
 A political party has three
components

• The Leaders
• The Active Members, and
• The Followers
 Why Political Parties?
• Political parties are essential to democratic government

– They are the medium through which options are

presented to the people

– Serve as a link between the people and their

government

– Some argue they are the primary method by which

the will of the people is made known to government
 5 Major Functions

1. Nominating Candidates for public office

– THE major function
– Select candidate and present them to the voters
– Work to help their candidate win elections
– Candidates represent the party members and help
spread the party’s message
– Nominating is exclusive to political parties- no other
group in the political process does this
 Functions of Political Parties
2. Informing and Activating Supporters
– Activate interest and participation in public affairs
– Primarily by:
• Campaigning for their candidates
• Taking stands on issues
• Criticizing the candidates/positions of their
opponents
– Inform voters the way THEY want them to be
informed
• Advertising
 Functions of Political Parties
3. Unite Government
– Members of political parties are connected because
they are members of the same organization
– Can link members at different levels of government to
achieve its bigger goals for the party
– Prompts its successful candidates to perform well in
office
• If they fail to do so, both party and candidate may
suffer the consequences in future elections
 Functions of Political Parties
4. Influence Policy/Governing
– Public officeholders are regularly chosen on the
basis of party
– Congress and State legislatures are organized on
party lines
• Partisanship – government action based on
firm allegiance to a political party
– Legislative and Executive branches must
cooperate in order to accomplish anything:
• Political Parties provide the channel for these
branches to work together
 Functions of Political Parties
5. Watchdog
– The party NOT in power closely watches the actions
of the party in power*
*Party that controls the executive branch of
government; i.e., the Presidency at the national
level, or the governorship at the State level
– Party out of power tries to convince the voters that
they should be the ones making the decisions
– Often makes those in power more responsive to the
wishes and concerns of the people
 ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
• Interest Aggregation and Articulation
 Political parties aggregate and articulate various
interests that are found in a society.
 Parties bundle the demands of different groups in
realistic policy packages and alternatives , seek
support for these policies and propagate and
articulate them.
• Political Recruitment and Socialization
 Political parties engage, select, and train people for
elected positions and offices.
 Through debates and discussion as well as electoral
campaign and competition, parties are also
important agents of citizen’s political education and
socialization.
 ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
• Representation and Mobilization
 Parties nominate candidates for election to public
offices, and structure voting choices of citizens.
 They mobilize voters by informing and energizing heir
members.
 They run election campaigns and raise funds for their
candidates.
• Facilitate Accountability of Government
 Political parties monitor the performance of government.
 When they are in power, parties keep an eye on the
implementation of their own policies and electoral
pledges.
 When in opposition, the parties provide a check on the
activities of the ruling party.
 ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
• Connecting Citizens with the Government
 Parties inform the government about public
opinion.
 At the same time, they keep the public informed
about government’s policies and actions.
• Other Roles…
 Parties can create political legitimacy, conciliate
and manage conflict among completing groups,
facilitate national integration, and promote
political stability.
 DEMOCRATIC OUTCOME/PROCESS
• Those who prioritize democratic outcomes rather than
processes, find political parties to be essential as parties
offer clear and distinct electoral choices so that ‘voters
can give their representatives a mandate by which to
govern and can subsequently hold them accountable if
they fail to deliver on promises’.
• Those who highlight the role of political parties in
democracy promotion and consolidation, underscore the
importance if intra-party democracy.
– Their arguments are relatively straight forward: that
parties must practice what they preach, that of a party
is run in an autocratic manner and is not inclusive, it
can hardly be expected to nurture these values
outside.
PARTIES IN LIBERAL/ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY
• While evidence from liberal democracies of the West has led
to the development of the classic models of roles of political
parties which has been discussed above, evidence from
experiences of many developing countries are increasingly
show a very different picture.
• Political parties in these illiberal democracies are performing a
different set of roles and functions.
• In many new democracies, political parties are marked by
strong clientelism which is characterized by a chain of
transactional relationship i.e. access to resources and resource
distribution with patron as the source of largesse and as the
object of loyalty.
• The prevalence of clientelist party politics leads to
undemocratic and corrupt practices.
PARTIES IN LIBERAL/ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY
• Studies of political parties in several developing
countries identify different types of illegal activities
resorted to by arty leaders in order to raise party and
campaign funds.
• These include:
– Taking ‘grease money’ from private business for
political favors or contracts,
– ’Protection’ money form individuals, and or
businesses,
– ‘Selling’ of parliamentary seats and government
appointments, and
– Even, Organized crimes such as smuggling and drug
trafficking.
Political parties in
Bangladesh
 THE BANGLADESH PARADOX
• Bangladesh presents contradictory images of political
parties.
• On the one hand, political parties have a positive image
for their contributions in the nationalist struggles of the
1950s and 1960s, and in the movements for realising
democracy in the 1980s.
• But at the same time the parties have failed to strengthen
full democratic practices within their own organisations.
• Inter-party relationships are also not democratic and are
highly confrontational.
• There are frequent media reports of corrupt and criminal
activities of party activists, and their impunity from justice
that illustrate their role in eroding rule of law in the
country.
 THE BANGLADESH PARADOX
• Some of the practices of political parties are
puzzling and run counter to theories of
political development.
First, one of the theories of party
development, based on empirical evidence of
Western liberal democracies, is that a two-
party system would lead to political stability.
However, in Bangladesh a two-party system
has created political confrontation and
instability, and has rather led to a sense of
perpetual crisis.
Second, it is generally believed that organisation of
regular free and fair elections and rotation of power
between parties would institutionalise electoral
democracy over time.
But in Bangladesh, the two main parties could never
reach an agreement on basic rules of organising
credible elections acceptable to both sides.
 THE BANGLADESH PARADOX
Third, another theory of party development,
again building on evidence from liberal
democracies of the West, posit that spread of
party organisational structure and partisan
identification contribute to greater
institutionalisation of parties.
The parties have focused on building their
organisation through patronage distribution
rather than commitment to an ideology or a
set of policies.
Finally, yet another theory of political development is
that organisation of regular elections and transfer of
power between parties as a result of electoral
verdicts will eliminate the need for agitational street
politics to overthrow regimes.
 But in Bangladesh agitational street politics
demanding overthrow of elected governments has
become an integral part of opposition party’s
election campaign, though state power has been
transferred more or less peacefully four times since
1991 as a result of elections.
EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL PARTIIES
• From One-Party Dominant to a Single-Party System
(1972-1975)
• Emergence of State-Sponsored Political Parties
during Military Rule (1975-1990)
– Party-Building by Major General Ziaur Rahman:
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
– Party-Building by Lt General H M Ershad: Jatiya
Party
MAJOR FEATURES OF THE
POLITICAL PARTIES
 Ideology of Local Parties
Political Party Ideologies
Awami League Bengali Nationalism
Democracy
Secularism – freedom of all religions and non-communal politics
Socialism – establishment of exploitation-free society and social
justice
BNP Bangladeshi nationalism
Democracy
Free market economy
Preserve the teachings of Islam, religion of the majority and other
religions
Jatiya Party Independence and sovereignty
Islamic ideology and freedom of all religions
Bangladeshi nationalism
Democracy
Social progress and economic emancipation
Jamaat Establish Islamic way of life
Establish just, exploitation-free society and state
Faith and trust in Allah, democracy, economic and social justice
Ensure basic needs of all citizen irrespective of religions and ethnicity
Fraternity with World Muslims and friendship with all states
 Internal Democracy in the Political
Parties
Indicators of Internal Democracy
1. Processes of leadership selection
2. Candidate selection
3. Policy-setting
4. Diversity profile of party leadership
5. Party and campaign funding
6. Inter and intra-party conflict resolution
Internal Democracy in the Political
Parties
 Representation of Social Diversity
Women’s Representation
• All the parties registered with the EC are bound by the RPO
mandate to attain the goal of ensuring that by 2020, at
least 33 per cent of all committee positions will be
occupied by women, including in the party’s central
committee.
• But with the exception of the AL, the presence of women is
dismal in all other parties.
• In the AL, 33 per cent of the members of the AL presidium,
the party’s highest decisionmaking body, are women.
• In contrast, in the BNP’s NSC and Jatiya Party’s presidium
only around 10 per cent are women; Jamaat had no
women.
 Representation of Social Diversity
Representation of Minorities
• Representation of members from minority
communities is marginal in the highest decision-
making bodies of all the political parties.
• The Jamaat constitution prohibits non-Muslims from
membership. The Jatiya Party presidium has no non-
Muslim member.
• AL and BNP each have few senior party leaders from
minority community.
 Representation of Social Diversity
Socio-Economic Status
• To assess whether people from all classes, a recent study
looked at two variables, occupation and education, to
measure the socio-economic status of leadership.
• However, the limited data of the study show the dominant
presence of people from upper socio-economic status
background in the leadership position of the parties.
• The majority members have at least graduation and above
degrees. Businessmen also dominate the leadership
positions in major political parties.
 Political Party Funding
Election Campaign Funding
• The Representation of the People Order (RPO) of Bangladesh established
some guidelines about campaign funding by parties as well as candidates. It
established a ceiling of BDT 2,500,000 for a candidate, including funds spent
for candidate by the party nominating him/her.
• The RPO made further provisions to introduce transparency in election
campaign funding. It stipulates that:
– All contesting parties have to maintain proper accounts of all its income
and expenditure for the period from the date of publication of election
notification till the completion of elections.
– The election funds and expenses of a political party must be operated
through a separate account with a scheduled bank.
– Every political party nominating any candidate for election shall submit
its statement of election expenses to the EC for its scrutiny, within 90
days of the completion of elections in all constituencies.
 Political Party Funding
Non-Election Funding
• The RPO also established guidelines for parties to receive funds
for non-election related expenses such as office rent,
administrative costs to run party offices, funds for arranging
party programmes, councils/congresses, advertisements, etc.
• A limit was set for making donations or grants to a party.
• The RPO prohibits a registered political party from receiving any
gift, donation, grant or money from a foreign country, or a non-
government organisation assisted by foreign aid, or from any
person who is not a Bangladeshi by birth or any organisation
established or maintained by such a person
 What can be done?
• To promote democracy in the country, parties need to:
 Stop using state agencies and state resources to reward
supporters and punish opponents. Rule of law, a critical
element of democracy, cannot be established unless
parties refrain from using the state to promote partisan
interest.
 Stop using violence to settle inter-party and intra-party
conflicts. The persistent violence between and within
parties and between parties and law enforcement agencies
constrain development of democratic means of conflict
resolution.
 Stop the practice of boycotting parliament when they are
in the opposition. They need to make parliament the
central agency to hold the government accountable.