preview

How Are Political Parties Are Powerless?

Good Essays

In the first part of the essay, we will start with the definition of political parties. Then, the functions of political parties will be discussed. In the last part of the essay, we will evaluate whether political parties in Hong Kong are powerless, since they cannot form a government and make policy, by the history of the parties and the limitations that they are facing.
Political party can be defined as “a group of officials or would-be officials who are linked with a sizeable group of citizens into an organization; a chief object of this organization is to ensure that its officials attain power or are maintained in power” (Shively, 2001, p. 234). In short, “a group of people that includes those who hold office and those who help get and keep them there” (Clark, Golder and Golder, 2013, p.604). Political parties are not limited to democracies or electoral activity as they exist in many dictatorships (ibid, p.605). Political parties have a major difference compared to interest or pressure groups: although both attempt to influence government policy, the latter would not take power.
Political parties perform …show more content…

The localist camp focuses on the preservation of Hong Kong’s identity and autonomy (Law, 2013, p.96). Although both the localist camp and the pan-democratic camp desire democracy, they have almost hostile attitudes towards each other. The localist camp only identify themselves with Hong Kong, while the pan-democratic camp identify themselves as Chinese based on the historical connection. The localist camp often pursue and support radical action, including violent strategies, to fight for their core political advocacies; the pan-democratic camp, on the other hand, criticize any use of violence, and pursue non-violent strategies such as protesting or

Get Access