The Effects of Political Parties on a Democracy
There are indeed several aspects in the composition of political parties that threaten democracy in the UK, whilst other aspects may promote democracy. Careful analysis must be done in order to establish to what extent either is true.
On the one hand, it may be argued that parties in fact promote democracy for a variety of reasons. Firstly, they assist the electorate by offering them a coherent choice, allowing people to vote democratically. Rather than the electorate having to choose between several members of each party, and having to place votes for central government subsequent to placing local constituency votes, voting is made simple and
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In 1997, New Labour capitalised on the number of women who were elected, establishing the impression that the party is ‘female friendly’. The Conservative party is also aiming to recruit more women and ethnic minority candidates in time for the upcoming general election in May 2005. It has also given higher platforms to those women already elected: Several years ago, Theresa May was appointed as party chairman. Not only by modernising themselves to represent current populations in Britain, parties also modernise themselves by generating new ideas for changing times. The labour party is the most famous for adapting its policies and ideology. Labour changed its name to ‘New Labour’ under the leadership of Tony Blair in 1997, to reflect these radical changes. At this time Labour chose to adapt its policies, and lose a lot of its socialist values. Under ‘Old Labour’ state ownership was held under high regard. But after Thatcher’s privatisation of state businesses, Labour acknowledged that it would be dangerous to radically reform businesses and bring them back under state ownership, thus they modernised their policies adapting them to the New Britain, by sticking to privatisation which had been warmly received. This promotes democracy, as policies are adapted to suit the electorate, rather than parties imposing unwanted, outdated ideologies upon its
In recent times it may be argued that personality and image has played a huge part in the voting behaviour of the electorate in the UK. The personality and image may refer to the personality of the party leader and how they present themselves in their campaign. This is a short-term factor and in a time where long-term factors are not said to play a huge role, as there is party de-alignment and a change in the class structure, perceptions of party leadership can play a huge role in determining voting behaviour. It may always have been recognised as a factor but now its influence may have
In the 1999 European elections the voter turnout for Britain was just 23%. The party ‘List’ method of elections has caused a great deal of controversy and there
Overall I think reforms since 1997 have made the UK slightly more democratic but not to a huge extent.
The final explanation why there is a participation crisis in the UK is the politicians themselves. Politicians have been known to lack vision, and only really care about being elected in modern politicians and political parties as it is seen as just another professional career. Politicians have also been known to be over -concerned with the media and how they are portrayed rather than being concerned on how things are at the moment and what they can do to make things better. This creates an impression to citizens that politicians are less trustworthy and are all about presentation which causes turnout rates and party membership to decline. The growing idea for politicians to target key voters and citizens they feel might change parties is also a contribution to declining voter turnout rates as other citizens may feel like they aren’t as important or cared about and so decide to not vote or vote for a different party because the political parties are ignoring the voters in the majority of seats. The decline in participation rates may also be because of politicians and political parties being too similar to each other, which doesn’t give citizens much
The many reasons why New Labour under Tony Blair continued Thatcherite policies will be explored throughout this paper. Once analysis of New Labour has been explored, this paper will attempt to narrow the consequences of Thatcher’s policy continuation to confer whether those policies were beneficial or destructive to British political discourse and British society.
But has the Conservative party actually abandoned Thatcherism? Considering the points displayed in this essay, I have come to the conclusion that Cameron’s ‘progressive’ party may not so adverse to Thatcherism at all. The most important issues over specific reforms raised by the current Conservative Government seem to be highly influenced by the ideas of Thatcher. What is essential to point out is that times have evolved since the Thatcher timeframe and the Conservatives have had to evolve along with these times and adapt their attitudes to gain support from the electorate who view the ‘Iron Lady’s’ concepts as out of date. As to any argument, there are two sides to the story; let us remember that Cameron’s Government has only had the chance
While gearing up for the 2016 election, it was extremely clear that this election was going to be a turning point in American politics. Ever since the 2016 Presidential candidates started campaigning over a year ago, one thing is becoming very clear: America’s two-party political system is in disarray. “Party systems in the United States are inherently unstable. Because it is a two-party system, the party that wins is the party that builds the biggest coalition. But the bigger the coalition, the more unstable it is” (Drutman). The struggle is finding solutions to fix it. It definitely did not help that businessman Donald Trump became president. Currently, there are two main parties in the United States federal system: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. There are also many third party alternatives that are struggling to change the way we look at politics.
Using the previously stated points, parties are generated through people’s individual thoughts on government, but even then political parties created dilemmas for the citizens. When people in the early United States can voice their view on government freely, it creates parties that divide up the government. When they were developed, it created rivalry between the two, further
Although a matter of great complexity and dire need of contestation and reform, promotion and support for third parties is not a major focus in the political agenda of citizens or the government. Even if third parties do not necessarily provide the required change to U.S politics in general, I believe that these parties are crucial for they entice major parties to become more responsive to constituents, and consequently increase citizen’s involvement in politics. Therefore reviving third parties would be a great tactic to revive democracy in the U.S. In addition to making larger leading parties more liable to citizens, third parties would also allow for a true practice of democracy. In a system were many issues are dealt with for it is simply
The maturity of the political system in Britain has gradually shaped the British community. Britain at present is considered to be a Liberal Democratic state and one main component is the capacity of the government to conduct an election to allow the people to voice their needs in the national level. Election is the heart or the core of a democratic state , removing this would deprive the people of their right. After five years or if the Parliament was dissolved by the Queen with of course the Prime Minister's advise, there will be an election using the "First-past-the-post" electoral system. Here the candidates can win seats in the Parliament by plurality of votes that the candidate received in his or her district. But then this
When looking at the history of US political parties, and classifying these parties into distinct party systems, five separate periods emerge leading up to the current party system. When classifying these party systems, it is important to look at characteristics such as the number of major parties, how these parties seek to gain support, and how the parties organize themselves. The earliest American parties were relatively centralized organizations that represented elite level concerns. They formed mainly at the national level, with low levels of grassroots connections. The first national party to come to prominence was the Federalist Party, who were opposed by the Democratic-Republican Party. The main cleavage that divided these parties was the degree to which the federal government should be centralize power. With the Federalist Party arguing for a stronger role and the Democratic-Republican Party supporting greater rights for the states. Both the modern day Democrats and Republicans are the result of a fracturing of the Democratic-Republican Party. Internal conflict caused by the expansion of the country and the issue of slavery caused the party to split and form the Democrats and with the remaining faction joining with the Whig Party to Oppose the Democrats. Further division on slavery caused the Whigs to also fracture, giving rise to the Republican Party, who arose as the anti-slavery faction of the party.
Thank you for writing in! We at Ideologies and You are glad to hear you are excited to vote and would be pleased to help you find the political party that suits you best. The New Democratic Party is the best federal political party to vote for. Their social policies focus on middle-class Canadians and their families, and ensure all Canadians are safe and healthy. Their environmental policies consider the future of Canada and ensure sustainability. Their economic policies strive to create jobs in a sustainable way, ensuring economic prosperity. The NDP has strong, substantial policies that make it the best choice.
In 1790, the United States had just recently broke free from the British crown and united under the cause of liberty. But in spite of this, Americans saw political rifts brought about by the rise of political parties. The rise of political parties in 1790 was caused by general distrust, disagreements on policies, and constitutional disagreements between the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, which were led by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, respectively.
I like that there are many different parts of the party. I like that the party has many ideas, conservatism, economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism. What I don’t like is that there is a long lasting dominance of democratic and Republican parties. Also, I don’t like that the 3rd parties tend to be expressions of discontent with two major parties. Not to mention, the third parties have a little chance, and there are fears of majority tyranny.
Political parties are critical structures in the modern society and universal phenomena in most democracies. In fact, they form major objects of intensive study as they are usually the centre of political and social power. They engage in most activities that are of significant consequence in the lives of citizens and link the common populace to the government. Therefore, it is important to understand political parties fully from every perspective of political systems so obtain their real importance in democracies. A political party is basically a group of citizens who converge as voters, activists, electoral candidates and office holders with a common party label and seek to elect party members into public offices. While modern political