What is a Political
Party?
A political party is an alliance of
like-minded people who work together to win elections and control of the
government. Political parties compete against one another for political power
and for the ability to put their philosophies and policies into effect.
A
political party is a group of voters organized to support certain public
policies. The aim of a political party is to elect officials who will try to
carry out the party's policies.
A political party offers
candidates for public office. It sets out positions on issues that may range
from war and taxes to how children should be educated. When people in a
democracy disagree about what the government should do, voters express their
opinions by voting for the candidates that most closely reflect their views.
Political parties provide a way for voters to easily identify a candidate's
positions.
Political parties may be large or
small, national or local. Large political parties generally have millions of
members and supporters. In democratic election campaigns, parties compete
freely for votes. Such competition is one of the hallmarks of democracy.
How Parties Began
Political parties as
we know them did not begin to develop until the late 1600s. The ancient Greeks,
who were pioneers in developing democracy, had no organized political parties
in the modern sense.
The senate of the
ancient Romans had two groups that represented people with different interests
the Patricians and the Plebeians. The Patricians represented noble families.
The Plebeians represented the wealthy merchants and the middle class. Although
these two groups often mingled, at times they voted as factions, or parties, on
particular issues that were important to the groups they represented.
For many centuries
after the fall of Rome (A.D. 476), the people of Europe had little voice in
politics. Thus there were no true political parties — only factions that
supported one noble family or another. Political parties developed as representative
assemblies gained power. In England, this change began after what was called
the Popish Plot of 1678.
English Political Parties
In 1678, a rumor
spread through England that Roman Catholics were plotting to kill King Charles
II and give the throne to Charles' brother, James, Duke of York (who was a
Roman Catholic). There was no real Popish plot, but an alarmed Parliament
barred all Roman Catholics from public office and tried to take away the Duke
of York's right to inherit the throne. But to King Charles II, Parliament
seemed to be challenging royal authority, and he struck back by dissolving
Parliament.
All over England
people were either for or against the king's act. Those who urged the king to
call a new Parliament were called Petitioners. Those who backed the king's deed
were called Abhorrers because they abhorred any attempt to control the king's
actions. Before long the two factions took on other names. Petitioners were
called Whigs. "Whig" was an old term for Scottish Presbyterians who
opposed the government. The king's supporters were called Tories.
"Tory" was originally a name given to Irish Roman Catholics who had
suffered under Protestant rule. These old names took on new meanings.
The basic difference
between Whigs and Tories in the 1600s was their view of what government should
do and how strong it should be. Tories wanted rule by a strong king. Whigs
wanted ordinary people to have more rights and gain more control of their
government. In time, as Parliament took greater control, the Whigs and Tories
developed into organized parties.
What Do Political Parties Do?
Political parties do
a variety of things. There are five main functions that political parties have.
Recruiting candidates
for public office is one of the most important functions that political parties
have.
An important goal of
political parties is to gain control of the government, and to do this, parties
must work to recruit candidates for all elected offices. For example, if a
province had an opening for governor, each political party would try and find a
person they could support to run for that position.
Political parties
also actively try to gather volunteers to help register voters as well as
organize and run the election day voting. The hope is that the more people that
are involved in helping with the election, the more interest there will be in
the outcome, which should increase voter turnout.
The ultimate goal is
to get the person the party supports to win an election!
While political
parties do end up endorsing or supporting individual candidates, they do so
because those people share very similar ideals and political positions of the
entire party.
Thus, another
function of political parties is to present alternative policies to the
electorate, called their political platform.
A political
platform is the ideals and positions a political party has. Thus, we
often learn of the ideals a political party has from the members that support
it.
When a member of a
political party wins an elected position, they in essence take responsibility
of running the government. This includes staffing positions with loyal party
supporters and developing connections among other elected officials to gain
support for policies and their implementation. For example in US, Barack Obama,
who is a member of the Democratic Party, did this when he named his White House
staff, Cabinet members, and other appointed officials.
The last function
that a political party has is to put forth its own policies and
oppose the winning party, when appropriate, if the party did not win an elected
position. The purpose of this is to promote healthy debate so that the winning
party remains fair in the policies that they promote. For example, if you were
to apply for a promotion at a job and a co-worker ended up getting it over you,
you would still hope that you would be listened to and valued in your current
role even though you aren't the person in power.
These are the main
functions of political parties in the political arena. Other administrative
duties and staffing depends on the political settings of different countries.
