161 Pol May 17, 2007 Party system institutionalization: Why are there differences with old deomocracies and new ones - Institutionalized party systems are characterized. By: (description more in the article) -Low electoral volatility - institutionalized system. Stability in the number of parties and parties which go on. -Ideological continuity - ties into Downs and ideology. Cannot bounce around in ideology: makes it hard to figure out what the party will do. Need to be strongly rooted in society, Need to have reliable ideological queue. -Legitimacy of electoral competition elite party leaders as well as citizens, if parties are distrusted no a lot of confess then poses a problem with legitimacy. INS parties necessary for democracy. -party organization autonomy: independence from powerful players, therefore parties are not "captured" by a single person or group. Species of political parties: Gunther and Diamond a new way of distinguishing parties -Three party characteristics that help us develop a typology of parties: Organization: Primary structural unit, from there other two categories follow. - Structure: Thick (mass) and Thin (cadre) parties 5 types of parties when looking at org. bases of parties -elite: 2 species Most organizationally thin, minimal, classic elite base parties, not around in pure form, had to have adapted to survive Traditional local notable early 19th century, classic liberal and conservative party focuses on the notables within the society and seeking office and power when there was limited enfranchisement. Clientelistic : TLC began to fail when enfranchisement took place, rely on incentives, Party Boss structure. Diffused notables largely replaced by electoral parties -mass Socialism: Class-mass (pluralist): Euro socialist parties, that had to adapt after world war II Leninist (proto-hegemonic): hard line communist Nationalist: Pluralist nationalist: All about national integration. Sense of State identity Ultra nationalist: much less tolerant party, that is all about taking control. Tend to be anti-democratic. Race above the individual Facisit parties come in Religion: Denominational: CEU/Christian Democratic. Not anti system, made to work within the system and promote the value of the church through party Selective Fundamentalist: to belief -ethnicity: organizationally thin, not however as thin as mass parties Ethinc Parties: only it's own group, often anti system or anti-democracy Strategy can go either way
Congress parties: ex. India , more about coalitions. Not one but bring together a bunch. Ethnic parties in it's own district but at the national gov't it becomes a coalition. Aggregate the interest of the ethnic parties. Generate some kind of national identity. Compete as being part of the congress party from the beginning. -Electoralist: catch all parties: Broad/vague ideology. Typically found in two party systems. Ideology to maximize votes: Pluralist and tolerant form : US Democratic party Programmatic: Republican Party, slightly more focused ideological approach. Stronger positions on specific issues typically social spectrum Personalistic: Provide a vehicle to the party leader in maintaining office. -high potential to become proto hegemonic party Movement Parties: Left- Libertarian; Greens Post- industrial extreme right: order, tradition tend to become xenophobic: France's National Front Program: Extent to the Program Strategy: Pluralist or Hegemonic Cleavages and political parties four central and eastern European countries: Two main cleavages in the four CEE countries (Based on Elster: Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic) How do you promote democratic consolidation: lengthier phase which takes decades to occur. People in the country acknowledge democracy as the regime. Institutionalization takes place, transfer of power occurs, parties system consolidates, volatility slows down etc. -look at the institutional components - Politico-ideological: Loyalist or against Communism (victim mentality) - Identity-based: Ethnic/primordial attachment. Larger picture, it is a national integration issue. The significance of Ethnicity in CEE Five historical factors that make ethinicty a key cleavage - the concept of "nation" vs state - nation cohesive ethnic group -state - government entity - in most cases nations overlap in states - the nation as having been victimized by imperial powers - Fear on the part of majorities of separatist or irredentist movements - new freedoms of democracy igniting ethno-nationalist tendencies