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- A political party is a formally organized body of individuals, with common principles and goals, concerning the political system. An interest group is a formal association of people established with an aim of achieving specific objectives, by using various means.
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What is a political party? A political party is a group of people with similar ideas and beliefs who have come together to work to achieve their aims. The...
- Overview
- Types of political party
- Cadre parties
political party, a group of persons organized to acquire and exercise political power. Political parties originated in their modern form in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, along with the electoral and parliamentary systems, whose development reflects the evolution of parties. The term party has since come to be applied to all organized groups seeking political power, whether by democratic elections or by revolution.
In earlier, prerevolutionary, aristocratic and monarchical regimes, the political process unfolded within restricted circles in which cliques and factions, grouped around particular noblemen or influential personalities, were opposed to one another. The establishment of parliamentary regimes and the appearance of parties at first scarcely changed this situation. To cliques formed around princes, dukes, counts, or marquesses there were added cliques formed around bankers, merchants, industrialists, and businessmen. Regimes supported by nobles were succeeded by regimes supported by other elites. These narrowly based parties were later transformed to a greater or lesser extent, for in the 19th century in Europe and America there emerged parties depending on mass support.
The 20th century saw the spread of political parties throughout the entire world. In less-developed countries, large modern political parties have sometimes been based on traditional relationships, such as ethnic, tribal, or religious affiliations. Moreover, many political parties in less-developed countries are partly political, partly military. Certain socialist and communist parties in Europe earlier experienced the same tendencies.
These last-mentioned European parties demonstrated an equal aptitude for functioning within multiparty democracies and as the sole political party in a dictatorship. Developing originally within the framework of liberal democracy in the 19th century, political parties have been used since the 20th century by dictatorships for entirely undemocratic purposes.
A fundamental distinction can be made between cadre parties and mass-based parties. The two forms coexist in many countries, particularly in western Europe, where communist and socialist parties have emerged alongside the older conservative and liberal parties. Many parties do not fall exactly into either category but combine some characteristics o...
Cadre parties—i.e., parties dominated by politically elite groups of activists—developed in Europe and America during the 19th century. Except in some of the states of the United States, France from 1848, and the German Empire from 1871, the suffrage was largely restricted to taxpayers and property owners, and, even when the right to vote was given to larger numbers of people, political influence was essentially limited to a very small segment of the population. The mass of people were limited to the role of spectators rather than that of active participants.
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The cadre parties of the 19th century reflected a fundamental conflict between two classes: the aristocracy on the one hand and the bourgeoisie on the other. The former, composed of landowners, depended upon rural estates on which a generally unlettered peasantry was held back by a traditionalist clergy. The bourgeoisie, made up of industrialists, merchants, tradesmen, bankers, financiers, and professional people, depended upon the lower classes of clerks and industrial workers in the cities. Both aristocracy and bourgeoisie evolved their own ideology. Bourgeois liberal ideology developed first, originating at the time of the English revolution of the 17th century in the writings of John Locke, an English philosopher. It was then developed by French philosophers of the 18th century. In its clamouring for formal legal equality and acceptance of the inequities of circumstance, liberal ideology reflected the interests of the bourgeoisie, who wished to destroy the privileges of the aristocracy and eliminate the lingering economic restraints of feudalism and mercantilism. But, insofar as it set forth an egalitarian ideal and a demand for liberty, bourgeois classical liberalism expressed aspirations common to all people. Conservative ideology, on the other hand, never succeeded in defining themes that would prove as attractive, for it appeared to be more closely allied to the interests of the aristocracy. For a considerable period, however, conservative sentiment did maintain a considerable impact among the people, since it was presented as the expression of the will of God. In Roman Catholic countries, in which religion was based upon a hierarchically structured and authoritarian clergy, the conservative parties were often the clerical parties, as in France, Italy, and Belgium.
Conservative and liberal cadre parties dominated European politics in the 19th century. Developing during a period of great social and economic upheaval, they exercised power largely through electoral and parliamentary activity. Once in power, their leaders used the power of the army or of the police; the party itself was not generally organized for violent activity. Its local units were charged with assuring moral and financial backing to candidates at election time, as well as with maintaining continual contact between elected officials and the electorate. The national organization endeavoured to unify the party members who had been elected to the assemblies. In general, the local committees maintained a basic autonomy and each legislator a large measure of independence. The party discipline in voting established by the British parties—which were older because of the fact that the British Parliament was long established—was imitated on the Continent hardly at all.
The first U.S. political parties of the 19th century were not particularly different from European cadre parties, except that their confrontations were less violent and based less on ideology. The first U.S. form of the struggle between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, between conservative and liberal, was carried out in the form of the Revolutionary War, in which Great Britain embodied the power of the king and the nobility, the insurgents that of the bourgeoisie and liberalism. Such an interpretation is, of course, simplified. There were some aristocrats in the South and, in particular, an aristocratic spirit based on the institutions of slaveholding and paternalistic ownership of land. In this sense, the Civil War (1861–65) could be considered as a second phase of violent conflict between the conservatives and the liberals. Nevertheless, the United States was from the beginning an essentially bourgeois civilization, based on a deep sense of equality and of individual freedom. Federalists and Anti-Federalists, Republicans—all belonged to the liberal family since all shared the same basic ideology and the same system of fundamental values and differed only in the means by which they would realize their beliefs.
- The Conservative Party. Following the ideology of conservatism, the Conservative Party is one of the largest UK political parties. Their policies include low taxation to increase competition in the market.
- The Labour Party. Another of the biggest UK political parties, the Labour Party has historically aligned more with socialism. It has historically supported policies in touch with the working class.
- The Liberal Democrats. The Social Democratic Party merged with the Liberal Party in 1988, making them one of the newest UK political parties. The Liberal Democrats experienced their first time in power in 2010 as part of the historic coalition.
- Scottish National Party. The Scottish National Party are arguably one of the most successful of the regional UK political parties, holding 48 out of 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons.
Nov 21, 2023 · The main difference between a political party and an interest group is that members of a political party seek to influence policy from the inside, as part of...
- A political party is a collection of individuals who share a common vision or ideology and who are seeking or in office. A political party puts out...
- An interest group is comprised of individuals or organizations who are seeking to add, change or amend a policy. Members are generally aligned on a...
Group-based parties generally give members or their delegates a role in party decision-making, but they also reserve the right to expel members who are accused of subverting the party from its fundamental aims.
Sep 25, 2020 · As a result, political parties may unify individual legislators, form governments, and, collectively, assume responsibility for public policy. Interest groups, in contrast, seek to affect public policy without competing in elections or being held publicly accountable for their policies.
Oct 24, 2024 · Differences among democratic countries in historical experience, size, ethnic and religious composition, and other factors have resulted in significant differences in their political institutions. Some of the features with respect to which these institutions have differed are the following.
