DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
AND
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Posc 105
POLITICAL PARTIES
(Continued)
- THIS MORNING:
- Parties organization in the United States
- Nominations
- Structure
- Money and politics
- A CONTRADICTION:
- First, let's start with a seeming contradiction: democracy as a whole may work
best when some (but only some) of its parts are not democratic.
- A strong party system embodies this idea.
- APPROXIMATIONS OF STRONG PARTIES IN AMERICA:
- The Contract With America
- The promise and the platform
- The 1994 election
- Gingrich's leadership approximated that of a strong party leader.
- Enforcement of discipline: committee assignments, fund raising.
- The "breakdown"
- Contract versus independent constituency interests and pressures.
- Abortion
- Term limits
- Environmental regulation
- The Contract in a "divided" government
- In a sense, voters rejected the "platform"
- THE NOMINATION SYSTEM:
- Caucuses and conventions.
- The federal structure of parties:
- Local to county to state to national
- The role of party leaders
- Advantage: party leaders seek to win and nominate accordingly.
- The primary system
- Elections to select candidates
- Open and closed primaries.
- National conventions
- Most delegates are pledged to a
candidate and have little leeway to
bargain.
- Decision (i.e., choice of nominee)
is usually a foregone conclusion.
- Opens nomination process to mavericks,
independent operators.
- "Upstarts," "outsiders" frequently win.
- 1992: Clinton is the most recent example
- THE AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM:
- American parties are de-centralized, somewhat
loose coalitions of sovereign
powers. They remind one of a feudal system of independent
barons and knights.
- No hierarchy in the usual sense (e.g., national
chairperson is not a "boss" in
the usual sense of the word.)
- Leaders, legislative members, and candidates are independent
entrepreneurs.
- No binding platform
- Key elements of their programs are frequently implicit, not
explicitly stated.
- There is debate about how closely
presidents follow the platform.
But in any event, congressional candidates
usually do not run on
national platforms.
- EXPLANATIONS OF PARTY WEAKNESS:
- Constitutional system, especially federalism and independently elected legislative
members, creates numerous power centers.
- Candidate-centered campaigns: candidates (e.g., senators and representatives)
have their own sources of support and power and do not rely on the central party
organization. (Example: Biden)
- General-welfare liberalism: distrust of parties and party bosses.
- Perot's 1992 candidacy and Colin Powell are examples
- Recent trends in party development:
- Nomination system: primaries vs
conventions and caucuses
- Television gives candidates independent "access" to voters.
- Party leaders are "circumvented"
- And it increases costs of running for office
- Campaign finance reform during the
1970s strengthened interest groups
- Perhaps surprisingly, campaign
finance reforms have (in my view)
further weakened parties.
- CAMPAIGN FINANCES:
- The Watergate reforms.
- Disclosure
- Limits on spending
- Public financing of presidential elections.
- Political action committees (PACs)
- Federal Election Commission.
- Some unintended consequences
- Political Action Committees (PACs): organizations that solicit
contributions from members and others and distributes to candidates
- "Soft money": contributions ostensibly made to parties for purposes such
as "get-out-the-vote" drives, but in actuality support candidates at all
levels.
- Spending limits and Buckley vs Valeo
- The "money talks" decision
- Wealth cannot be denied.
- The effect of reforms has been to weaken parties by giving group greater access
through funding opportunities.
- The strength of interest groups and now their PACS.
- All of these developments conspire to weaken parties and strengthen both
individuals and interest groups.
- NEXT TIME:
- Films on money and politics.
- Interest groups: any one who wants to know how politics must understand interest
groups.
- Reading:
- As noted last time, Patterson, We the People, Chapter 8. Skim pages 232
to 236 but read the rest of the chapter, especially the section on party
organization, carefully.
- I will try to schedule a "briefing" on Debt and Deficits
- Are you going to read May God Have Mercy
Go to Notes page
Go to American Political System page
Go to H. T. Reynolds page