Two Characteristics of Political Party Systems
1. GENEALOGY: What parties exist and why they exist in certain systems
2. MORPHOLOGY: How many parties exist. Why some systems are composed of only 2 large parties and some many small parties.
Morphology: Types of party systems by Number and Relative Strength
1. DOMINANT: One party has super-majority of offices for decades at a time.
2. TWO-PARTY: 2 organizations consistently command a combined 90% of the vote and office positions. Neither alone carry more than 50% to 60% of those.
3. MULTI-PARTY: None is majoritarian. 2 or more must pool resources to have a majority coalition.
4. BIPOLAR: combination of two-party and multi-party attributes - from coalitions of parties that form alliances before elections and remain stable
What is a region?
1. An intermediate level of political representation and governance (States, Province, County, Lander)
2. A spatial area within a state encompassing more than one political unit (Prairie Provinces, Eastern Uplands, Home Counties, New England)
3. A supra-national area stretching across state boundaries (The Cordillera, Nuremberg Metro, Yorkshire and the Humber, Great Lakes)
Reasons why Regions exist:
1. MODERNIZATION PARADIGM ( Obsolete remnants of pre-industrial societies and Economic development units)
2.CULTURAL AND MINORITY NATIONALISM (Ethnic minorities with claims of historic nation status; Cultural sensibilities, outlooks, or identities)
3. MARXISM - uneven economic development (Political power structures unequal relations in the marketplace; Capitalism produces regional disparities within developed economies)
4. INSTITUTIONALISM (Election and political party systems in Canada; Constitutional interpretation in US)
Social Movements, Interest Groups, and Political Parties:
SOCIAL MOVEMENT: informal group, loosely coordinated in their actions that use flexible tactics with a minimal leadership group
INTEREST GROUP: organized group of people who seek to ensure that the state follows preferred policy
POLITICAL PARTY: A group of officials, or would-be officials, linked with a group of citizens to ensure that its officials attain power or retain power
Transformation of SM to IG to PP:
• Abolition of Slavery > American Anti-Slavery Society > Republican
• Women's Suffrage > League of Women Voters > Non-partisan
Attributes of Political Culture:
1. POLITICAL BELIEFS: What people think is factually accurate or inaccurate
2. POLITICAL VALUES: What people think is morally right or wrong
3. POLITICAL NORMS: What people must do to receive approbation or avoid sanction
Political Culture of the United States
1. MORALISTIC: Good government is measured by the degree to which it promotes the public good
2. INDIVIDUALISTIC: emphasizes limiting government intervention into private activities
3. TRADITIONALISTIC: Government's role is largely limited to securing the maintenance of the existing social order.
Reasons Government regulates US Economy:
1. PRESERVE: prohibiting unfair competition: price-fixing, collusion, restraints of trade
2. ADJUST/CORRECT: combatting negative side-effects of a market economy: environmental damage, hazardous working conditions, child labor
3. ANTI-MARKET: to serve values as, if not more, important than the market itself: import tariffs to protect domestic employment; preferential hiring, training, retention to diminish racial discrimination
4. NON-ECONOMIC: prohibiting the sale of technologies abroad that could threaten homeland security