Flashcards › Chapter 8: Political Parties

political party According to Anthony Downs, a "team of men seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election party competition the battle of the parties control of public offices. Ups and downs of the two major parties are one of the most important elements of american politics linkage institutions the channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda. in the u.s., linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and media rational-choice theory a popular theory in political science to explain the actions of voters as well as politicians. it assumes that individuals act in their own best interest, carefully weighing the costs and benefits of possible alternatives. party image voter's perception of what republicans or democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism party identification citizen's self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other ticket splitting voting with one party for one officeand with another party for other offices. it has become the norm in american voting behavior party machines type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements, such as patronage, to win votes and to govern patronage one of the key inducements used by party machines. a patronage job, promotion, or contract is one that is given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence alone closed primaries elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates. thus encouraging greater party loyalty open primaries elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on election day whether they want to participate in the democratic or republincan contests national convention the meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party's platform national committee one of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions. the national committee is composed of representatives from the states and territories national chairperson responsible for the day-to-day activities of the party and is usually handpicked by the presidential nominee coalition a group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends party eras historical periods in which a majority of voters cling to the party in power, which tends to win a majority of the elections critical election aan electoral "earthquake" where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. critical election periods are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era party realignment displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period. New Deal coalition coalition forged by the democrats, who dominated american politics from teh 30's-60's. its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, catholics and jews, poor southerners, blacks, and intellectuals party dealignment gradual disengagement of people from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification third parties electoral contenders other than the two major parties. american third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections winner-take-all system an electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituences proportional representation electoral system used throughout most of europe that awards legislative seats to political parties in proportion to the number of votes won in an election coalition government when two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature. this form of government is quite common in multiparty systems of europe responsible party model A view about how parties should work, held by some political scientists. Parties should offer clear choices to voters, who can then use those choices as cues to their own preferences of candidates. Once in office, parties would carry out their campiagn promises. Blue Dog Democrats Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States. political parties