Chapter Overviews

Chapter 16: Political Parties

Chapter Overviews

[logo] Essential Question
How do political parties play a large role in the decisions made by government?

Section 1 Development of Parties
Most nations have one or more political parties. In a one-party system, that party is the government, and party leaders set government policy. One-party systems are usually found in nations with authoritarian governments or in countries where religious leaders dominate. In nations with multiparty systems, voters have a wide range of choices on Election Day, and one party rarely gets enough support to control the government. Several parties often combine forces to obtain a majority and form a coalition government. Disputes often arise, and many nations with multiparty systems are politically unstable.

The United States has two major parties—the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Minor or third parties rarely win major elections. They often form over a single issue, such as slavery. Others form over an ideology, such as the Communist Party USA. A third type is a splinter party that often forms over a political figure, such as Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Progressive Party. Third parties often influence politics by promoting new ideas.

Section 2 Party Organization
Democrats and Republicans are organized into 50 state parties and thousands of local parties that operate independently of the national organization. Local, state, and national parties select their own officers and raise their own funds. No one is required to join a political party in the United States. In many states, however, citizens must declare their party preference when they register to vote or when they vote in certain elections. A voter may also declare that he or she is an independent.

The basic local party unit is the precinct, several of which comprise a larger district called a ward. The next level is the party's county committee. Representatives from the county committee make up the state central committee, which chooses the state party chairperson. The state committee helps elect the party's candidates for state government offices. The national party organization includes the national convention and the national committee.

Political parties recruit candidates for public office. They also bring important issues to the public's attention. Congress and state legislatures are organized and carry on their work on the basis of party affiliation. Political parties also dispense patronage to their members. The party that is out of power in the legislative or executive branches assumes the role of "watchdog" over the government.

Section 3 Nominating Candidates
To win elections, political parties must offer appealing candidates and conduct expensive campaigns. Every four years, each major party gathers in a national convention to nominate their candidates for president and vice president to run in the November general election. Before these conventions, however, presidential candidates must go through one or more of these preliminary selection methods: caucus, nominating convention, primary election, or petition. The method most commonly used today to select candidates is the direct primary. Either the candidate who wins the primary gets all the state's convention delegates (called "winner-take-all"), or each candidate gets delegates based on how many popular votes he or she receives in the primary. Primaries eliminate many opponents.

Before the start of the national convention, the national committee tells each state party organization how many votes (delegates) the state will have. Several committees at the convention determine the rules, approve state delegates, and write the party's platform. At recent conventions, there is no mystery about who will be nominated, but in past conventions, uncommitted delegates were actively wooed by the candidates. During the convention balloting, the chair of each state delegation calls out the delegates' votes. The candidate who receives a majority becomes the nominee for the party in the general election.