Political party: Difference between revisions

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==Origins==
==Origins==
Active political parties have emerged in virtually every country that has a democratic constitution  (elsewhere, political parties have served mainly as passive agents  of the state).   
Active political parties have emerged in virtually every country that has a democratic constitution  (elsewhere, political parties have served mainly as passive agents  of the state).   
A 1967 study attributed the creation of  the existing parties of the western democracies to four "''cleavages''" that had arisen from national and industrial revolutions; which were identified as ''centre versus periphery'', ''church versus state'', ''landowners versus industrialists'', and ''capitalists versus workers'' <ref>Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan ''Party Systems and Voter Alliances:a cross-National Perspective''  Free Press New York  1967</ref>. Subsequent research covering a range of countries, indicated that similar party structures had persisted during the rest of the twentieth century <ref>[http://www.questia.com/read/108789140  Karvonen and Kuhnle (eds)  ''Party Systems and Voter Alliances Revisited''  Routledge 2001]</ref>. The 1967 study  had observed  that, with a few exceptions, party systems had become "frozen" in the patterns of the 1920s but later studies indicated that, although those patterns had not changed, increasing signs of volatility  suggested the prospect of future change <ref>[http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/2/post_617.pdf  Andrew Drummond ''Electoral Volatility and Party Decline in Western Democracies''  1970-1995  Political Studies 2006 vol 54]</ref>.
A 1967 study attributed the creation of  the existing parties of the western democracies to four "''cleavages''" that had arisen from national and industrial revolutions; which were identified as ''centre versus periphery'', ''church versus state'', ''landowners versus industrialists'', and ''capitalists versus workers'' <ref>Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan ''Party Systems and Voter Alliances:a cross-National Perspective''  Free Press New York  1967</ref>. Subsequent research covering a range of countries, indicated that similar party structures had persisted during the rest of the twentieth century <ref>[http://www.questia.com/read/108789140  Karvonen and Kuhnle (eds)  ''Party Systems and Voter Alliances Revisited''  Routledge 2001]</ref>. The 1967 study  had observed  that, with a few exceptions, party structures had become "frozen" in the patterns of the 1920s but later studies indicated that, although those patterns had not changed, increasing signs of volatility  suggested the prospect of future change <ref>[http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/2/post_617.pdf  Andrew Drummond ''Electoral Volatility and Party Decline in Western Democracies''  1970-1995  Political Studies 2006 vol 54]</ref>.


==References==
==References==
<references/>
<references/>

Revision as of 04:06, 29 November 2007

Democratically-elected political parties have had the common purpose of participating in government, but they have developed differently in different countries.

Origins

Active political parties have emerged in virtually every country that has a democratic constitution (elsewhere, political parties have served mainly as passive agents of the state). A 1967 study attributed the creation of the existing parties of the western democracies to four "cleavages" that had arisen from national and industrial revolutions; which were identified as centre versus periphery, church versus state, landowners versus industrialists, and capitalists versus workers [1]. Subsequent research covering a range of countries, indicated that similar party structures had persisted during the rest of the twentieth century [2]. The 1967 study had observed that, with a few exceptions, party structures had become "frozen" in the patterns of the 1920s but later studies indicated that, although those patterns had not changed, increasing signs of volatility suggested the prospect of future change [3].

References