Political parties: meaning, formation, functions, kinds, merits and demerits, and the Indian party system
Political Science - Organisation and Institution · Unit III · Topic 11 of 16 · 6 min read
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1. Meaning and definitions
A political party is an organised group of people who share broadly the same political principles and seek to win control of government by constitutional means, chiefly elections, in order to put those principles into effect.
- Edmund Burke (Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, 1770): “a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed.”
- Gilchrist: an organised group of citizens who profess to share the same political views and who, by acting as a political unit, try to control the government.
- MacIver: an association organised in support of some principle or policy which by constitutional means it endeavours to make the determinant of government.
- Gettell: a group of citizens more or less organised, who act as a political unit and who, by the use of their voting power, aim to control the government and carry out their general policies.
Essentials: organisation and leadership; agreement on fundamental principles; the aim of capturing power; constitutional (peaceful) methods; and a national, not merely sectional, outlook. The last two distinguish a party from a revolutionary movement and from a pressure group.
2. Formation and manifestos
Parties form around several bases, often in combination: ideology and economic interest (socialist and liberal parties, labour and business); religion (Christian Democrats in Germany and Italy); region and language (regional parties in India, the Scottish National Party); caste and community; and the personality of a leader. Some writers also trace parties to human temperament: the conservative who prefers what exists, the radical who wants change.
Before an election a party issues a manifesto, a public statement of its programme and promises. It informs the voter, binds the party to a programme, and forms the basis of a mandate. In Britain the Salisbury convention gives manifesto bills special protection in the House of Lords. In India the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct includes guidelines on manifestos.
3. Functions
- Formulating policies and programmes and putting them before the electorate.
- Contesting elections: selecting candidates and running campaigns.
- Forming the government: the majority party or coalition governs; in a parliamentary system party discipline keeps the government in office.
- Acting as the Opposition: criticising and checking the government and offering an alternative.
- Political education and the formation of public opinion.
- Linking people and government: conveying grievances upward and explaining policy downward.
- Aggregating interests (Almond): combining the demands of many groups into a general programme.
- Recruiting and training leaders.
- Making the constitution work: the American separation of powers is bridged by party; parliamentary government depends on it.
4. Merits and demerits of parties
Merits: democracy on a large scale is impossible without parties; they make elections meaningful by offering clear choices; they give stable government; they provide an Opposition; they educate the voter; they bring individual and group interests into a national programme. Bryce: parties are inevitable; no one has shown how representative government could be worked without them.
Demerits: they divide the nation and encourage factionalism (Washington's Farewell Address warned of “the baneful effects of the spirit of party”); party loyalty overrides conscience and the national interest; they suppress individual thinking; they spread false propaganda; they use money and muscle in elections; and they foster the spoils system. Robert Michels (Political Parties, 1911) argued that every party, however democratic, falls under the control of a small leadership, the “iron law of oligarchy”.
5. Kinds of party systems
Parties may be classified by ideology (reactionary, conservative, liberal, radical) or by the number that compete effectively for power.
Single-party system
Only one party is allowed: the Communist Party of the former USSR, the Communist Party of China, the Fascist party in Italy and the Nazi party in Germany. Merits: unity, discipline, quick decisions and long-range planning. Demerits: it is the negation of democracy; no Opposition, no free elections, no choice; it leads to dictatorship and suppression of liberty.
Two-party system
Two major parties alternate in power, though minor parties exist: Conservatives and Labour in Britain, Democrats and Republicans in the USA. Maurice Duverger linked the two-party system to the single-member plurality (first-past-the-post) electoral system, an association called Duverger's law. Merits: stable government with a clear majority; clear responsibility; a strong Opposition ready to govern; easy choice for the voter. Demerits: cabinet dictatorship; the voter's choice is limited to two; minority opinions go unrepresented; the two parties may differ little.
Multi-party system
Several parties compete, none usually winning a majority, so that governments are coalitions: France (especially under the Third and Fourth Republics), Italy, Switzerland, Israel, the Netherlands and India. It is associated with proportional representation. Merits: a wide range of opinion is represented; the voter has more choice; minorities and regions get a voice; government by consensus. Demerits: unstable coalitions (the Fourth Republic had more than twenty governments in twelve years); weak and indecisive government; small parties exercise disproportionate bargaining power; responsibility is blurred.
6. The Indian scenario: a brief reference
- From one-party dominance to multi-party competition. Rajni Kothari called the period of Congress dominance from 1952 to 1967 the “Congress system”. Opposition coalitions won several States in 1967, and the Janata Party won the Union in 1977. From 1989 to 2014 no party won a Lok Sabha majority and coalition government was the rule. Since 2014 a single party has again led, though at the head of a coalition, and since 2024 depending on its allies for a majority.
- Recognition. Parties register with the Election Commission under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act 1951. The Commission recognises them as national or State parties under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, on the basis of vote share and seats won; after its 2023 review there were six national parties.
- Regional parties are strong in many States and important in coalitions.
- Problems: defection (checked by the Tenth Schedule, added by the 52nd Amendment 1985; see the anti-defection law), money power, criminal candidates, dynastic leadership, caste and communal appeals, and weak internal democracy.
How this is examined
The standard 16-mark question (definition, kinds, merits and demerits) needs Burke and one other definition, the essentials, then the three systems with examples and merits and defects of each, and the merits and demerits of parties in general. Close with a paragraph on India. The 6-mark note on the multi-party system is the third of the three systems with French and Indian examples.
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