Алексєєв В.С.

Дніпропетровський національний університет ім. О. Гончара

Political Parties in the USA and Their Tendencies of Development

The core function and the key to the definition of all political parties is that they try to win elections. Anthony Downs defines a political party as a ‘team of men and women seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election.’ Party teams are not well disciplined or single-minded. A widely adopted way of thinking about American parties is as ‘three-headed political giants.’ The largest component of the American party is the party-in-the-electorate. To be a member, one needs only to claim to be a member. The party as an organization has a national office, a full-time staff, rules and bylaws, budgets, and state and local organizations. It keeps the party running between elections and makes its rules. The party-in-government consists of elected officials who label themselves as party members. Although elected officials from the same party do not always agree on policy they are the ones responsible for translating party promises into policy. In a large democracy, linkage institutions translate inputs from the public into outputs from the policymakers. They are necessary to put people’s policy preferences on the government’s agenda. In the United States the four main linkage institutions are parties, elections, interest groups, and the media. Parties should perform five key functions to be effective linkage institutions: pick policymakers, run campaigns, give cues to voters, articulate policies and coordinate policy-making. Most voters have a party image, meaning that they know or think they know the parties stand for. Parties complete as in a marketplace. A party is in the market for voters; its products are its candidates and policies.

Party Eras in American History.

American party history has been characterized by party eras, long periods of time when one party dominates by representing a majority of voters and winning a majority of elections. Party eras are punctuated by a critical election, where a new coalition is formed for each party which endures for years. This process, sometimes occuring over several elections, is referred to as party realignment and is typically associated with a major crisis or trauma. The first party era occurred between 1796 and 1824. Alexander Hamilton’s politicking and coalition-building

helped form the Federalist party, American first political party. It was also American shortest-lived major party, dying out about 1820. The Democratic Republican party, under Thomas Jefferson’s influence, emerged in the 1800 election. Every political party depends upon a coalition, a set of individuals or groups supporting it. The Democratic Republicans were supported by agrarian interest and southerners. This coalition was torn by factionalism as it tried to be all things to all people. The period 1860 to 1932 marks a Republican era. In the late 1850s, the Republican party rose as the antislavery party. The Civil War and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 represented a political earthquake, resulting in Republican domination. The election of 1896, fought mainly over the ‘free silver’ issue, represented a realignment because of shifting coalitions and the entrenchment of the Republican party. A combination of new working classes and new moneyed interests elected William McKinley with a staggering turnout. For three decades the Republicans remained the majority party until the era ended with the Great Depression. President Hoover’s handling of the Depression was disastrous for the Republicans. The result was the beginning of a party realignment in favour of the Democrats. With the 1932 election, Roosevelt and his party began to forge the New Deal coalition, which made the Democratic party the majority party for decades. Its basic elements were the urban dwellers, labour unions, Catholics and Jews, the poor, southerners, African Americans and intellectuals. John F. Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’ and Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ were both in the New Deal tradition. The period 1968 to the present represents an era of divided government. Republicans have won five out of seven presidential election elections but have consistently been the minority party in the House of Representatives and usually the minority in the Senate. This situation is unprecedented in American history as Republican presidents have been unable to bring many Republican candidates into office with them. With the 1992 elections unified party government was at least temporarily restored. However, evidence from state governments indicates that divided party government remains an important phenomenon in American politics as 62 percent of the states had divided governments in 1992.

The Parties Today: Dealignment and Renewal

Americans are experiencing a party dealignment where people gradually move away from both parties. On the other hand, there has been a recent increase in the regular Washington staff of the national party organizations. Three major changes have occurred in the party system since the New Deal. First, party loyalty has declined. Rather than reflecting negative attitudes towards parties, there has been a growth in party neutrality. Lacking any party anchoring, people may be easily swayed one way or the other. This has become known as ‘floating voters.’ Second, those who do identify with a party are more likely to belong to the party that matches their ideology. The parties have become more ideologically differentiated, especially since southern conservatives have joined the Republican party. Third, even though party loyalty has lagged, party organizations have become more energetic and effective. Computerization of campaigns and fundraising has helped reinvigorate party leadership. The past few years have seen the emergence of the split-level party – a party with a strong, vigorous organization but a weak following on the mass level. Third parties pop up every year and occasionally attract the public’s attention. There are three varieties. First are parties that promote certain causes, either a single issue or an extreme ideological position. Second are splinter parties, offshoots of major party George Wallace’s American Independents in 1968. Third, some parties are an extension of a popular individual with presidential aspirations in a two-party system. Third parties may be important because they may tip the electoral college vote, bring new groups into the electorate, act as safety valves for popular discontent, and place new issues on the public agenda. Many third party issues have been incorporated into the major parties’ platforms and later into governmental policy.

The most obvious consequence of two-party governance is moderation of political conflict. To some critics of the system, the two parties offer little choice, because extreme or unconventional views are not represented. The result of moderation is political ambiguity. Parties do not want to risk antagonizing voters by taking a strong stand on a controversial policy. A multiparty system would result in every interest group forming their own party with many parties represented in Congress as is the case in many European countries. America has a winner-take-all system, in which whoever gets the most votes wins. Other countries have proportional representation, in which legislative seats are allocated according to each party’s percentage of the nationwide vote. Thus minor parties can receive representation. This results in coalition government, in which two or more parties come together to rule.

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Алексєєв Вадим Сергійович

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