pols

• Bias: Sympathies or prejudices that (often unconsciously) affect human judgement; bias implies distortion
• Behaviouralism: The belief that social theories should be constructed only on the basis of observable behaviour, providing quantifiable data for research.
• Empirical: Based on observation and experiment; empirical knowledge is derived from sense data and experience.
• Positivism: The theory that social, and indeed all forms of, enquiry should adhere strictly to the methods of the natural sciences.

  (Page 36).
• Politics, in its broadest sense, is the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. Although politics is also an academic subject

  
  

  Politics is thus inextricably linked to the phenomena of conflict and cooperation.

  
  

  definition of political power as ‘acting in concert’. heart of politics is often portrayed as a process of conflict resolution,
• polity, a system of social organization centred on the machinery of government.
• Authority can most simply be defined as ‘legitimate power’. Whereas power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others, authority is the right to do so.
• Polity: A society organized through the exercise of political authority; for Aristotle, rule by the many in the interests of all.
• Faction


  Refers either to the proliferation of factions, or to the bitterness of factional rivalry
• Factionalism


  The term is often used pejoratively, implying debilitating infighting
• Cadre parties


  • A Party of Notables, dominated by an informal group of leaders who saw little point in building up a mass organization, such parties invariably developed out of parliamentary factions or cliques at a time when the franchise was limited, to denote trained and professional party members who are expected to exhibit a high level of political commitment and doctrinal discipline
• Mass parties


  • Place a heavy emphasis on broadening membership and constructing a wide electoral base, formally democratic organizations, except for a minority of activists, membership usually entails little in the way of participation and only general agreement about principles and goals
• Representative parties


  See their primary function as being the securing of votes in elections, they thus attempt to reflect, rather than shape, public opinion, they adopt a catch-all strategy and therefore place pragmatism before principle and market research before popular mobilization
• Integrative parties


  Adopt proactive, rather than reactive, political strategies, they wish to mobilize, educate and inspire the masses, rather than merely respond to their concerns
• Constitutional parties


  • Acknowledge the rights and entitlements of other parties and operate within a framework of rules and constraints, acknowledge that there is a division between the party and the state, between the party in power and state institutions that enjoy formal independence and political neutrality, acknowledge and respect the rules of electoral competition, recognize that they can be voted out of power as easily as they can be voted in
• Revolutionary parties


  • Anti-system or anti-constitutional parties, either of the left or of the right, aim to seize power and overthrow the existing constitutional structure using tactics that range from outright insurrection and popular revolution to the quasi-legalism practiced by the Nazis and the Fascists, when such parties win power, they invariably become 'ruling' or regime parties, suppressing rival parties and establishing a permanent relationship with the state machinery
• Left-wing views


  Support intervention and collectivism
• Right-wing views


  Favour the market and individualism
• Mainstream parties


  • Broadly accept the constitutional status quo and so tend to operate within what can be seen as the established rules of the political game, the vast majority of the major parties of government across the globe can, in this sense, be classified as mainstream parties, together with most established minor parties, they have a marked tendency towards the center ground of politics, where they believe most voters can be found
• Populist parties


  • Challenge the authority of a political establishment deemed to be deceitful, arrogant and self-serving, at the heart of which lie mainstream parties and conventional politicians, they claim that the only legitimate source of political and moral authority rests with 'the people'
• Representation


  The capacity of parties to respond to and articulate the views of both the members and the voters
• Elite formation and recruitment

  Parties of all kinds are responsible for providing states with their political leaders, the creation of powerful politicians and are used as political vehicles to mobilize support for them, in most cases, parties therefore provide a training ground for politicians, equipping them with skills, knowledge and experience; and offering them some form of career structure, albeit one that depends on the fortunes of the party
• Faction


  Refers either to the proliferation of factions, or to the bitterness of factional rivalry
• Goal formulation


  Societies set collective goals and ensure that they are carried out, in the process of seeking power, the formulate programs of government with a view to attracting popular support, encourages coherent sets of policy options that give the electorate a choice amongst realistic and achievable goals
• Factionalism


  The term is often used pejoratively, implying debilitating infighting
• Types of Party


  • Cadre parties
  • Mass parties
• Interest articulation and aggregation

  Parties often developed as vehicles through which business, labor, religious, ethnic or other groups advance or defend their various interests, the fact that national parties invariably articulate the demands of a multitude of groups forces them to aggregate these interest by drawing them together into a coherent whole, balancing competing interests against each other
• Cadre parties


  A Party of Notables, dominated by an informal group of leaders who saw little point in building up a mass organization
• Socialization and mobilization


  Through internal debate and discussion, as well as campaigning and electoral competition, parties are important agents of political education and socialization, mainstream parties in competitive systems play no less significant a role in encouraging groups to play by the rules of the democratic game, thus mobilizing support for the regime itself
• Mass party


  Places a heavy emphasis on broadening membership and constructing a wide electoral base, they place heavier stress on recruitment and organization than on ideology and political conviction
• Party distinctions


  • Representative parties
  • Integrative parties
• Organization of government


  Complex modern societies would be ungovernable in the absence of political parties, in the first place, parties help with the formation of governments, in parliamentary systems, to the extent that it is possible to talk of 'party government', parties also give governments a degree of stability and coherence, especially if the members of the government are drawn from a single party and are united by common sympathies and attachments
• Representative parties


  See their primary function as being the securing of votes in elections, they attempt to reflect, rather than shape, public opinion, they adopt a catch-all strategy and therefore place pragmatism before principle and market research before popular mobilization
• One-party systems


  • The term is helpful in distinguishing between political systems in which a single party enjoys a monopoly of power through the exclusion of all other parties and those systems characterized by a competitive struggle amongst a number of parties, type of one-party system: found in state socialist regimes where 'ruling' communists parties have directed and controlled virtually all the institutions and aspects of society, type of one-party system: associated with anti-colonial nationalism and state consolidation in the developing world
• Integrative parties


  Adopt proactive, rather than reactive, political strategies, they wish to mobilize, educate and inspire the masses, rather than merely respond to their concerns
• Two-party system


  • It is dominated by two 'major' parties that have a roughly equal prospect of winning government power, only two parties enjoy sufficient electoral and legislative strength to have a realistic prospect of winning government power, the larger party is able to rule alone; the other provides the opposition, power alternates between these parties; both are 'electable', the opposition serving as a 'government in the wings'
• Party types


  • Constitutional parties
  • Revolutionary parties
• Dominant party system


  • Not be confused with one-party systems, although they may at times exhibit similar characteristics, competitive in the sense that a number of parties compete for power in regular and popular elections, but it is dominated by a single major party that consequently enjoys prolonged periods in power, the tendency for the political focus to shift from competition between parties to factional conflict within the dominant party itself
• Constitutional parties


  Acknowledge the rights and entitlements of other parties and operate within a framework of rules and constraints, they acknowledge the division between the party and the state, between the party in power and state institutions that enjoy formal independence and political neutrality, they acknowledge and respect the rules of electoral competition, they recognize that they can be voted out of power as easily as they can be voted in
• Multiparty systems


  • Characterized by competition amongst more than two parties, reducing the chances of single-party government and increasing the likelihood of coalitions, it is difficult to define multiparty systems in terms of the number of major parties, as such systems sometimes operate through coalitions including smaller parties that are specifically designed to exclude larger parties from government, the strength of multiparty system is that they create internal checks and balances within government and exhibit a bias in favor of debate, conciliation and compromise