MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION

Lesson 3 Classifications & Functions of

Political Parties

Lesson 4 Party System

Lesson 3 
CLASSIFICATIONS & FUNCTIONS OF
POLITICAL PARTIES
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Classification of Political Parties

The Elitist Parties

There are thus six types of party systems in Western democracies. At one
extreme are the broadly-based parties of the two-party system countries: the
United States is the most perfect case of this type, but four other countries closely
approximate this model and they only diverge in as much as they have a small
center party and are divided ideologically between conservatives and socialists. At
the other extreme, the votes of the electors are spread fairly evenly, in groups of
not much more than 25% and in many cases much less than 25% over the whole
ideological spectrum, as in Holland, Switzerland, France, and Finland. Between
these two poles, one finds four types of party systems: five countries have two-
anda-half-party systems: among them, three have a smaller center party, while the
other two have a smaller left-wing party. The five remaining countries are
multiparty systems with a dominant party, three of them having a dominant
socialist party opposed by a divided right, largely because of the presence of an
agrarian sentiment in the countries concerned, while the other two have a strong
right-wing party opposed by a divided left, largely because of the presence of a
substantial Communist party. Although America is considered a two-party system,
there are hundreds of smaller third parties and minor parties that play an integral
role in American politics. Most of these small parties will never come close to
sending legislators to Washington. Others like Minnesota’s depression-era Farmer-
Labour Party would prove vital to the evolution of politics in the state. The
Democratic Party is the largest and oldest party in America. It is a liberal party,
which denotes its tendency to favor farmers, workers, underrepresented
minorities, and unions. The party frowns upon the unchecked power of businesses
and strives to reform the tax system to benefit the lower classes. Their voter base
includes African Americans, environmentalists, Catholics, Jews, and in general,
those with lower annual incomes. Their support spikes in major urban areas.
Although fiscally centrist, the party has established itself as socially liberal. The
party supports programs like affirmative action and many of its members favor the
legalization of gay marriage, the abolition of the death penalty, and an economy
buttressed by government intervention. The Republican Party is also known as the
“Grand Old Party,” or GOP.

Mass Parties

1. Socialist Parties: Socialist candidates and election programs pre-dated

socialist parties. The British Labour Party was founded in 1900, as the
Labour Representation Committee, one of its components being the
Independent Labour Party, founded in 1893. The oldest socialist party in a
leading country is the German Social Democratic Party, the SPD, which can
trace its origins to the German Workers’ Party, whose Gotha Program of
1875, was fiercely criticized by Marx. The first socialist candidate in a US

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presidential election ran in 1892, (and got 0.19 per cent of the vote); no
socialist party has ever established itself there. Although there were
prominent socialists in France during the Revolution (and during the uprising
of 1848, the continuous history of socialist parties in France dates back only
to 1905. The reason for the late development of socialist parties was the
late enfranchisement of the working class, where their mass support has
always lain. Hardly had socialist parties started to benefit from the
widening of the franchise when they were split as under by the First World
War. Many of the leaders of the socialist movements in combatant countries
continued to preach international socialism, but their followers deserted
them. Only when the war was going very badly for all combatants did anti-
war socialism revive, in 1916-18.

2. A Political Party: It described as a communist party includes those that

advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a
communist form of government. The name originates from the 1848, tract
Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels. The
Leninist concept of a communist party encompasses a larger political system
and includes not only an ideological orientation but also a wide set of
organizational policies. There currently exist hundreds, if not thousands, of
communist parties, large and small, throughout the world. Their success
rates vary widely: some are growing; others are in decline. In five countries
(the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos, and Vietnam)
communist parties retain dominance over the state.

3. Fascist Parties: The National Fascist Party was an Italian party, created by
Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism. The party ruled Italy
from 1922 to 1943, under an authoritarian system. It is currently the only
party whose reformation is explicitly banned by the Constitution of Italy: “it
shall be forbidden to reorganize, under any form whatever, the dissolved
fascist party” (“Transitory and Final Provisions”, Disposition XII).

Intermediate Type Parties

Some of the Communist parties in power in developing countries do not

differ significantly from their counterparts in industrialized countries. This is
certainly true of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the
Workers’ Party of North Korea. There have always been, however, countries in
which the single party in power could not be characterized in terms of a traditional
European counterpart. This observation applies to, for example, the former Arab
Socialist Union in Egypt, the Neo-Destour Party in Tunisia (renamed the Destour
Democratic Rally), and the National Liberation Front in Algeria, as well as many
other parties in black Africa. Most of these parties claimed to be Socialist or at
least progressive, while remaining far removed from Communism and, in some
cases, ardent foes of Communism.

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President Nasser attempted to establish a moderate and nationalistic

Socialism in Egypt. In Tunisia the Neo-Destour Party was more republican than
Socialist and was inspired more by the example of the reforms in Turkey under
Kemal Ataturk than by Nasserism. In black Africa, single parties have often claimed
to be Socialist, but with few exceptions they rarely are in practice. Single parties
in developing countries are rarely as well organized as Communist parties. In
Turkey the Republican People’s Party was more a cadre party than a mass-based
party. In Egypt it has been necessary to organize a core of professional politicians
within the framework of a pseudo party of the masses. In sub-Saharan Africa the
parties are most often genuinely mass based, but the membership appears to be
motivated primarily by personal attachment to the leader or by tribal loyalties,
and organization is not usually very strong. It is this weakness in organization that
explains the secondary role played by such parties in government.

Some regimes, however, have fully endeavored to develop the role of the
party possible. The politics of Ataturk in Turkey were an interesting case study in
this regard. It was also Nasser’s goal to increase the influence of the Arab Socialist
Union, thereby making it the backbone of the regime. This process is significant in
that it represents an attempt to move away from the traditional dictatorship,
supported by the army or based on tribal traditions or on charismatic leadership,
toward a modem dictatorship, supported by one political party. Single-party
systems can institutionalize dictatorships by making them survive the life of one
dominant figure.

Functions of Political Parties

The political parties perform several important functions in modern political
system that may be enumerated as under:

1. The parties unite, simplify and stabilize the political process. They bring
together sectional interests, overcome geographical disturbances, and
provide coherence to sometimes divisive government structures. For
instance, the American Democratic Party provides a bridge to bring
together the southern conservatives and northern liberals; the German
Democratic Party bridges the gulf between the Protestants and the
Catholics in Germany. In federal systems all political parties emphasize the
uniting of different governmental structures, the extreme case being of
South Africa. In this way, political parties tend to provide the highest
common denominator.
2. Political parties struggle for capturing power; they strive to form order out
of chaos. They seek to widen the interests they represent and harmonize
these interests with each other. Though interest articulation is performed
by pressure groups, the work of interest aggregation is done by the parties.
For instance, the Conservative Party of Britain, in spite of the nature of its
internal organization and distribution of power, depends upon the support
of diverse economic, social and geographical sections in English politics. All
parties strive to extend the area of their support.

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3. In a liberal democratic system, the parties use means of mass media to

give political education to the people. The parties may organize and
control some unions or organizations for ‘occupational and social
implantation’. (Hening and Pindar) In a totalitarian system the party in
power works for the mobilization of support by activating the population
by means of rallies, uniforms, flags and other displays of unity to
emphasize the identification of the individual with the political party.
4. While increasing the scope of political activity and widening the base of
popular participation, political parties perform the important function of
recruiting political 1eaders. Men in authority are recruited through some
channel. In political systems having weak and ill-organized political
parties, power remains in the hands of the elites that are recruited from
the traditional groups like hereditary ruling families or military
organizations. In totalitarian countries where only one party is in power,
political recruitment is made from the ranks of the same party. It is only in
countries having a liberal-democratic order that competitive party system
prevails and political recruitment is made from different political parties.
5. Political parties present issues; they set value goals for the society. All
parties have philosophical bases, no matter how blurred and no matter
how divorced from the actual political behaviour of the party they are.
Though American political parties, what R. A. Dahl says, have ‘ideological
similarity and issue conflict’, they have no disagreement on the
fundamental goals of the society. The two parties of Ireland (Fianna Fail
and Fine Gael) are prototypes of two parties of the United States in
respect of their ‘ideological similarity and issue conflict’ nature.
6. Political parties serve as the broker of ideas by selecting a number of
issues and focusing attention on them. In a democratic system
revolutionary parties (or those hostile to the established order as such) act
not as conciliatory elements in aggregating the largest number of common
interest but as focal points of discontent and organized opposition. The
compromise needed in democratic political behaviour is never acceptable
to them. These parties may adhere to the political left, as the communist
parties do, or to the right as done by the fascist party in Italy and Nazi
party in Germany (in the period before second World War), or the
Poujadists in France, or to revolutionary nationalism as with Aprista in
Peru, or the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement as in Bolivia. In a non-
democratic system, revolutionary parties may not simply be the
mechanism through which the political system operates, they may be the
real core of the system itself with power being exercised by party leaders
rather than by the government officials.
7. In newer and developing nations of the world where political habits and
traditions are yet to grow up, political parties perform the job of political
modernization. That is, they strive to give a particular shape to the
government, provide the main link between different social and economic
groups, constitute the chief agency for political education and
socialization, break down traditional barriers and act as the binding force
in communities divided by groups based on tribal affiliations, religious
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denomination or sectarian origin. The role of the Congress Party in India

may be said to be the best example of this kind where the great leaders
played a significant role in framing the constitution and then running the
administration of the country on the lines of parliamentary democracy to
have secularization of the polity.
8. Political parties also perform social welfare functions that may be termed
their ‘non-political’ activities. The parties work for the alleviation of the
sufferings of the people during the days of famine, drought, epidemics,
wars etc. They also work for the eradication of social evils like illiteracy,
untouchability, ignorance, poverty etc. In Australia citizens may lead their
life from cradle to grave within the frame of organizations linked to a
party which include not only trade union and welfare groups but also stamp
collecting societies, pigeon clubs, and weight-lifting associations. Viewed
thus, we may not endorse the view of Bryce that political parties “have
two main functions—the promotion by argument of their principles and the
carrying of decisions,” though this part of his statement may be accepted
that the main function of political parties is to offer politics and programs
and translate them into action after being in power. Political parties
provide a link between the government and the people. They seek to
educate, instruct and activate the electorate. That is, they perform the
job of political mobilization, secularization and recruitment.

 LEARNING ACTIVITY 3

1. Every political sect has its altars and its deified heroes, its relics and its
pilgrimages, its canonized martyrs and confessors, and its legendary
miracles.”–Lord Macaulay

Interpret the following:

▪ Altars
▪ Pilgrimages-
▪ Heroes,martyrs,and confessors
–
▪ Relics–
▪ Legendary miracles
-

2. How do political parties form public opinion? Elucidate in four (4)

concrete examples.

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Lesson 4


PARTY SYSTEM

Kinds of Party System

The most simplified way of classifying different party systems is to put them
into three broad categories—one-party system, bi-party system, and multi-party
system, though a student of empirical political theory may discover some more
forms within the three broad forms on the basis of a neater division of the party
systems. We may briefly discuss them as under:
With the emergence of a communist state in Russia in 1917 under the
leadership of Lenin, one-party system came into being. The Bolsheviks became the
Communist Party that established a new kind of political order called ‘dictatorship
of the proletariat’. The Stalin Constitution of 1936 frankly prohibited formation of
any other political party. It had its own form in Italy when Mussolini gradually
finished all other parties by 1925 and then established the dictatorship of his
Fascist Party. So it happened in Germany under Hitler after 1934. He finished all
other parties and on 9 July, 1939 claimed: “The political parties have now been
fully abolished. The National Socialist Party (NAZI) has now become the state.”

The model of one-partyism covered other countries of the world as well.

Spain, Portugal, Mexico and a large number of Central and East European states
(like Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and
East Germany) had the same experiment. After the second World War, it had its
expression in China under the leadership of Mao. We may also take note of the fact
that military dictators followed the same pattern as Egypt under Arab Socialist
Union of Col.Nasser, Burma under Socialist Party of Gen. Ne Win Indonesia under
Golkar Party of Gen. Suharto and Iraq under Baath Party of Saddam Hussain.. Some
cogent arguments are given in favour of one-party system so as to remove the
stigma of its being ‘undemocratic’. These are:

a. It is urged that the single party is the reflection of national unity. Democratic
pluralism sacrifices the general interest of the nation for private and
sectional interests in the cracked mirror of parties with the result that the
country no longer recognises its own image. The single party preserves the
unity of the nation and looks at all problems from the national point of view.

b. This model is said to reflect the social unity of the people. As contended by
the Marxists, each party is an expression of the social class. Since a
communist society has a singular character, it is a ‘state of the toilers, it
must have only one political party. Different political parties may exist only
in a bourgeois country where different social classes exist.

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c. A single-party state is ‘a bearer of ideals’, ‘an incarnation of faith’, ‘a moral

or an ethical system’, ‘ a new religion’. As such, a single party can alone
function in its defence. “The development of the single party coincides with
the rebirth of the state religions in the new forms they have assumed in the
contemporary world; we have a religious state rather than a State religion.”
But all such arguments are unconvincing in view of the fact that this one-
party model is antithetical to the working of a democratic system. It is
another name of a totalitarian system whether of the right (fascism) or of the
left (communism). “The one-party state is founded on the assumption that
the sovereign will of the state reposes in the leader and his political elite.
This authoritarian principle found expression first in monarchies and more
recently in dictatorships. Needing a monopoly of power to survive, the
dictatorship abolishes all opposition parties. In order to stifle recurring
resistance, it is driven to adopt techniques of physical coercion such as purge
and liquidation, and to employ measures of psychological coercion through
extensive and vigorous propaganda campaigns.”

What do you mean by ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’?

Then, we may take up the case of bi-party system. Here power alternates
between two major parties. There may be some more parties in the country, but
they are of no consequence in the struggle for power. Britain is its leading instance
where power alternates between the Conservative and the Labour parties. The
Liberal and the Communist parties are there, but they have hardly any place of
significance. Some regional parties are also there as Irish Nationalists and Plaid
Cymru of Scotland, but their position is almost negligible. So in the United States,
the Democratic and the Republican parties dominate the scene. Though Britain and
the United States are the two leading cases in this direction, one important point
may be stressed here that while the two parties of Britain may be distinguished on
the basis of the policies and programs, the lines of distinction between the two
American parties are not clear in view of the fact that they have ‘ideological
similarity and issue conflict.’

This model has its own merits and demerits. Its merits are:

a. It ensures successful working of the parliamentary form of government. The

party getting absolute majority forms the government, the other party forms
the opposition. In this way, the government and the opposition form the fore
and back legs of a democratic stag. The ministers feel secure in their
position; they know that they may not be voted out by the opposition party so
long as they are united, and their ranks have the mark of solidarity.

b. The stability of government has its natural effect on the efficiency of

administration. The government is in a position to maintain and effectively
pursue its policies and programs.

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c. This system keeps a good option before the people. In general election, they
give their verdict in favor of one party. But when they feel dissatisfied with
the working of the party, they may put another party in power. The
opposition party always ensures the formation of an alternative government.

d. Each major party plays a positive and constructive role so as to win the
sympathy of the electorate. It behaves in a very responsible way so that the
other party may not cash political capital out of its objectionable act of
commission and omission.

In short, the bi-partyism “is the only method by which the people can at the
electoral period directly choose its government. It enables the government to drive
its policy to the statute book. It makes known and intelligible the result of its
failure. It brings an alternative government into immediate being.” So Barker says:
“Multiply the sides, and you get a tangle of cross-threads which perplex the mind.”
But it has its demerits too which are:

a. It puts limits on the choice of the electorate. The voters are bound to
choose only one of the two alternatives before them. It may be that they
dislike both and yet they have to give their verdict in favor of either. In this
way, it puts definite limits on the expression of public opinion.
b. It is said that the division of the nation into only two political parties “must
obviously be more or less unreal or arbitrary, since it would be absurd to
suggest that there could ever be only two schools of thought in a nation.”
c. It strengthens the position of the government (cabinet) to the extent that
the position of the legislature (parliament) is undermined. The ministers
enjoy a safe tenure and they do not bother much for the criticism of the
opposition leaders. The party in power is backed by a comfortable majority
with the result that the authority of the legislature is declined. It leads to
the emergence of ‘cabinet dictatorship.”
d. It substitutes blind devotion for intelligent appreciation and choice in both
the leaders and the led. The leaders of the two major parties get undue
importance and the followers lose their individuality. In spite of this, it may
be said that while single-party system is dictatorial, bi-party system is
democratic.

Finally, we take up the case of multi-party system. It signifies the existence

of many political parties, big and small, in the country. The alternation of power
takes place between parties more than two; it is also possible that coalition
governments are formed which work successfully. France, Holland, Belgium,
Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India are the
leading instances here. The panorama of party system is so fluid that a good
number of pressure groups behave like political parties. The cases of
fragmentation and polarization of political parties may also be taken note of. It is
also possible that some minor political organizations emerge at the time of
elections and then they disappear. But the most essential fact remains that three,

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four, or even more parties manage to share power. As we have seen in the case of
bi-party system, so here we may note its merits and demerits. Its merits are:

1. It gives ample choice to the voters. They may examine and cross-examine the
policies and programs of different parties and then give their verdict in favor
of one, or of few they like best. That is, it widens the choice of the electors
and provides avenues of their satisfaction.
2. It gives adequate representation to numerous interests of the people.
Political parties may widen their base by means of having alliances with
organized interest groups. Obviously, such a system has the merit of elasticity
and mobility.
3. It also protects the individuality of a self-respecting person. In case he is not
satisfied with the working of one party, he may leave it and join some other
party of his choice. Since other parties are there, he may opt for anyone of
them without any fear of being condemned by this or that party in particular.
4. Above all, it acts as a powerful check on the trend of despotism. The leaders
of a party cannot act arbitrarily in dealing with the rank and file. The
ministers also have to act in a responsible way. In a coalition government
dictatorial position of any party is impossible.

But it has its demerits too. These are:

1. The large number of political parties creates a lot of confusion. It is possible

that no party is in a position to have stable majority. As a result, the
government would not enjoy stability. Coalitions may be formed and
deformed from time to time with the result that the tenure of a government
is as short as that of a month as in the case of French cabinets under the
Fourth Republic (1946-58).
2. It encourages small groups to enter into the arena of struggle for power. The
result is that the legislature is converted into a theatre of conflicting
factions. Local and sectional interests dominate the scene. Considerations of
general interest are ignored.
3. The fact of the instability of government and the role of powerful interest
groups mar administrative efficiency and seriously affect smooth working of
the mechanism of political organization.
4. The mushroom growth of political parties coupled with the fact of their
frequent fragmentation and polarization obstruct the creation of a healthy
public opinion and a healthy opposition capable of offering sound prospects of
an alternative government in the country.

In the end, it may be asked as to which model is the best of all. No final
conclusion can be given here, though this much maybe said that the model of
onepartyism is undemocratic. But the models of bi-partyism and multi-partyism are
quite democratic. And if it is further asked as to which of the two is better? Now it
may be said the both models are equally good, and it depends upon the local
conditions of a country as to which model she should adopt. The main requirement

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is that the system should be successful in its operation. Britain and America are
well satisfied with the stability of their bi-party system. Other countries like
Switzerland and Germany are also satisfied with the stable character of their
multi-party system. A fine conclusion would be: “In any event the advantages and
disadvantages of either system is relative to the intelligence and culture of the
community. The essential thing is that government should rest on as broad a basis
of opinion as possible, maintaining, in spite of its party character, the unity of a
whole people”

Critical Appreciation

Now we may look into the issue of merits and demerits of the party system
and then have a peep into the possible way out. The merits of the party system
may be enumerated as under:

1. It is argued that political parties are in accord with human nature. The
people of a country have different nature and temperament due to which
they have different social, economic and political ideas. It is on account of
this fact that groups and factions of the people have always been insistence,
though it is a different matter that they have assumed some new names in
modern times.
2. Political parties have an importance of their own in modem times of
democracy that “rests in its hopes and doubts upon the party system. There
is the political center of gravity.” A party acts as the vehicle of ideas and
opinions of the people and a powerful instrument for holding elections.
Without political parties the electorate would be highly diffused and
atomized and opinions too variant and dispersive. Hence, the true reason for
the existence of the party is bringing public opinion to a focus and framing
issues for the political verdict.”
3. Parties unite the people of a country by means of political mobilization and
recruitment. They not only place issues and matters before them, they give
national character to local and regional issues. The leaders move from one
part of the country to another; they have a set of followers hailing from
different parts and regions of the country. They meet, they discuss, and
then they decide matters in a way so that a semblance of public interest
may be accorded to them. The result is that the working of the parties
enables the people to distinguish between regional and national matters and
accordingly shape their ideas and attitudes. So, it is said that the parties
“gather up the whole nation into fellowships, and they lead in the sense of
bringing to the individual citizen a vision of the whole nation, otherwise
distant in history, territory and futurity.”
4. Parties act as a check against the tendency of absolutism what is also known
by the nicknames of ‘Caesarism’ and ‘Bonapartism.’ When one party forms
government or few parties form a coalition to hold power, other parties play
the role of opposition. It not only keeps the government vigilant; it also
prevents it from being arbitrary and irresponsible. The leaders of the

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opposition expose acts of corruption, scandals, and maladministration in

which great men in power are involved. Thus, great leaders like Prime
Minister Macmillan of England and President Nixon of the United States had
to resign. Lowell, therefore, endorses: “The parties enable the people to
hold the government in check. The constant presence of a recognized
opposition is an obstacle to despotism.”
5. The parliamentary form of government cannot operate without the role of
political parties. The party getting majority in the elections forms the
government and other parties form the opposition. The Prime Minister is the
leader of the majority party and the ministers are his party men. If the
ruling party resigns, the opposition parties may be given the chance to form
the alternative government. One may easily grasp the point that type of
government cannot separate if there is no party system in the country.
Bryce says that “if there is no party voting, and everybody gave his vote in
accordance with his own, perhaps crude and ill-informed, opinions,
parliamentary government of the English type could not go on.”
6. It is also said that political parties impart political education to the people.
The leaders of the parties deliver public speeches, they lead processions and
stage demonstrations, release pamphlets and books, publish newspapers and
periodicals and do many other things to have the participation of the people
in the domain of politics as far as possible. By organized campaigns and
movements of the political parties the people are awakened; they
understand the value of their political rights; they get lessons of political
socialization; they come forward with their demands, which the government
has to meet within the framework of the fundamental rules of the state.
7. Parties save a country from political turmoil created by crafty leaders. They
appraise issues and counter-issues and then apprise the people of their
respective merits and demerits. They may also warn and forewarn the
people of certain consequences entitling from the commission or omissions
on certain counts. In other words, great leaders may put a check on the
irresponsible behaviour of the younger or distracted leaders whose doings
may lead to unwarranted situations of public resentment. Only strong
parties may give a constructive direction to the enthusiasm of the people.

But the party system has its demerits too. We may enumerate them as
under:

1. The rise and development of party system is like an unnatural political

phenomenon. Different parties demonstrate an artificial agreement among
people who profess to have identical views. The disagreement with their
opponents is, in the same fashion, based on artificial grounds. Thus, reason is
dominated by passions and emotions and the people agree to disagree in most
of the controversial situations just for the sake of sticking to their pretentious
convictions. As a result of this, groupism and factionalism develop that create
conditions of ill-will and confrontation. We may also take note of the fact
that party system divides a community into irreconcilable camps which seek
to degrade each other. “It tends to make the political life of the country
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machinelike or artificial. The party in opposition, or, as it is sometimes

called, the outs is always antagonistic to the party in power or the ins.”
2. Political parties, in most of the cases, fight for their own interests. The
members look at every important point from the viewpoint of their party
interest. As a result, in many situations, the general interest is sacrificed at
the altar of sectional interests. It narrows the vision of the members, because
they are more concerned with the gains of their party and not with the gains
of the community as a whole. Scramble for the ‘spoils’ goes on so that all
benefits may be grabbed by the men of the party and, more than that, by the
group of the party in power.
3. Party system destroys the individuality of man. Whatever is decided by the
party bosses must be obeyed and followed by others. The dissenters are not
taken happily; they are taken to task for saying or doing anything against the
rules or traditions of the party. There is hardly any scope for most of the
members to exercise their initiative in important policy matters. It is a small
coterie that rules the roost, the rank and file are like hand-raisers or carpet
unrollers. In case some man of initiative or enterprise displays his intrinsic
mettle, it is not unlikely that he may face the situation of a ‘purge’ or some
other punitive action.
4. Parties become an instrument in the hands of vested interests. Big social and
economic organizations hire politicians for their selfish purposes. They
finance political parties and provide them necessary resources for contesting
elections. When such party leaders get high political offices, they do for the
interest of their solicitors. Powerful pressure groups establish their links with
party leaders and thereby manage to set up their ‘colonies’ in the important
areas of public administration. In such a situation, the real policymakers and
the real administrators of a country are not the so-called ‘representatives’ of
the people, they are the ‘agents’ or powerful interests having influential
positions in the ranks of political parties.
5. Party system creates unnecessary politicization from the level of national
government to that of municipal and rural administration. Thus, the men of
merit and integrity are replaced by the men of politics at all levels. The
trends of hollowness and insincerity grow more and more; favoritism and
nepotism also develop side by side. It all causes ‘degradation of political life
by sectional interests. As a matter of fact, party system has its strong as well
as weak sides and if a verdict is to be given on the charges, it will hold it
neither ‘guilty’, nor ‘not guilty’, but ‘greatly exaggerated’. In spite of its
weaknesses, the existence of political parties is essential. Therefore, the way
out should be the reform of the system so that it may work as satisfactorily as
possible. The successful working of party system in some leading democratic
countries of the world should be referred to at this stage.

Hence, we endorse some suggestions for the successful working of political

parties:

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Interest Groups Module 1
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1. The number of political parties should not be unduly large. It is good that a
country has four or five big political parties and the alternation of power
takes place among them smoothly. A statutory check should be imposed on
the proliferation of political parties.
2. When a new party is created, it should be put on a period of probation and
it should be recognized only after it has proved its bona fides. For this
purpose, there should be very specific as well as stringent rules and
regulations.
3. The policies and programs of every political party should be scrutinized.
Recognition should be given to a party if it has a distinct policy of its own. If
some parties have similar programs, they should be merged. Importance
should be given to the principles and not to the whims and caprices of the
personalities.
4. It is also necessary that only those parties should be allowed to function,
which have faith in democratic and constitutional means. No leniency should
be shown to a party that expresses its resolve to break the constitution or to
subvert the democratic system by violent and insurrectionary methods.
5. The funds of parties should be audited from time to time so that it may be
given for public information as to wherefrom they could get the funds and
on what items the money was spent. Lavish funding to political parties by
private agencies should be banned.

 LEARNING ACTIVITY 4

1. “No party is ideals for all countries and all situations”. Justify the statement
with arguments.
2. Dynamic succession is one of the most serious challenges before the
political parties. Analyze.
3. Lack of internal democracy within parties’ challenge to political parties all
over the world. Analyze.

PSEC 101 Political Parties, Movements &

Interest Groups Module 1
 15

PSEC 101 Political Parties, Movements &

Interest Groups Module 1