Political Parties

A Political Party:

• is a group of people organised for the purpose of gaining political power
• puts candidates up for election
• has a broad issue focus that addresses all major areas of government policy
• members are united by shared political beliefs and ideological identity

What is a Manifesto?

• A pamphlet that outlines the policies/programme of a political party should they be elected into power
• party is not obliged to complete the ideas in a manifesto, however it would be political suicide as the party would lose votes in the next election.

What is a Mandate?

• Instruction or command that gives authority to a person or body of people to act in a particular way
• when a political party is elected, they have a mandate to make decisions as representatives of the electorate
• 'Popular mandate' means that the governing Party has the authority to carry out all of the policies from their manifesto
• Electorate don't vote for liking all of a Parties policies so it is a poor representation of the voters

What is Consensus Politics?

• Where two or more main political parties are in general agreement on policies
• Tends to exist under Proportional Representational Systems where parties find themselves power sharing in a coalition governments or a minority government
• There is a general consensus over privatisation and private public partnerships.

What is Adversarial Politics?

• A system where only one party holds power and the opposition generally opposes or disagrees with the government where ever possible
• This can lead to damaging effects on UK politics as Policies will not pass through the House of Commons
• Tends to occur in First Past The Post systems where the voting systems encourages a majoritarian result