The Effective Number of Parties - Essay Example

?Two-Party System vs. Multi-Party System A party system is concerned with the system of government’s political parties in countries with democracies.There are several types of party systems but they have commonalities, e.g., have government control, can establish certain mechanisms that will allow them to control information, nominations and funding and have popular support from the base masses. The concept of a party system started in the US and immediately reached other democracies. European scholars Bryce and Ostrogorsky are the pioneers in this concept. The party system of today is adopted from the ideas of Giovanni Sartori who suggested the classification of party systems into the number of relevant parties as well as their degree of fragmentation (Karnoven & Kuhnle, 2000; Lipset & Rokkan, 1967; Sartori, 2005). Thus, they could be distinguished in accordance to the effective number of parties that they have (Golosov, 2010). As mentioned, party systems come in various types. Two of the most popular are the two-party system and the multi-party system. A two-party system is a state by which democracies are dominated by only two parties. While there may be other parties existing in the sidelines, those are of no real threat to the two main ones and exercise no real political significance. In this system, either of the parties should be able to gain enough numbers of working majority post-election and obtain a position that will allow it to govern without the other party’s support. Expectedly, power will change rotationally in a two-party system (historylearningsite.co.uk, 2011). Moreover, in a two-party system, the voter is presented with a simple choice. Additionally, in this type of party system, political moderation is promoted since the incumbent party can appeal to the so-called “floating voters” in the concerned country. The system is also able to serve as check and balance that ensures that a single sector of citizenry alone will not end up dominating politically. One obvious and perhaps the most popular example of a democracy making use of the two-party system is that of the United States. The two parties dominating the political arena are the Democrats and the Republicans. Recent US political history showed that the last few elections had the Americans try to distribute power by voting for a liberal congress but a conservative President or the other way around. However, this is not good for two-party systems. Recent history would also show that the two houses of congress have always been rules by the Democrats up until the time the people voted for George W. Bush. Another country that makes use of the two-party system is Jamaica. This country’s two-party system started during the political rivalry of William Bustamante and Norman Manley. The system that Jamaica has is very similar to the two-party system in North America. The two parties fighting for positions in Jamaica are JLP and PNP. The system in Jamaica differs from the one in the US and Britain due to the following, (1) the wealthy in Jamaica, who are basically the ones that becomes the leaders in the country, are closely knit that of the 1st five prime ministers are related; and (2) the political frame of reference in Jamaica is not class or race but party identification. The members of each party are extremely loyal due mainly to their very strong family ties. At times, violence can be the result of antagonism against the other party. Other countries with two-party system of government are New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada (Conservatives and Liberals) and Australia (Liberal Party and Labour Party which has been affected by a third party, i.e., the Country Party) (eb.com, n.d.). On the other hand, the multi-party system is one that is made up of more than two political parties that impacts the country’s politics and are able to control government either separately or via a coalition with other parties. In this system, the effective number of parties is from 3 to 10. Under this system, numerous political parties, both major and minor, have the change to gain positions in congress. It is also under this system that coalitions can be formed (Education 2020, n.d.). The countries with multi-party system of government are India, Japan, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, the Netherlands, etc. Some of these countries that have multiple political parties have two larger ones compared to the rest. For instance, even if the Labour Party in Scotland has a good lead, the political power is balanced by the SNP or the Scots Nationalist Party. In Italy and Germany, a coalition government was formed via a multi-party system. In the case of Germany, the system allowed for a very stable government and with the coalition, an effective and efficient method of checks and balances on the government is introduced. This can provide for a moderation in politics. In Italy however, the coalition governments failed, with many of them not even reaching one year. Israel is also a country that had governments relying on the minority groups that formed a coalition government. The problem with them is that support within the coalition are withdrawn without good reason, e.g., out of a whim or due to party views unsupported by another member party in the coalition. The two-party and multi-party systems both rest on compromise, which is due to their democratic nature. In the former, compromise happens before elections since parties pick moderate candidates who they think will make them win the majority votes. In the multi-party system, on the other hand, parties with pure ideologies had no choice but to compromise to be able to form a majority coalition that oftentimes would also be the ones to pass the law. In terms of pros and cons, the two-party system is more stable than the multi-party one. However, the later provides the voting public with more choices. To have only two choices could dampen the interest of voters and result into a low turnout. Moreover, two-party systems may prove polarizing while multi-party systems should work together and manage to reach across each other for a compromise in order to form coalitions. Whatever the system however, it is the country and its people who will ultimately decide what will be good for its own nation. References Education 2020, definition of multiparty. Encyclopedia Britannica. Political party: The British political system. Accessed 13 March 2011 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467631/political-party/36670/The-British-two-party-system. Golosov, G. (2010): The effective number of parties: A new approach. Party Politics, 16(2):171-192. History Learning Website, 2011. Party Systems. Accessed 13 March 2011 from historylearningsite.co.uk. Karvonen, Lauri, and Stein Kuhnle, eds. Party systems and voter alignments revisited (2000) Lipset, Seymour M. and Stein Rokkan, eds. Party systems and voter alignments (1967) Sartori, Giovanni . Parties and Party Systems: A framework for analysis (1976; reprint in 2005) U.S. Library of Congress. Political dynamics. Accessed 13 March 2011 from http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/35.htm. Read More