Why are modern political parties almost always catch-all in character - Essay Example

However, in the recent times this code of ethics and beliefs has been bypassed so many times in so many nations by such a large number of political parties that a new phrase had to be developed; catch-all political parties. However, it was believed that the catch-all party’s principles posed risks against democracy.1 In today’s day and age, almost all political parties fall in this category. What has caused this profound change in the working of the political lots, this is analyzed below. Historically political parties have generally shown strict adherence to their code of ethics and beliefs, henceforth referred to as Ideology.

The political histories of some of the world’s greatest democracies such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are replete with struggles in the name of political ideologies which would make the modern political actors seem novice. Take for instance the battle fought for slavery on America’s political grounds, in the decade prior to the US Civil war (1861-65). There was nothing greater in the minds of the northern republican politicians than the goal of abolition, while the southern democrats were willing to pay any price to defend their right to retaining slavery, as they had (mis)believed was embodied in their glorious constitution.

The will to struggle for an ideology was strong enough for them to risk losing half their country. Despite all this, it was the ideology of ‘equal human rights’, so much propounded by the northern republicans that finally emerged victorious. It has been more than one and a half century since those events have passed and a lot has changed since then. Especially a great change has been witnessed in the character of the political parties. In the modern era have been born the catch-all political parties; parties that have expanded their appeal base so far and wide that their voters do not necessarily share their ideologies.

The birth of