Roles of Political Parties and Interest Groups in Contemporary US Society - Essay Example

Module Roles That Political Parties and Interest Groups Play in Mobilizing Electoral Participation in Contemporary U.S. Society Political parties and interest groups play an important role in mobilizing the citizens towards participating in the electoral process in America. The party system in the US can be defined as centrist however; they are not as ideological as in other nations. A political party is defined as office holders, activities as well as voters that are linked to a group label and focus towards electing individuals of a specific label to public office (Ginsberg et. al 67). The US political system is made up of two parties: The Republican Party and the Democratic Party. There are other minor parties within the system such as the Libertarian Party and the Reform Party. For the past century, political parties have played an important role in resolving political conflicts in the US. Political parties play an important role to a democratic society such as the US. It is clear that legislative politics may not be steady without political parties. Therefore, if legislators wish to achieve something and those that want to push their policies can do so using a political party (Ginsberg et. al 69). Consequently, it can be stated that political parties facilitate efficiency within democratic organizations. It can be stated that political parties mobilize voters that have similar interests towards voting in a particular way. Political parties perform a couple of important functions. They pool together the demands and interests of the voters and channel them to the appropriate authorities. It is important to note that political parties approximate the citizens to the government. Political figures are elected into power through parties and therefore take advantage of the party label for reasons of strategic voting as well as information economization (Ginsberg et. al 123). The party candidates belongs to enables voters to make more informed decisions on how their leaders are likely to behave while elected in power. Since national parties are viewed as vehicles of political competition, a limited market is left for the candidates. It has become clear that voters make their decisions based on political parties instead of candidates as they are afraid of wasting their votes. This is what has been taking place in the US since the start of the democratic political system. Voters have never considerably changed their decisions with regards to the choice of parties. They have repetitively adhered to the two party system (de facto). Even if there have been some attempts to integrate other parties into the political system, most of them have failed with the exception of a few. Although political parties have changed drastically over the years, the system in which they were formed has remained the same (Ginsberg et. al 89). Voters have continued to vote for the two parties based on their preferences. Thereby, even though political parties play a less role in delegation in the current times in their effectiveness and legitimacy, the instruments within these parties function efficiently. Additionally, they are viewed as being the most significant means to make delegation and accountability work. It can be noted that in the American society political parties help in the shaping of public opinion in voting, criticizes and controls the governments, take up the role of governing and keeping executive officers in check. Political parties make coherent and strong action probable. In other words, political parties offer a solution to the collective action problem by setting up a party organization that allows the observing of the other members of the party to ascertain that they take part in the collective action (Ginsberg et. al 99). It can therefore be seen that political parties deal with the impasse of collective action by leaders who take up the collective interest within the party and keep an eye on other party members. Therefore, this implies that even if party positions that are competitive are elective, there is internal competition for these parties and the incumbents can be held responsible. Political parties are important within a political system so as to make the government in power accountable for its actions. Democracy is a process that requires the elected leaders that are in power accountable and responsible to the electorate for their decisions for their term in office. It has been observed that government policy is determined by joint actions among those that hold various positions of power. No single person can be held responsible for actions taken by the president, Senate and the House together (Ginsberg et. al 111). Political parties as cooperative organizations organize competition among the offices and come up with the means for determining accountability for the collective actions of the leaders. In this way political parties mobilize electoral participation in modern times in America. For that reason it can be argued that authority of political parties is unavoidable. It can be concluded that political parties gather power and mobile support. In other words, political parties are simply a way of establishing the level of support a leader has among the voters and in the congress. They are also the major drive for stability in the political system. Finally, they play the electioneering function. Over the years, parties have been responsible for competing and organizing elections. This is owing to the fact that they recruit candidates, fund them and staff them. Parties also play a key role in policy formulation with regards to the electioneering process. Interest groups have an equal impact in mobilizing voters in a similar way with political parties. They are organizations that work towards impacting on governments policies. They are also referred to as lobbies and play a key role in shaping legislation within the country. Interest groups respond to change that affects the lives of citizens. Generally speaking interest groups impact on the electioneering process (Ginsberg et. al 134). Interest groups are mainly concerned about the welfare of the voters and support the political faction that they feel has the interest of the people at hear. Interest groups create political parties. They also have a significant influence on the voters as they rate office holders and candidates. Interest groups give money to political parties that are believed to have the best mandate. Individual characteristics of the voters as well as the electoral rules influence the voting possibility among individuals. Voting is largely viewed as one of the most important aspects in civic engagement. It is clear that voting patterns vary across sex, age, education, family status as well as immigration status. Age has been found to be a key determinant in the voting process. There has been a low voter turnout among the young people that are below the age of twenty –five years and slightly higher points among individuals that are between 25 to 34 years (Ginsberg et. al 77). Older individuals in the population were reported to have higher voter turn-out levels. The voting rate is viewed to be low among individuals that are at least seventy five years old, this could be attributed to the health status of the individuals The relationship between education and the likelihood to vote has been well-established over the years. The level of voting among individuals with a college or university degree was found to be higher compared to those that had simply attained high school education or less. However, there is inadequate research on the relationship between voting trends and education among the young people. For example, in the age group between 25 and 34 years, the disparity in participation between those that have had at least tertiary education and those who have not attained a high school education was similar. Major differences were observed between those with less than a college education and university graduates. The differences were less between individuals that are over 55 years old (Ginsberg et. al 129). The effect is that among individuals that have attained university education, the disparities among the age groups are less. There is a weaker relationship between voting and education among older people. Family status is another significant factor that influences the likelihood to vote. This is owing to the fact that non-voters were observed to have a busy schedule and stated that they did not voting because of their busy schedule. The number of children within a family as well as the existence of single-parent families influenced the individuals’ probability to vote. The immigration status of individuals is the other factor influencing voting among the US citizens (Ginsberg et. al 111).There are various reasons that have been proposed to explain this including disparities in political culture, lack of trust in the political institution and the differences in traditions across. Men and women had similar voting levels although there are differences that exist between places of birth. The economic status of the voters is another important aspect that impacts on voter participation in the US. It is clear that individuals that have a job are more likely to vote than those that do not have a job. The population that is made up of retirees is likely to vote. The hours of vote also dictated the individual’s probability to vote. It was observed that the poor were also likely to vote (Ginsberg et. al 123). The electoral rules in the country impact on the individuals’ possibility to vote as well. Work Cited Ginsberg, Benjamin, Lowi, Margaret, Weir, Margaret, Weir,Tolbert, Caroline, J. and Spitzer, Robert, J. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. W. W. Norton & Company. 9th ed, 2012. Print. Read More