The Ethiopian No-Party State: A Note on the Functions of Political Parties in Developing States

1964 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 947-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Hess ◽  
Gerhard Loewenberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Recent History ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
History Of ◽  
Party State

The emergence of political parties performing important functions in the political system has characterized the recent history of much of the African continent. The new party systems have taken various forms, including single parties with a narrow ruling elite, as in Liberia, or with mass support, as in Guinea; two-party systems where one mass party is dominant, as is the case in Kenya; and multi-party systems, as in Nigeria and Somalia. In two states, Libya and Sudan, once-flourishing political parties have been banned. Only in Ethiopia (Etritrea excluded) have there never been political parties. The Empire of the Conquering Lion of Judah can well be termed a no-party state. In Ethiopia today no organization exists that would or could describe itself as a political party.

10. Political Parties

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Different Types

This chapter deals with political parties: why they emerged, how they can be classified, what functions they perform, how they interact, and what challenges they are facing today. One of the paradoxes about democracies is that there is almost a unanimous consensus about the indispensability of political parties. On the other hand, the benefits of being a member of a political party are bound to be minuscule compared to the costs of membership. Thus it is irrational for people to join parties. They should only form (small) interest groups. The chapter first provides a historical background on the development of political parties before discussing their functions, such as legitimation of the political system, structuring the popular vote, and formulation of public policy. It then considers different types of political parties as well as the characteristics of party systems and concludes with an analysis of the problems facing political parties today.

12. Political Parties

2020 ◽  
pp. 266-286
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Popular Vote

This chapter deals with political parties: why they emerged, how they can be classified, what functions they perform, how they interact, and what challenges they are facing today. One of the paradoxes about democracies is that there is almost a unanimous consensus about the indispensability of political parties. On the other hand, the benefits of being a member of a political party are bound to be minuscule compared to the costs of membership. Thus it is irrational for people to join parties. They should only form (small) interest groups. The chapter first provides a historical background on the development of political parties before discussing their functions, such as legitimation of the political system, structuring the popular vote, and formulation of public policy. It then considers different types of political parties as well as the characteristics of party systems and concludes with an analysis of the problems facing political parties today.

13. Political Parties

Politics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand ◽  
Robert Garner ◽  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
System Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Two Phases

This chapter deals with political parties, focusing on why they emerged, how they can be classified, what functions they perform, and how they interact. It identifies two phases in the development of political parties. The first parties were intended to structure the work of legislatures, and later evolved into mass parties to structure the votes of electors, catch-all parties to win more votes irrespective of ideological appeal, and cartel parties more dominated by party professionals. The chapter also considers seven functions typically carried out by a political party, irrespective of whether they operate in democracies or authoritarian regimes: legitimation of the political system, integration and mobilization of citizens, representation, structuring the popular vote, aggregation of diverse interests, recruitment of leaders for public office, and formulation of public policy. Finally, it discusses various types of party outside the West, party systems, and some of the challenges facing political parties today.

On the Advantages of a No-Party State

1972 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Okion Ojigbo
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Integration ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Western Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Party State

One of the most important issues of political development and nation building in Africa is national integration. One major political institution which the new nations have employed in the pursuit of this goal is the political party. Ironically and unfortunately, political parties stand for division and cleavages. Thus as Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan have noted, in Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignment: an introduction (Glencoe, 1967), ‘“Party” throughout the history of western government stood for division [my italics], conflict, opposition within a body polity. “Party” is etymologically derived from “part” and since it first appeared in political discourse in the late Middle Ages has always retained this reference to one set of elements in competition or in controversy with another set of elements within some unified whole’ (p. 3). These indeed have been the main characteristics of political parties in most parts of Africa. That is, most of them are fragmentary, and thus contribute to national disintegration rather than fostering national integration. In other words, many political parties in most African nations have not functioned efficiently for the good of their respective countries.

23 Art. 21 GG: Political Parties

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bumke Christian ◽  
Voßkuhle Andreas
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
State Financing ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Private Financing ◽  
Party State

This chapter considers the relevant provisions of Art. 21 of the Grundgesetz (GG) with regard to political parties. Art. 21 GG does not define the term ‘political party’ and provides only a description of its function, which is ‘to participate in the formation of the political will of the people’. There are two conceptions of political party in the literature: the model of the ‘party state’ and the model of ‘party competition’. Political parties display the elements described in both models. The chapter first examines the Federal Constitutional Court's jurisprudence concerning the definition of ‘party’ before discussing the constitutional freedom to found and organise parties, prohibition of parties, competition between political parties and equality of opportunity among parties, and party financing (private financing and state financing).

scholarly journals Power, Patronage, and the Candidate-nomination Process: Observations from Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-336
Author(s):  
ADEEBA AZIZ KHAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
Mayoral Election ◽  
Power And Influence

AbstractIn this article, by studying the candidate-nomination process of the two major political parties, I show how power is distributed within the political party in Bangladesh. I show that the general acceptance by scholars that political power lies in the hands of the innermost circle of the political-party leadership in Bangladesh is too simplistic. A more nuanced observation of power and influence within the party structure shows that, in the context of Bangladesh's clientelistic political system, which is based on reciprocity between patrons and clients and relies on the ability of middlemen to organize and mobilize (in order to disrupt through hartals and strikes), power is often in the hands of those mid-level leaders who are in charge of mobilizing because their demands cannot be ignored by the topmost leadership. Through studying the candidate-nomination process of the major political parties and using the Narayanganj mayoral election of 2011 as a case study, I answer questions such as whose interests political parties are representing, what channels of influence are being used, and why these channels exist.

scholarly journals The Politics of Service Delivery in Pakistan: Political Parties and the Incentives for Patronage, 1988-1999

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Hasnan
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the impact of the political party structure on the incentives for politicians to focus on patronage versus service delivery improvements in Pakistan. By analysing inter-provincial variations in the quality of service delivery in Pakistan, the paper argues that the more fragmented, factionalised, and polarised the party systems, the greater are the incentives for patronage, weakening service delivery improvements. Fragmentation and factionalism both exacerbate the information problems that voters have in assigning credit (blame) for service delivery improvements (deterioration), thereby creating the incentives for politicians to focus on targeted benefits. Polarisation, particularly ethnic polarisation, reduces the ability of groups to agree on the provision of public goods, again causing politicians to favour the delivery of targeted benefits.

Inclusivity and exclusivity in the use of Cantonese ngo5dei6 (‘we’) in evasive replies in Hong Kong political discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 691-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Lap-ming Wai ◽  
Foong Ha Yap
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Contextual Factor ◽  
The Political ◽  
Controversial Issues

Politicians frequently face adversarial questions during election time. They often provide evasive replies to veer away from the controversial issues, but such equivocation also distances them from the audience. To deal with this problem, politicians often use the inclusive ‘we’ to identify themselves with the interest of the general public when they equivocate, or they sometimes use the exclusive ‘we’ to shift the responsibility of controversial policies to their political parties. The choice of inclusive versus exclusive ‘we’ in equivocation is not random but is governed by contextual factors, for example, the speech topic, the politician’s affiliation (if any) and the political system within a given culture. In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive Election candidates often do not belong to any political party. In this article, we examine how this unique contextual factor affects the choice of inclusive and exclusive ‘we’ in the evasive replies of politicians in the 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election debates.

How not to deal with the past: lustration in Poland

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Misztal
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
The Political ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Postcommunist Transition

By looking at the history of the Polish lustration — the policy of checking the past of candidates for important positions — this article argues that although the lustration law has been finally passed at the end of 1998, Poland's dealing with the past is still full of unresolved and deeply ambivalent problems due to the nature of its postcommunist transition and the nature of the newly constructed political institutions. These conditions were shaped by the relative strength of the Polish anti-communist opposition, which credibility within the society permitted it to accept a compromise with the old regime. The undetermined character of many of Poland's political institutions have accelerated the use of the issue of retrospective justice in the partisan politics, which in turn has limited the opportunity for consensual policy, and therefore has reduced societal trust of the political parties, while at the same time increased the demand for the purification of the political system.

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