Chapter 11: Who Is Heard? Varieties of Representation

Chapter Summary   Self-Study Questions   Something to Consider   Key Terms   Case Studies   Resources

 

CHAPTER SUMMARY

The focus of this chapter is on whose voices are heard in the political process and the means by which their demands are carried from the broader public sphere to the ears of policy-makers. This requires contrasting political parties and interest groups, as organized vehicles of representation. The role of the former is necessarily institutionalized in contemporary democracies, and the legitimacy of the latter, as an alternative means of communicating the demands of their members, varies from one regime to another.

Within the institutionalized political process, a second contrast can be made between parties that serve (primarily) their leaders and those that serve (primarily) the broader electorate. The order of priorities usually reflects that presented in the previous sentence—leaders first, electorate second—and the degree to which this is so explains much about the low esteem accorded to public figures today.

Collectively, political parties function as a system within a regime’s political process and legislature. The different types of party systems derive, in part, from a regime’s electoral system and, in part, from historical and cultural features that may override the mechanical or psychological effects of such systems.

Political parties exist primarily to mobilize support for their candidates in regularly held elections; a number of factors will (or will fail to) constrain their campaign activities. The degree to which election campaign strategies can be compared across jurisdictions is examined on the basis of several variables.

Interest groups are an important alternative to the political party as vehicles of representation. Some of these groups (stakeholders) have their basis in the structure of the economy, representing various functional groups such as business, labour, the bureaucracy—within each of these categories other divisions exist that may not always reflect an identity of interest. “Activist” groups, on the other hand, may unite people, regardless of their economic interest, around a cause or issue. A contrast is made between organized interests with an institutionalized role in the policy process (corporatism) and those competing for policy influence (pluralism).

Finally, the existence of new social movements is noted and their role contrasted with the functioning of political parties and organized interests.

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SELF-STUDY QUESTIONS
Multiple Choice

(Answer key below)

1. In what ways are organized interests distinct from political parties?

a. They operate from civil society
b. They influence policy-makers rather than seek political office
c. Both
d. Neither

2. In which of the following countries is political advertising during elections NOT forbidden?

a. Germany
b. Ireland
c. Canada
d. Norway

3. Small parties with firm ideological commitments and a strong representative claim do better in which system?

a. SMP
b. PR
c. Both
d. Neither

4. Which of the following is NOT a common message category in the media during elections?

a. Policy agenda presentations
b. Party leader personality profiles
c. Negative/attack messages directed at the opposition
d. None of the above

5. Which of the following are examples of the role that parties play as agents of socialization?

a. Increasing citizens’ feelings of efficacy
b. Organizing opportunities for political activity
c. Creating links between potentially competing interests
d. All of the above

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Short Answer

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SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

1. How does the de-institutionalization (or dispersal of the sources) of information through the use of social media and blogging affect the credibility of the political process?

2. How might the continued growth of the Internet shape the evolution of (a) political parties, (b) organized interests, and (c) direct democracy?

3. To what degree is it possible to have either meaningful representation or truly informed direct democracy in mass societies dominated by electronic media and an ethic of consumerism?

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KEY TERMS

(Click term to reveal definition)

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CASE STUDIES
Issue Dimensions in Canada

For the 2011 Canadian general election and for the 2011 Ontario general election, the CBC created an online interactive tool that allowed citizens to match their own policy preferences to the positions of the main parties contesting the election. Created in each case by a team of political scientists and based on the stated platforms of the parties, it presented a two-dimensional policy space: the horizontal axis running from economic left to economic right, and the vertical axis running from social liberalism to social conservatism. In either case, the positions of the parties resembled something like the accompanying diagram, with all parties but one in the upper left quadrant, and the other alone in the lower right quadrant. The absence of any parties in the other two quadrants is striking. The European systems mapped in Figure 11.4 (see page 263) are likely to have parties in all four quadrants, which is also, arguably, more reflective of the distribution of policy dispositions within society.

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RESOURCES
Chapter References

Carty, R. K. Canadian Political Party Systems. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 1988.

Clarke, Harold D., et al. Absent Mandate. 3rd ed. Toronto: Gage, 1996.

Duverger, Maurice. Political Parties. New York: Wiley, 1963.

———. The Idea of Politics. London: Methuen & Co., 1966.

Jackson, Robert J., and Doreen Jackson. Politics in Canada: Culture, Institutions, Behaviour and Public Policy. 4th ed. Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall, 1997.

Kirchheimer, Otto. “The Catch-All Party.” The West European Party System. Ed. Peter Mair. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 50–60.

Lane, Jan-Erik, and Svante O. Ersson. Politics and Society in Western Europe. London: Sage, 1991.

Lawson, Kay. Political Parties and Linkage: A Comparative Perspective. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1980.

Lijphart, Arend. Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-Seven Democracies, 1945–1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Malcolmson, Patrick, and Richard Myers. The Canadian Regime. 5th ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012.

Neumann, Sigmund. “The Party of Integration.” The West European Party System. Ed. Peter Mair. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 46–49.

Powell, G. Bingham. Contemporary Democracies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.

Thorburn, H.G. Party Politics in Canada. 6th ed. Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall, 1991.

Wolinetz, Stephen B. “Beyond the Catch-All Party: Approaches to the Study of Parties and Party Organization in Contemporary Democracies.” The Future of Political Parties. Eds. Juan Linz, Jose Ramon Montero, and Richard Gunther. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 136–165. Electronic Copy

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Further Readings

Dür, Andreas, and Dirk de Bièvre. “The question of interest group influence.” Journal of Public Policy. 27.1 (May 2007): 1–12. Get Abstract

Debus, Marc. “Party Competition and Government Formation in Multi-level Settings: Evidence from Germany.” Government and Opposition. 43.4 (October 2008): 505–538. Get Abstract

Dunn, Kris. “Legislative Diversity and Social Tolerance: How Multiparty Systems Lead to Tolerant Citizens.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. 19.3 (August 2009): 283–312. Electronic Copy

Kenig, Ofer. “Classifying Party Leaders’ Selection Methods in Parliamentary Democracies.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. 19.4 (November 2009): 433–447. Electronic Copy

Gauja, Anika. “State Regulation and the Internal Organisation of Political Parties: The Impact of Party Law in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. 46.2 (April 2008): 244–261. Get Abstract

Leuprecht, Christian, and James McHugh. “Fixed Election Cycles: A Genuine Alternative to Responsible and Responsive Government?” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. 46.4 (November 2008): 415–441. Get Abstract

Taagepera, Rein. “The Tailor of Marrakesh: Western Electoral Systems Advice to Emerging Democracies.” Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine. Electronic Copy

White, Jonathan, and Lea Ypi. “Rethinking the Modern Prince: Partisanship and the Democratic Ethos.” Political Studies. 58.4 (October 2010): 809–828. Get Abstract

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Other Resources

Carty, R. K. “Political Turbulence in a Dominant Party System.” PS: Political Science and Politics. 39:4 (October 2006): 825–827. Electronic Copy

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