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Social cleavages and party systems

Q: Politica scientists classify party systems based on the number and the size of the parties they contain. Different systems are:

Nonpartisan system : one with no official political parties (relatively rare in democracies) Single-party system : one in which only one political party is legally allowed to hold power. All single-party systems occur in dictatorships. One-party dominant system : one in which multiple parties may legally operate but in which only one particular party has a realistic change on gaining power. Two-party system : one in which only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power. Multiparty system : one in which more than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power.

5 important questions on Social cleavages and party systems

A political party is:

A group of people that includes those who hold office and those who help get and keep them there. One of the primary goals of political parties is to attain power; it is this goal that differentiates them form interest groups.

Most political parties have an individual called a whip, whose job it is to:

Ensure that members of the party attend legislative sessions and vote as the party leadership desires.

Politica scientists classify party systems based on the number and the size of the parties they contain. Different systems are:

Nonpartisan system: one with no official political parties (relatively rare in democracies)
Single-party system: one in which only one political party is legally allowed to hold power. All single-party systems occur in dictatorships.
One-party dominant system: one in which multiple parties may legally operate but in which only one particular party has a realistic change on gaining power.
Two-party system: one in which only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power.
Multiparty system: one in which more than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power.

To take into account the size of political parties, political scientists often use the effective number of parties, which is:

A measure that captures both the number and the size of parties in a country. It counts each party that wins votes or seats, but it attaches to each party a weight that is related to the share of votes or seats that it wins. The effective number of electoral parties is a measure of the number of parties that win votes. The effective number of legislative parties is a measure of the number of parties that win seats.

To understand where political parties come from, there are two basic views:

Primordial: treats parties as the natural representatives of people who share a common interest.
Instrumental: treats parties as teams of office seekers and focuses on the role played by political elites and entrepreneurs