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89 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is a political party? |
Group of people with a shared manifesto and ideology with a goal of implementing those views by becoming government - provide electorate choice |
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What are the features of political parties? |
Hierarchy Manifesto Registration Membership Logo Winning elections |
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What are the functions of political parties? |
Campaigning Implementing policies Influencing political decisions Provide representation Educate, inform + communicate Enable participation |
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How do parties form a government? |
Have an overall majority in the Commons e.g. Conservatives have 318 seats out of 650 |
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What is the opposition? |
2nd largest party in the Commons Labour - 262 seats |
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What are the key ideas of conservatism? |
Institutions e.g. parliament Nuclear, heterosexual family Wary of change Patriotism Negative view of human nature Authoritarian state Private property + Free market |
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What are the key ideas of liberalism? |
Humans have key rights + liberties, essentially equal Emerged in 17th century, post industrial revolution Free press, speech, politics etc. Minimal state Tolerance Pluralism Democracy
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What are the key ideas of socialism? |
Collectively owned economically Don't support capitalism Equality - material/economical Big state - owns and retulates High tax Positive view of human nature |
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Why is organisational structure and heirarchy important in our democracy? |
Makes politics accessible, clear choice between parties (pluralism) e.g. leaders debate on TV, members find roles e.g. treasurer |
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Why is a membership network important in our democracy? |
People can join a party to shape policies, give people access, encourages participation and representation |
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Why is an ideological basis with a range of policies important in our democracy? |
Gives electorate informed choice between ideas + policies, encourages pluralism , easier participation, provides representation + opposition |
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What is the logo of the Conservative party? |
Oak tree - traditional, sturdy, British |
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Who was Edmund Burke? |
18th Century traditional conservative - argued revolutions and sudden radical change must be avoided |
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Who was Hobbes? |
17th century traditional conservative - argued authority is needed with law and order |
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Who was Robert Peele? |
Supported and set the basis for a modern conservative party |
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What is the traditional conservative view on human nature? |
Negative - flawed therefore ideologies that try to change humans will fail |
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What are key traditional conservative beliefs? |
Pragmatism Private property Less state interference Humans not equal - hierarchy |
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Who was Benjamin Disraeli? |
Argued UK was two nations that should be one - class divide |
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What does One nation Conservatism believe? |
Those of higher birth and education have an 'obligation to act benevolently towards the disadvantaged' - partenalism |
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What are key values of one nation Conservatism? |
Mid nation - balance free market capitalism and industrial revolution with state intervention Patriotism + imperalism |
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Why did one nation conservatives (Macmillan) accept many Attlee labour reforms after WW2? |
Middle way - free market + individualism with social collectivism and state control - protect institutions, increase poors' support of the party and national unity |
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What examples of laws were passed under one nation conservatives? |
Artisans Dwellings Act (1875) Sales of Food + Drugs Act (1875) Second Reform Act (1867) |
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What is Thatcherism and the New Right? |
Sought to reduce state intervention in the economy, while restoring order to society in the face of rising challenges from militant trade unions and other groups on the left |
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What are the key themes of Thatcherism? |
Control of public spending and tax cuts Privatisation of industries Legal limits on trade union power Tough approach to law and order, with increased police and judicial powers Assertion of British interests abroad Desire to protect national sovereignty against EU |
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What happened Post-thatcher within the Conservative party? |
John Major took over (1990-97), who tried to reconcile hard-line Eurosceptics and Pro-europeans - failure - 1997 general election defeat |
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What 3 Conservative leaders failed to remove Tony Blair from office? |
William Hague Ian Duncan-Smith Micheal Howard |
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How did Cameron win a general election? |
Identified as a liberal conservative Tolerent of minorities and different lifestyles Valued public services e.g. NHS |
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What Economic policy ideas did Cameron and his party have? |
Reduce the deficit by austerity, cutting budgets up to 25% |
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What welfare policy ideas did Cameron and his party have? |
Cut costs and make people more self-reliant with universal credit and allowing private hospitals to compete with state hospitals |
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What law and order ideas did Cameron and his party have? |
A balanced approach to crime with tough sentencing for certain crimes after the 2011 London riots and 'rehabilitation revolution' to reduce reoffenders |
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What foreign policy ideas did Cameron and his party have? |
Consistent with Thatcherism, including strong links with the USA, support for air strikes against Islamic terror groups and pragmatic Euroscepticism. |
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How and what are MPs paid? |
Basic annual salary in April 2017 was £76,000, paid from general taxation and are allowed to claim expenses |
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Why is there opposition to party funding? |
Labour funded by trade unions who influence policy Conservatives funded by big business Accused of offering political honours to generous benefactors |
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What are the results of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000? |
Independent electoral commission supervise party campaign spending Amount a party could spend was capped at £30000 in a constituency Donations to more than £5000 had to be declared Donations from individuals not on the electoral role were banned |
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What are potential reforms? |
2007 report by Sir Hayden Philips proposed a system where parties are funded from taxpayers money Individual donation limits |
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What are arguments for state funding of parties? |
Parties are important in a representative democracy so deserve public funding Remove disparity of funding Encourage participation if funding matched members Curb corruption |
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What are arguments against state funding? |
Could reduce party independence Difficult to decide how much each party gets Taxpayers would resent compulsory contributions to parties of which they disapprove |
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How did the Labour party come about? |
Founded in 1900 by a group of socialist societies and trade unions. |
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When did the first labour government take office? |
1924 under PM Ramsay McDonald - lacked Parliamentary majority |
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When did the first labour majority government take office? |
1945 - Clement Attlee - nationalisation of coal, railways, power, steel, civil aviation and the NHS |
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What were post-war Labour governments between 1945 and 1979 like? |
Social democratic - didn't abolish capitalism but aimed to not exploit the workforce, focused on wealth distribution e.g. comprehensive schools |
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Why did Labour lose elections post 1979? |
Hard-line socialist programme calling for further nationalisation, increased taxation and spending, plus the abolition of Britain's nuclear defences and no EU |
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How did Labour progress from old to new? |
Gradual recognition that policies that appeal only to the working class would not win a general election Links with business Less trade union links Tony Blair as leader |
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What did new labour place emphasis on? |
Emphasis on wealth creation rather than redistribution - minimum wage and individual aspiration Conditions for benefits and ASBOs - tough on crime Conserving resources and careful investment in services Public sector for private services Liberal ideology - devolution but curbing civil liberties |
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Why was there controversy surrounding new labour? |
Traditional socialists believed it be a betrayal of heritage Too much business and market 2003 Iraq war involvement |
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How did the financial crisis and recession of 2008-09 lead to a shift in policy by the brown government? |
Treasury pumped money into banking to boost economy Nationalisation of banks Raised 50% band for £150,000+ Maintained public spending |
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How did the financial crisis and recession of 2008-09 lead to a shift in policy by Ed Milliband? |
Elements of new labour w/ shift to left Called for restoration of 50% income tax + energy price freeze Tried to be seen as economically competent Ending bedroom tax No additional borrowing |
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What are economic policies under Jeremy Corbyn? |
Large scale industry funding to reduce regional inequalities + renationalisation of the railways |
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What are welfare policies under Jeremy Corbyn? |
Opposed benefit cuts + private sector running public services + no tuition fees |
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What are law and order policies under Jeremy Corbyn? |
Opposed to hard line policies of new labour e.g. increased powers to combat terrorism and identity cards + cuts to police numbers |
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What are foreign policies under Jeremy Corbyn? |
Against the use of force and NATO, removal of trident, supported EU membership |
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What are the origins of the Liberal democrat party? |
Founded in 1988 - ancestors were the Whigs (opponent of the Tories) them became the liberal party |
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What were the classical liberals committed to? |
Freedom of the individual and wanted the state to play a minimal role in society - free trade, widening the franchise and extension of civil liberties |
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Who was the most notable leader of the Liberal party? |
W.E Gladstone who attempted without success to extend self-government to Ireland as part of the UK |
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How did modern liberalism begin? |
'New liberal' governments of Edwardian era (1901-10) adopted range of social reforms e.g old age pensions + national insurance to discourage support for Labour party |
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Why did the liberal party become unsuccessful? |
Rivalry between H.H Asquith and David Lloyd - tried to appeal to middle and working class but struggled to find their identity |
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How did the Liberal Democrat party form? |
Combined Liberals and Social Democratic party in 1988, then succeeded in 1997 election to 46 seats due to tactical voting |
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What themes did the Liberal Democrats emphasise during the coalition? |
Constitutional reform Civil liberties Internationalism Pro-EU Centre left during Blair years Orange book liberals - Clegg |
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What was the impact of the coalition on the Liberal Democrats? |
57 seats - expected influence Went along with government cuts and only got 2011 AV vote Reduced to 8 seats in 2015 GE |
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What is the economic policy of the liberal democrats? |
Continued commitment to eliminating the budget deficit whilst being fair to the poor - raising back income-tax + renewable energy |
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What is the welfare policy of the liberal democrats? |
Control benefit spending, uprating pensions + extending free childcare to enable parents to return to work + funding for NHS |
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What is the law and order policy of the liberal democrats? |
Personal freedom is not eroded - opposed the 'Snoopers Charter' + support community service instead of prison |
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What is the foreign policy of the liberal democrats? |
Support British membership of the EU |
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Name 5 regional parties |
Plaid Cymru Scottish National Party Democratic Unionist party Sinn Fein The Yorkshire Party |
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What are the origins of the Scottish national party? |
Founded in 1934, centre-left party whose main purpose is to secure independence for Scotland from the UK |
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How did Blair's Labour party devolve powers to Scotland? |
Gave self-governing power to prevent votes for SNP - effective until 2007 when Alex Salmond turned minority government to small majority in 2011 |
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What did Scottish devolution evolve to? |
2012 Scotland Act September 2014 IndiRef |
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How many seats did the SNP win in the 2015 general election? |
56 out of 59 |
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What has limited the power of the SNP? |
October 2015 - English votes for English laws 2017 GE - lost 24 seats |
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What are the origins of UKIP? |
Fringe Nationalist populist party in 1991 Opposed EU membership 2014 European elections - 24 MEPs Won 3.9 million votes in 2015 |
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What do UKIP voters tend to be? |
Older, more traditional people who feel left behind in a rapidly changing world - lower education and less job security |
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What does UKIP stand for? |
EU subjects UK to unaccountable bureaucracy - 'Take back control' Support for Grammar schools Scrap 'green taxes' Point based migrant system |
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What are the origins of the Green party? |
Evolved from 1973 party 'PEOPLE', becoming the Green party in 1985. Won its first seat in 2010 - Caroline Lucas, Brighton Pavilion - 1 million votes in 2015 |
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What do the green party stand for? |
Environmental issues - phase out fossil fuel and fracking, support renewable solution Reducing social inequality - end NHS privatisation, abolish tuition fees, wealth tax and higher minimum wage (£10) |
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What is the party system? |
The way in which parties are grouped and structured in a political system |
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What is a one-party-dominant system? |
A number of parties, but only one has a realistic prospect of holding power |
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What is a two-party system? |
Two parties compete for power at elections; other parties have no real chance of breaking their monopoly |
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What is a two-and-a-half-party system? |
Two large parties are the main players, but are challenged by the growth of a smaller third party |
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What is a multi-party system? |
A number of parties co tend to form a government; coalitions become the norm. |
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When was the classic era of the two party system? |
1945-74 - Labour and Conservatives won combined 91% of the votes and 98% of seats |
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Why did the two-party system survive? |
Largely due to FPTP, which limits smaller parties' ability to win seats |
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What could the period of coalition government (2010-15) be described as? |
Two-and-a-half-party system - Lib Dems won 23% of the vote in 2010 |
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How can it be argued that the UK still has a two-party system? |
2015 - Lib Dems lost all but 8 of their seats, landslide victory of SNP (56 of 59 seats) but only a regional party with limited influence |
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What type of outcome has the AMS system produced in Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly? |
Proportional system increases representation of smaller parties - (2007-11 SNP minority), (Pre-2007 Lab/Lib-den coalition) |
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What type of outcome has STV produced in the Northern Irish assembly? |
5 members of DUP, 4 member of Sinn Fein and 1 independent in the executive |
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What factors affect party success? |
Strength of a party's leadership Extent to which parties are united/divided between factions Role of the media |
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How does the strength of a party's leadership affect party success? |
Voters respond positively to leaders who demonstrate clear sense of direction and reject parties that fail to get a grip on events in times of crisis - James Callaghan in 'winter of discontent' (1978-79) |
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How does the extent to which parties are united/divided affect party success? |
Divided parties do not perform well at general elections - John Major suffered heavy loss in 1997 GE as they seemed divided on EU membership |
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How does the role of the media affect party success? |
Media reinforces general public's impression of parties - Nick Clegg performed well in televised debates and then we'll in GE (coalition) |
