A Comparison of UK and US Political Parties

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A Comparison of UK and US Political Parties

A party system as described by G.Sartori is "the system of

interactions resulting from inter-party competition”. A one-party

system cannot produce a political system, as we would identify it in

Britain. One party cannot produce any other system other than

autocratic/dictatorial power. Two-party system: as the title

indicates, this is a state in which just two parties dominate. Other

parties might exist but they have no political importance. The

multi-party system: as the title suggests, this is a system where more

than two parties have some impact in a state’s political life.

Dominant-party system: this is different from a one-party system. A

party is quite capable within the political structure of a state, to

become dominant to such an extent that victory at elections is

considered a formality. A political party is organized groups of

voters and politicians with similar ideas about how the government

should be run and who should represent them.

The US has a two party system in which two parties dominate in the US

its Republican and Democratic parties. Other parties might exist but

they have no political importance. America has the most obvious

two-party political system with the Republicans and Democrats

dominating the political scene. For the system to work one of the

parties must obtain a sufficient working majority after an election

and it must be in a position to be able to govern without the support

from the other party. A rotation of power is expected in this system....

... middle of paper ...

... allowed voting freely.

The parties in America are weak organisations and ‘party discipline’

in the US congress is loose. In the US Congress a party unity (or a

party line) vote is defined as a majority of one party voting against

a majority of the others. The weak definition only a relatively small

majority of votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives

qualify as partisan votes.

In the US, formal party ‘membership’ is unknown; simply register as

Democrats or Republicans

Democratic and Republicans parties have become more ideologically

homogeneous. Therefore Republicans are more conservative than

Democratic however southern republicans are more conservative than the

Republicans from the Northeast and even though southern Democrats tend

to be less liberal than Democrats in other parts of the country.

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