Political Parties of the uk

In a democracy, people vote for the political party (e.g. conservatives, liberals or socialists) that they want to form the government. What does it mean to be a conservative or a socialist? Often, it means different things in different countries, but in Britain we often talk about someone’s political position like this: left-wing (on the left) means socialist, in the centre (middle of the road) – liberal, right-wing (on the right) – conservative. The main parties in the UK are the Conservative party (right wing), the Labour Party (left wing) and the Liberal Democrats (centre).

The Conservative party goes back to the Tories, or Royalists, who originated in King John’s reign (1660-1685) The Tories were the party that supported the Church and the King; the other main party of the time were the Whigs, who were a group eager for political reforms. The Tory party gave way to its successor, the Conservative Party, in around 1830. The Conservative party believes in free enterprise and the importance of a market economy, with private ownership preferred to state control.

In 1899 the Trade Union Congress summoned a special conference of trade unions and special bodies to make plans to represent labour in Parliament. The proposal for such a meeting had come from Thomas Steels, a member of the Independent Labour Party, which was formed in 1893. The Conference met in February 1900 in London and has always been looked on as the foundation of the Labour party. The Labour party believes that private ownership and enterprise should be allowed to flourish, but not at the expense of their traditional support of the public services.

There has been a Liberal party in Great Britain since 1868 when the name was adopted by the Whig party. The Whig party was created after the Revolution of 1688 and aimed to subordinate the power of the Crown to that of Parliament and upper classes. In 1981 a second centre party was created by 24 Labour MPs. It was called the Social Democratic party, and soon formed an alliance with the Liberal party. They formed a single party which became the Liberal Democrats after the 1987 election. The Liberal Democrats believe that the state should have some control over the economy, but there should be individual ownership.

Political Parties of the usa

The US Constitution says nothing about political parties, but over time the US has in fact developed a two-party system. The two leading parties are the Democrats and the Republicans. There are also other parties (a Communist party, several Socialist parties, etc.) but they do not play a role in national politics.

The present-day Democratic Party was founded in 1828, representing Southern planters – slave owners and part of Northern bourgeoisie, as well as groups of petty bourgeoisie and farmers. Sometimes, the Democrats are thought to be associated with labour and tend to favour a more active role of the central government in social matters. The Republican Party was founded in 1854. It united industrial and trade bourgeoisie from North-East, farmers, workers, craftsmen who were interested in destroying the political power of the South and abolishing slavery. But after the Civil War of 1861-1865 the party lost its progressive character and the difference between the two parties disappeared. The Republicans tend to oppose the greater involvement of the federal government in some areas of public life.

The parties are not divided by any doctrinal [dok´trainl] gulf. To distinguish between the parties is often difficult. Furthermore, the traditional European terms of ‘right’ and ‘left’ or ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ do not quite fit the American system. Even if they have been elected as Democrats or Republicans, they are not bound to a party programme, nor are they subject to any discipline when they disagree with their party.

While some voters vote a ‘straight ticket’, in other words, for all of the Republican or Democratic candidates in an election, many do not. They vote for one party’s candidate for one office and another’s for another. As a result, the political parties have much less actual power than they do in other nations. One of the reasons for stability of the two-party system is the family tradition. Each new generation inherits its politics and party loyalty from their fathers. Descendants of Northern Europeans tend to support the Republican Party while those of southern and eastern Europeans prefer the Democratic Party.

In the US, parties cannot win seats which are then free to fill with party members they have chosen. Rather, both Representatives and Senators are elected to serve the interests of the people and the areas they represent, that is, their ‘constituencies’. In about 70% of legislative decisions, Congressmen will vote with the specific wishes of their constituencies in mind, even if this goes against what their own parties might want as national policy. It is quite common, in fact, to find Democrats in Congress voting for a Republican President’s legislation, quite a few Republicans voting against it, and so on.