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.

Political Parties of Ukraine

More then 100 political parties are registered in Ukraine, but only a dozen or so have significant size and influence. After the last parliamentary election, parties have become stronger and more significant, the new electoral law, which gives the seats in the Verkhovna Rada to party lists, has forced parties to begin to play a role they did not play before and stimulated the growth of coalitions among parties. It means whatever parliament comes out of the election, it is dominated by the strong parties and coalitions.

It should be noted that the political scene in Ukraine is relatively one-dimensional. The main difference between parties is their pro-communist or anti-communist stance. As a rule, older people are more likely to vote for the Socialist or Communist parties, while younger people are more likely to vote for reformers. However, as in the United States, money plays a very large role in elections, and rich parties are more likely to be able to attract support than small parties.

Generally, the Communists and the so-called leftist ‘fellow travelers’ are stronger in Eastern Ukraine, in part because the economic crisis there is much worse, and in part because of the large Russian / Russianized population there, while rightist and nationalist parties are stronger in Western Ukraine. The parties organized around personalities are usually in the centre and as a rule reflect their own reformist views.