A political party is a political organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power within a government. In party-list proportional representation, parties (and sometimes multi-party cartels) can play a functional role in the voting system. Individuals who are members of political parties defend the party's values and/or platform, and also sometimes contribute efforts that benefit the party. Partisanship is when partisan politicians spar against other partisan politicians (in another party) in the conduct of a legislative process. Extreme partisanship is referred to as partisan warfare. Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. ... Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... Political philosophy is the study of the fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, property, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should... Niccolò Machiavelli, ca 1500, became the key figure in realistic political theory, crucial to political science Political Science is the systematic study of the allocation and transfer of power in decision making. ... This is a list of politics articles available for every country. ... This is a list of political parties around the world. ... Welcome to the index of political parties, an alphabetical list of (mainly) present-day political parties listed in the list of political parties. ... This is a list of political parties around the world. ... An election is a process in which a vote is held to elect candidates to an office. ... Introduction This electoral calendar lists the national/federal direct elections in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. ... Elections by country gives information on elections. ... Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. ... Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... An ideology is a collection of ideas. ... A government is an organization that has the power to make and enforce laws for a certain territory. ... Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems used in multiple-winner elections (e. ... Voters at the voting booths in the US in 1945 Voting systems are methods (algorithms) for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members. ... A political platform is a list of the principles which a political party supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said partys candidates voted into office. ... A legislature is a governmental deliberative body with the power to adopt laws. ...

Single-party, two-party, and multi-party governments

In single-party states, only one political party is legally allowed to hold effective power. Although minor parties may sometimes be allowed, they are legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. This party may not always be, however, identical to the government, although sometimes positions within the party may in fact be more important than positions within the government. A single-party state or one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system and form of government where only a single political party dominates the government and no opposition parties are allowed. ...

In one party dominant states, opposition parties are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Often, the dominant party will remain in power by using patronage and sometimes by voting fraud. Examples of one party dominant states include the People's Action Party in Singapore. Also, one party dominant systems existed in Mexico with the Institutional Revolutionary Party until the 1990's, and in the southern United States with the Democratic Party from the 1880s until the 1970s. A dominant-party system is a party system where only one political party can realistically become the government, by itself or in a coalition government, because all other parties are too weak. ... Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ... The Peoples Action Party (PAP) is a political party in Singapore. ... National motto: Majulah Singapura (English: Onward, Singapore) National anthem: Majulah Singapura Capital Singapore1 Largest city Singapore1 Official languages English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, Tamil Government President Prime minister Westminster system (de jure) Dominant-party system (de facto) Sellapan Rama Nathan Lee Hsien Loong Independence - From Malaysia August 9, 1965 Area  - Total... The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered to the north by the United States of America, to the southeast by Guatemala and Belize, to... The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI) held power in Mexico for more than 70 years. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution...

Two-party systems are states such as the United States and Jamaica in which there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party. In two party states political parties are traditionally catch all parties which are ideologically broad and inclusive. One right wing coalition party and one left wing coalition party is the most common ideological breakdown in such a system. The relationship between the voting system used and the two-party system was described by Maurice Duverger and is known as Duverger's Law. A two-party system is a type of party system where only two political parties have a realistic chance of winning an election. ... Jamaica is a country in the Caribbean Sea, located south of Cuba and to the west of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. ... A Catch-All party, also known as a Big Tent party, is a political party that does not require adherence to the espoused ideology as a criteria for membership. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms that refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially but not exclusively in the American sense of the word... Maurice Duverger (born June 5, 1917) is a French jurist. ... Duvergers Law is a principle which asserts that a first-past-the-post election system naturally leads to a two-party system. ...

A poster for the European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party lists

Multi-party systems are systems in which there are multiple parties. Download high resolution version (553x678, 61 KB)announcement of elections in Brunate (near Como), Italy, 2004-06-07. ... Download high resolution version (553x678, 61 KB)announcement of elections in Brunate (near Como), Italy, 2004-06-07. ... A multi-party system is a type of party system. ...

In nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom, there may be two strong parties, with a third party that is electorally successful. The party may frequently come in second place in elections and poses a threat to the other two parties, but has still never formally held government. Canada is a sovereign state in northern North America, the northern-most country in the world, and the second largest in total area. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent...

In some rare cases, such as in Finland, the nation may have an active three-party system, in which all three parties routinely hold top office. It is very rare for a country to have more than three parties who are all equally successful, and all have an equal chance of independently forming government. The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the southeast and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. ...

More commonly, in cases where there are numerous parties, no one party often has a chance of gaining power, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. ...

Parties and directions

Political parties are often considered on a political spectrum. One typical spectrum has the Left associated with radical or progressive policies and the Right with conservative or traditional policies. Other analyses include other dimensions such as the political parties' acceptance of parliamentary democracy as opposed to authoritarian or totalitarian attitudes, and economic policies, the Left favoring social-democracy, socialism or communism, while the Right tends to favor laissez-faire economics. Centrist parties often adopt a collection of policies that defy easy placing on the political spectrum. A political spectrum is a way of comparing or visualizing different political positions, by placing them upon one or more geometric axes. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Radical is derived from the Latin word radix, which means pertaining to the root(s). In various fields of endeavor, it can mean: in sociology: one who advocates thoroughgoing analysis or change at the root in politics: can refer to a supporter of a revolutionary social movement can refer to... Progressive can refer to: Progressive music, including Progressive rock, Progressive metal and Progressive electronica Political Progressivism Several Progressive Parties Progressive Era in the United States (1890-1913) Progressive, a company providing auto insurance The Progressive, a left-wing monthly magazine The progressive tense in grammar Progressive lenses, used to correct... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... A parliamentarian is a specialist in parliamentary procedure. ... Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies, ultimately, with the citizenry. ... The term authoritarian is used to describe an organization or a state which enforces strong and sometimes oppressive measures against the population, generally without attempts at gaining the consent of the population. ... The concept of Totalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type used by some political scientists to encapsulate the characteristics of a number of twentieth century regimes that mobilized entire populations in support of the state or an ideology. ... Economics is the social science studying production and consumption through measurable variables. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a social and economic system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... In politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes. ...

Many parties will have (formal or informal) factions within them that have differing views on policy direction. A political faction is a grouping of individuals within a political organisation, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with some kind of political purpose (referred to in this article as the “broader organisation”). It may also be referred to as a power bloc, or a...

Colors and emblems for parties

Main article: see political colour

Generally speaking, over the world, political parties associate themselves with colors, primarily for identification, especially for voter recognition during elections. Red usually signifies leftist, communist or socialist parties. Conservative and Christian democratic parties generally use blue or black. Recently in the United States, this trend has been reversed. Pink sometimes signifies socialist. Yellow is often used for liberalism. Green is the color for green parties and Islamist parties. Orange is sometimes a color of nationalism, such as in The Netherlands, or is a color of reform such as in Ukraine. In the past, Purple was considered the color of royalty, but is rarely used in modern day political parties. Brown is generally associated with fascist or neofascist parties, going back to the Nazi Party's brownshirt security guards. Political colours are colours used to represent a political stance, a political ideology, or — in a telling use of terminology — a position on the political spectrum. ... See Election (movie) for the film directed by Alexander Payne. ... Red re-directs here; for alternate uses see Red (disambiguation) Red is a color at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Christian Democracy is a political ideology, born at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, in which the Vatican recognizes workers misery and agrees that something should be done about it, in reaction to the rise of... Blue (from Old High German blao shining) is one of the three primary additive colors; blue light has the shortest wavelength (about 470 nm) of the three primary colors. ... Black is a color with several subtle differences in meaning. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... Pink is a color made by mixing red and white and sometimes described as being a light red, but it is more accurately a bright undersaturated red. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Yellow is the color of light whose wavelength is between 565nm and 590nm, or is a mixture of red and green light that appears to be the same color. ... Liberalism is a political current embracing several historical and present-day ideologies that claim defense of individual liberty as the purpose of government. ... Green is a color seen commonly in nature. ... This article is about the green parties around the world. ... Islamism is a political ideology derived from the conservative religious views of Muslim fundamentalism. ... See also Orange (disambiguation) for other meanings of the word. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ... Ukraine (Україна, Ukrayina in Ukrainian; Украина in Russian) is a republic in eastern Europe which borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest and the Black Sea to the south. ... Alternate uses: Purple (disambiguation) Purple is any of a group of colors intermediate between blue and red. ... Royalty may refer to either: the royal family of a country with a monarchy royalties the payment made to the owner of a copyright, patent, or trademark, for the use thereof This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For other uses, see Brown (disambiguation). ... Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Hitler addressing SA members in the late 1920s The Sturmabteilung (SA, German for Storm Division and is usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ...

Color associations are useful for mnemonics when voter illiteracy is significant. Another use case is when it is not desirable to make rigorous links to parties, particularly when coalitions and alliances are formed between political parties and other organizations, for example: Red Tory, "Purple" (Red-Blue) alliances, Red-Green Alliances, Blue-Green Alliances, Pan-green coalitions, and Pan-blue coalitions. For the Finno-Ugric people, see Votes. ... This article or section should include material from New literacy studies. ... A Coalition is an alliance between entities, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest. ... An alliance can be: an agreement between two parties, particularly: a military alliance formed between states a business alliance formed between organisations a New Zealand political party, the Alliance a Canadian political party, the Canadian Alliance a Northern_Ireland political party, Alliance the former name of the Malaysian political coalition currently... Red Tory is a nickname given to a political tradition in Canadas conservative political parties. ... In democratic politics, a Red-Green alliance is an alliance of socialist (or social democratic) and decentralist-ecologist (or, to chose a shorter word, green) parties. ... A Blue-Green alliance describes an alliance between political parties and other organizations. ... The Pan-Green Coalition, or Pan-Green Force (Chinese: 泛綠軍; pinyin: f nlǜjūn), is an informal political alliance in early 21st century Taiwan, consisting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), and the Taiwan Independence Party (TAIP). ... The Pan-Blue Coalition, or Pan-Blue Force (Chinese: 泛藍軍; pinyin: f n jūn), is a political coalition in early 21st century Taiwan, consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), and the tiny New Party (CNP). ...

The emblem of socialist parties is often a red rose held in a fist. Communist parties often use a hammer, a sickle, or both. Emblem and symbol are often used interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without harm. ... Species About 100, see text References:   U. of Illinois 2002-05-29 A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa and the flower of this shrub. ... For the sport, see Hammer throw. ... For the fictional unit of money called a sickle, see Money in Harry Potter. ...

International organizations of political parties

During the 19th and 20th century, many national political parties organized themselves into international organizations along similar policy lines. Notable examples are the International Workingmen's Association (also called the First International), the Socialist International (also called the Second International), the Communist International, (also called the Third International), and the Fourth International, as organizations of Working class parties, or the Liberal International (yellow), and the International Democrat Union (blue). Worldwide green parties have recently established the Global Greens. The Socialist International, the Liberal International, and the International Democrat Union are all based in London. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... The International Workingmens Association, sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing political groups and trade union organizations which were based on the working class. ... The Socialist International (SI) is an international organisation for social democratic parties. ... The first edition of Communist International, journal of the Comintern published in Moscow and Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in May 1919. ... Logo of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ... The Liberal International is an international organization for liberal parties. ... The International Democrat Union is an international grouping of conservative and, in some cases, Christian democratic parties. ... This article is about the green parties around the world. ... This article is about the green parties around the world. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ...

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• List of political parties
• Party class

Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. ... This is a list of political parties around the world. ... The sociologist Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification in which he defines party class as a group of people (part of a society) that can be differentiated on the basis of their affiliations in the political domain. ...

External links

• U.S. Party Platforms from 1840-2004 at The American Presidency Project: UC Santa Barbara (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php)
• Political parties around the world (http://www.electionworld.org/parties.htm)
• Political resources on the net (http://www.politicalresources.net/)
• Leftist political parties of the world (http://www.broadleft.org/)