United States Political Parties
Political parties in the United States are an important element of the United States ' political system . Although smaller parties that have regional or programmatic importance also exist, two large parties have dominated the multiparty system of the United States for over 160 years . In fact, there is a two-party system .
overview
The United States has a pluralistic, multi-party system, with most offices, particularly at the federal level, held by members of the two largest parties. This results from the majority voting system used and the limited access to voting slips for these parties. There have been a ton of other parties in the history of the United States , but most of these current third parties are virtually irrelevant to government policy. Historically, parties other than the two current major parties formed this constellation at times.
Nonetheless, many third parties are or have been regionally successful and some (especially the Prohibition Party and the Socialist Party of America ) occasionally found their suggestions in the party program of the Democrats or Republicans. It should be noted that in the United States, local elections down to the level of public prosecutors or the school board are elected and there are few political parties there. The elections are also much more personal and the candidates tend to shape the content of their party rather than the other way around.
membership
From the point of view of many other states, especially the member states of the European Union , it should be emphasized that parties in the United States have no members in the narrower sense. In most, but not all countries, you can register for a certain party, but this is not a membership in the sense of an association , since registration is not a party matter, but a matter of public law , e.g. B. in connection with the general right to vote . Registration does not enter into any obligation towards this party and it cannot be refused by either party. This applies both to the right to be nominated as a candidate for a party and to the right to vote in primary elections .
The administrative organizations of the two major parties at the federal level are called the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee . Their primary task is to organize the four-year nomination party conference and the election campaign . Outside of this, however, they only play a subordinate role in everyday political life. Formally , they also have chairmen , but these mainly have administrative tasks , which makes them more comparable to the “directors” of European parties. Political leadership, on the other hand, is left to the party leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives and, if he belongs to the party, to the president .
In addition to the parties, there are political associations that are very close to the parties such as the Democrats or Republicans and whose membership corresponds approximately to membership in the respective parties. But they are not official parts of the parties.
Categorization of the parties
In order to represent the existing structure of rule in the United States, registered political parties are categorized into four groups. These are not necessarily synonymous with the political orientations of the total US population, the trend of voter turnout has leveled very stable of all eligible voters in the last eleven presidential elections, that is, since 1972, at an average of only 52 percent (see. The opposite, the concept of democracy for B. in the Federal Republic of Germany, where there is talk of an 80 percent mark ).
- The first group is that of the "big parties" as defined above, consisting of the Democrats and the Republicans.
- The second group represents “other major parties,” where “importance” is measured by how successful the party was in getting its presidential candidate on the ballot.
- The third group consists of “Active Small and Regional Third Parties”, consisting of all active parties that do not fall into the first two groups.
- The last group are "Former Parties", parties that no longer actively participate in the United States' political system .
Active parties
Big parties
- Democratic Party (Democratic Party)
- Republican Party (Republican Party)
Other major parties
Small parties
- Communist Party USA
- Independence Party of America
- Modern Whig Party
- New American Independent Party
- Objectivist Party
- Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Prohibition Party
- Reform Party of the United States of America
- Social Democrats USA
- Socialist Equality Party
- Socialist Party USA
- Socialist Workers Party
- United States Pirate Party
- Unity Party of America
- Working families party
Regional parties
- Alaskan Independence Party
- Conservative Party of New York State
- Liberal Party of New York
- Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño
- Peace and Freedom Party (California)
- Rent Is Too Damn High Party (New York City)
- Vermont Progressive Party
Former parties in the order in which they were founded
- Federalist Party (Federalist Party, ca.1789 to ca.1820)
- Democratic-Republican Party (1792 to ca.1824)
- Anti-Masonic Party (1826-1838)
- National Republican Party (1829-1833)
- Nullifier Party (1830 to 1839)
- United States Whig Party (1833 to 1856)
- Liberty Party (1840 to 1848)
- Law and Order Party of Rhode Island (1840)
- Free Soil Party (1848 to 1855)
- Constitutional Union Party (1860)
- Anti-Nebraska Party (1854)
- American Republican Party (1843 to 1854)
- American Party (“Know-Nothings”) (c. 1854 to 1858)
- Opposition Party (1854 to 1858)
- National Union Party (1864 to 1868)
- Readjuster Party (1870 to 1885)
- Liberal Republican Party (1870 to 1872)
- United States Greenback Party (1874 to 1884)
- Socialist Labor Party of America (1876 to 2008)
- Anti-Monopoly Party (1884)
- Populist Party (1892 to 1908)
- Silver Party (1892-1902)
- National Democratic Party (1896 to 1900)
- Silver Republican Party (1896 to 1900)
- Social Democratic Party (1898-1901)
- Home Rule Party of Hawaii (1900 to 1912)
- Socialist Party of America (1901 to 1973)
- Progressive Party (1912) (“Bull Moose Party”) (1912 to 1914)
- Farmer-Labor Party (1918 to 1944)
- Progressive Party (1924)
- Communist League of America (1928 to 1934)
- American Workers Party (1933-1934)
- Workers Party of the United States (1934-1938)
- Union Party (1936)
- American Labor Party (1936 to 1956)
- America First Party (1944) (1944 to 1996)
- States' Rights Democratic Party ("Dixiecrats") (1948)
- Progressive Party (1948) (1948 to 1955)
- Vegetarian Party (1948 to 1964)
- Constitution Party (1952 to 1968?)
- American Nazi Party (1959 to 1967)
- Puerto Rican Socialist Party (1959 to 1993)
- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (1964)
- Communist Workers' Party (1969 to 1985)
- People's Party (1971 to 1976)
- US Labor Party (1975 to 1979)
- Concerned Citizens Party (1975 to 1992)
- Citizens Party (1979 to 1984)
- New Alliance Party (1979 to 1992)
- Populist Party (1984 to 1994)
- Looking Back Party (1984 to 1996)
- Grassroots Party (1986 to 2004)
- Independent Party of Utah (1988 to 1996)
- Green Party USA (1991 to 2005)
- New Party (1992 to 1998)
- Natural Law Party (1992 to 2004)
- Mountain Party (2000 to 2007)
literature
- Michael Eilfort , Hartmut Wasser: USA: Political parties and elections, in Peter Lösche Ed .: Country Report USA. History, politics, economy, society, culture. Federal Agency for Civic Education , BpB, 5th neub. Aufl. Bonn 2008 ISBN 9783893318513 ISSN 0046-9408 pp. 237-273
- Richard S. Katz, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Washington Office (ed.), Niels T. Clegg (trans.): Political parties in the United States . In: Focus on America . No. 7, 2007, p. 8.
- John Gerring, Party Ideologies in America, 1828–1996. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001, ISBN 978-0-5217-8590-7 .