key difference between political party and party system
Answers
Explanation:
Take the USA as an example. While there are several smallish parties (the Greens, the Constitution Party and a few others come to mind, but an American interested in the subject could probably bump that list up to double figures easily), there are two really big ones - the Democrats and the Republicans. The party system the USA has is such that the chances of a President coming from outside of those two parties is (at present) vanishingly small. Therefore, the US is said to have a “two-party system”.
Compare that to a number of European countries. They have what are termed “multi-party systems”, as three, four or even more parties than that have realistic chances of at least taking part in power (they won’t all hold power by themselves - in fact in a country like Denmark that practically never happens - but they can be players in a coalition).
Then you have what people call “dominant party systems”. This occurs where there are several parties in existence, but the system is designed to give one party most of the vote, albeit in a (relatively) fair election. Malaysia was often described this way, with the Barisan Nasional winning everything for about six decades, although events a couple of weeks ago may have changed that.
Last, but certainly not least, is the “one party system”. This is where, as the name suggests, only one party is allowed to exist, regardless of what that party is. Cuba, for example, has only the one party, as did Nazi Germany.
Answer:
The simple answer is that political parties exist within party systems.
Take the USA as an example. While there are several smallish parties (the Greens, the Constitution Party and a few others come to mind, but an American interested in the subject could probably bump that list up to double figures easily), there are two really big ones - the Democrats and the Republicans. The party system the USA has is such that the chances of a President coming from outside of those two parties is (at present) vanishingly small. Therefore, the US is said to have a “two-party system”.
Compare that to a number of European countries. They have what are termed “multi-party systems”, as three, four or even more parties than that have realistic chances of at least taking part in power (they won’t all hold power by themselves - in fact in a country like Denmark that practically never happens - but they can be players in a coalition).
Then you have what people call “dominant party systems”. This occurs where there are several parties in existence, but the system is designed to give one party most of the vote, albeit in a (relatively) fair election. Malaysia was often described this way, with the Barisan Nasional winning everything for about six decades, although events a couple of weeks ago may have changed that.
Last, but certainly not least, is the “one party system”. This is where, as the name suggests, only one party is allowed to exist, regardless of what that party is. Cuba, for example, has only the one party, as did Nazi Germany.
Explanation: