Paper Example on Roles of Political Parties in Promoting Democracy

Introduction

According to Hofmeister (2011), Politics is the process of organizing the way we live together as a society. In countries where democracy is practiced, all citizens are eligible to participate in the exercises by expressing their personal opinions on the people's affairs, by voting during elections, by formulating proposals without fear of repression, by vying for a position as a candidate in a democratic election and engaging in political parties. According to Abraham Lincoln (President of the USA 1861-1865), when all these aspects are executed by a citizen, then democracy is "government of the people, by the people, for the people." The government is composed of the people themselves who are elected by the people themselves to represent the people.

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Discussion

For democracy to be fully practiced and represented in a country, citizens have to participate by forming political organizations such as parties. A political party is a group that is identified using an official label that is availed at elections and can place a candidate in a public office through the election (Sartori, 2005). Democracy is represented when the political parties present their candidates to run for a public office during the election. The party with the most number of elected representatives forms the government and the party with the second most elected members becomes the opposition. Both elected members are mandated to represent the citizens who elected them in office. Through the party, the citizens elect their leaders by themselves to represent them in running their affairs. In this sense, political parties play essential roles in promoting democracy within a country.

According to CliffsNotes (2016), political parties are mandated to represent the interests of individuals and groups. The constituents make their concerns known to their representatives whom they elected to the public office. The representatives must not only concentrate on the concern presented to them by their political party members, but they must also attract support from members of other political parties in their area of jurisdiction or representation. They can support both bipartisan and nonpartisan issues. This way democracy is practiced since in the long run all concerns from the citizens are represented.

When people elect their representatives through the political parties of their own choice, they aim to be fully represented with their concerns advocated for. When the representatives fail to address the voters concerns, the voters are capable of voting out such representatives after their terms in office elapse as provided for in their constitutions. According to Chatlani (2014), the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in Panama is in the process of updating its internal structure to a more transparent one with the sole purpose of improving its perception with the Panamanians. The party was last elected in power in 2004 since they had not done well in placating business and thus losing the support of the people. This way democracy is promoted since through the party the citizens were capable of voting out the Democratic Revolutionary Party out of office and voting in a better party which could advocate and take their concerns into consideration.

Democratic Change (CD) which is the ruling party in Panama has also suffered stained reputation due to several issues such as indigenous rights, distaste for unions, accumulated public debt and business tax laws(Chatlani, 2014).

When parties take part in an election, the winning party form the government and the sending party forms the opposition. Through the opposition party, the government is questioned, put on the spotlight and held accountable to the public (Decision maker, 2005). This way democracy is promoted since the ruling government does not execute its mandates as it wishes but as the public wishes.

Conclusion

In summary, political parties play a major role in promoting democracy, the higher the number of political parties in a country the higher level of democracy since there high number comes with a higher number of representatives which as a result comes with different opinions on how to serve the constituents or voters. Formation of a political party is itself democracy since the parties are formed by the people and leaders of such parties are elected from the people and by the people to serve the people. When incompetent parties are voted out by people, democracy is practiced since the voters can vote in their preferred leaders through other parties and thus parties playing a major role in the promotion of democracy.

References

Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (2015). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations. Princeton,New Jersey: Princeton university press.

Chatlani, M. (2014). Guide to Panama Political Parties:Investing in panama. Retrieved from http://www.panama-offshore-services.com/blog/guide_to_panama_political_parties.htm

Cliffnotes. (2016). The Functions of Political Parties. Retrieved from https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/american-government/political-parties/the-functions-of-political-parties

Decision Maker. (2005). How Government Work. The role of the leader of opposition. Retrieved from http://decisionmaker.co.nz/guide2003/hgw/oppose.html

Hofmeister, W. (2011). Political Parties : Functions and Organisation in Democratic Societies.Singapore : Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Ostrogorski, M. (2018). Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties. New York: Routledge. Available from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351522915

Sartori, G. (2005). Parties and party systems: A framework for analysis. Colchester: ECPR press.

Wilensky, H. L. (2017). Leftism, Catholicism, and Democratic Corporatism:: The Role of Political Parties in Recent Welfare State Development. In Development of Welfare States in Europe and America (pp. 345-383). Routledge.