Public Opinion and Party System Online Test 11th Political Science Lesson 10 Questions in English

Public opinion can be defined as a psychological and social process in which the behaviour of each member of the public is conditional to that of all others with similar beliefs. In short it is the collective views of the people, their attitudes and opinions.

Democracy derives its authority from the people. Public opinion is not the opinion of an individual, though he or she may be a highly respected person. It is not a private opinion. It is also not an expert opinion, irrespective of the wisdom of the expert.

At the 44th session of the Indian National Congress held on the banks of river Ravi at Lahore, a resolution demanding complete independence was passed on December 31, 1929. Jawaharlal Nehru presided over the session and Mahatma Gandhi made a memorable speech while moving the main resolution.

Gandhi led the famous Dandi March starting from the Sabarmati Ashram on March 12, 1930, culminating in the Salt Satyagraha at Dandi, a coastal village in Gujarat, on April 6, 1930.

Gandhi proposed a march of 78 dedicated and disciplined satyagrahis from Sabarmati to Dandi village to offer Salt Satyagraha. Gandhi chose salt as the symbol of satyagraha because it was the lowest common denominator of the food consumption of the nation.

Public opinion needs to be the true reflection of the peoples` ideas and opinion, however there are some hindrances to genuine public opinion 1. Poverty 2. Selfish Interest 3. Illiteracy 4. Racist and Caste based Discrimination 5. Freedom of speech and the media.

It is expected that literate and responsible public make good citizens by exercising their franchise without fear or favour. Illiterate masses are often misled by party workers and guided by sentiments, favours and rhetoric. A sound public opinion can be formed only in the environment of free thought and knowledge.

The poor in any country are easily influenced by the false promise of political leaders and cast their votes subjectively. Sound and objective public opinion is possible only by alleviating poverty.

Political parties are indispensable instruments in a democratic system. They are formed with definite ideologies, and programme of action. They enlighten the general public on issues concerning the society and state and they also prescribe alternatives.

In parliamentary democracies the party or an alliance of parties can win a majority of seats in legislature and forms the ministry (executive) examples: UK, India. In presidential democracies, the chief executives (president) are elected on party basis examples: USA, France. In any system political parties’ function as intermediaries between the government and people.

In a democracy, political parties serve as an integral link through which government and the public can interact. Political Parties act as a foundation that orients the people towards political initiatives and public experience.

A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. Three components of a Political Party – Leaders, Active Members and Followers.

There are three types of party system. 1. One party system 2. Two-part system 3. Multi-party system

By and large the quality of a democracy is determined by how the government is representative of its people, how accountable the government is to its people, how human rights and equality of status and opportunity is guaranteed to all citizens and the level of political participation exercised by the people.

Some of the example of one-party systems are Communist Party of China, (CPC) the Peoples` Action Party (PAP)in Singapore, Korean Workers Party, (KWP) North Korea, Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Vietnam, Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) Cuba.

In the 1920s fascist movements advocating nationalistic militarism, captured power in Germany under Hitler, in Italy under Mussolini and in Spain under General Franco. They prevented other political parties to emerge.

The Two-party system include USA –Democrats and Republicans and UK Conservatives and Liberals. However, in either country there is no constitutional restriction on number of parties. The constitutional procedures and peoples’ political maturity led to the emergence of two-party system.

In a One-party system, a single political party exercises its right to form the government, which is often derived from a written or unwritten constitution. In most cases of one-party system, there is less participation and weaker accountability. The single party system does not provide adequate space for democratic expressions and not provide scope for alternative.

The majority party is the governing party and the minority party forms the opposition party in two-party systems. The Two-Party system has far greater accountability by the political leaders and greater political participation.

The countries with multi-party systems include Canada, France, Germany, India and Sweden. Turkmenistan has one party system.

The multi-party system offers the electorate the multiple avenues of political participation and the ability to bring about political change for greater national development.

The proportional representation system in France and Italy results in multi-party systems and coalition cabinets.

While single party system may have greater flexibility towards quicker decisions making and cohesive action, these decisions may not represent mass opinion and thus it would create greater opposition and dissent for the government.

In the Dual-party system due to the nature of the party structure and leadership, this usually result in public policies and decisions blocked in political polarization rather than collaboration.

In the United Kingdom, polarization of opinions on issues relating to the status and role of monarchy led to the emergence of two parties:1. Tories or Conservatives and 2. Whigs or liberals. In the 20th century labour party became a major force eclipsing the liberals.

The founding fathers of the United States wanted to steer clear of political parties and the ensuing factional conflict between them. Nevertheless, after American Independence, the first parties in the newly constituted nation under the Presidency of George Washington were the Federalist Party supporting a strong national government.

The Federalist Party supporting a strong national government and the Democratic Republican Party supporting state autonomy are the two political party of USA.

In 1828, the democratic Republican Party was renamed as the Democratic Party which championed state rights. Since the United States settled for the Two-Party system, the Republican and Democratic parties have dominated the American political scene, though third-party candidates have been floated on and off.

In 1854, the Republican Party established itself on the anti-slavery platform and gained pre-dominance with Abraham Lincoln as President of USA.

After the French Revolution (1789), democratic forces gained strength in European Nations, and political parties emerged. Political parties in Continental Europe were largely divided into Conservatives, Liberals, and Christian Democrats.

By the 19th century socialist movements gained popularity and social democratic or labour parties emerged which became popular and gained trade union support.

In Soviet Russia, the Bolshevik Party, was responsible for the Communist Revolution in 1917 which created the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), popularly called the Soviet Union.

The COMINTERN (Communist International) was established with the task of encouraging world communist revolution by supporting Communist parties in other countries.

After the end of the Cold War era, the Communist party lost its popularity in Russia, though some minor communist parties still influence governmental policies within democratic states.

In African countries, political parties were at first formed to secure decolonization. In many decolonized African countries, political parties are struggling hard against militarism.

The formation of the Muslim league in 1906 resulted in the era of conflicting political bargaining, reflected the true beginnings of the Indian party system.

The Indian National Congress (INC) was established in 1885 by A. O Hume, as the indigenous base for the political participation of Indians in legislative and political wings.

Indian National Congress demanded political reforms in gradual stages. After the non-cooperation movement (1921-23) Indian National Congress began to demand absolute political freedom.

In the 20th century, the parties with communal agenda have also come up i.e. The All India Muslim League in 1906 and Hindu Maha Sabha in 1916. In the Madras Presidency the South Indian Liberal Federation (Justice Party) was formed to project their interest of the Non-Brahmins (Dravidian).

After the partition of Bengal in 1905, the Indian National Congress was divided between the Moderates (policy of petitions) and the Extremists (aggressive militant strategy).

The Indian National Congress represented the urban, upper caste elite, mostly western educated and provided a platform for negotiations with the British government. Gradually the Indian National Congress evolved to play a pivotal role in the development of India’s political party system.

Other parties that also emerged representing specific goals which included the Swaraj Party formed by Chittaranjan Das in 1922, the Congress Socialist Party, formed in 1934 by Acharya Narendra Dev and Jayaprakash Narayan and the Communist Party, formed in the 1920’s by the efforts of M. N. Roy were the other major political parties.

There were a number of political parties which carry on political campaigns and propaganda, but do not contest elections, they function as pressure groups. Till 1977, the Communist Party, the socialist parties, and the right wing Janasangh were the mentionable opposition parties at the national level.

Until 1977, no single party could become an alternative to Indian National Congress at national level. Hence, a number of so, called national parties, under the stewardship of Jayaprakash Narayan, merged to create a large national alternative party known as Janata Party.

The Jana Sangh was revived with a new name Bhartiya Janata Party, Meanwhile Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan Samaj Party emerged as national level party with social justice as its main plank.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) became very powerful in a few states like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

Since the 1990’s we see a federalization of politics with regional parties gaining greater influence, representative of regional aspirations against the dominance of the Centre. In the present period, regional alliances indicate a growing trend towards coalition governments that form an effective voice in favour of federal polity.

Shiromani Akali Dal in the Punjab, Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar

While there is growing political awareness among the electorate, there is also greater mobilization along lines of regional, social and religious identities.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is the thirds highest party to gain seats in Parliament in 2014 Elections.

Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, Asom Gana Parishad in Assam, Shiv Sena in Maharastra, National Conference, People Democratic Party in Jammu & Kashmir.

The Dravidian movement regenerated in Tamil Nadu under Periyar E.V Ramasamy and garnered popularity on assertion of Dravidian Rights and Dignity and through an anti-North, antiHindi, anti-Brahmin social agenda.

The Party System in Tamil Nadu is a pioneer model of the pre-eminence of the regional parties in state politics of independent India. There are very clear socio-economic, cultural and historical reasons for this development.

While it is true that political parties are essential for attaining the democratic ideal, the rise of individual parties with non-democratic agenda and authoritarian leadership is a critical challenge to Democracy. This is very relevant in the case of a multicultural, multilingual, multi religious and economically diverse country like India.

The nature of democracy is not only determined by the strength of ruling party alliance but also in the role and functioning of the opposition party alliance. In fact, the leader of the Opposition party enjoys the status and privileges of the rank of cabinet minister. `

John F Kennedy said "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

Psephology deals with the study and statistical analysis of elections and polls.

Pressure Groups play an important role in the Indian political system by acting as a link and source of communication between the masses and the political parties.

Public opinion polls play an important role in psephology. They analyse both Opinion Polls and Exit Polls as well as election results. Opinion Polls and Exit Polls are both important indicators of voter’s choice during the elections.

The main difference between the two is that opinion poll is conducted before the voter actually votes and the exit poll is conducted after a voter comes out after casting his or her vote. Results of exit polls are generally considered to be more trustworthy than that of opinion polls.

Ballot is a piece of paper contains information on the symbols and names of the candidates contesting in a constituency.

When a seat in Legislature becomes vacant between general elections (oft en because the incumbent has either resigned, defected to another party or died), a by-election is held.

The Election Commission is an independent autonomous entity responsible for the administration of Parliamentary and State Legislature Assembly elections and related works.

A Government is formed by more than one party when no single party sets absolute majority is known as Coalition.