Two Party Systems

Two Party Systems Introduction The federal elections of Australia were held on Saturday 21st august 2010 for the 43rd parliament of Australia. Labor party and the coalition of liberals/national each won 72 seats, thus each falling below the 76 majority required for election victory.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Two Party Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This resulted in a hung parliament for the first time since the 1940’s election when these two parties started dominating Australia politics. Three independent M.P’s and national party of Western Australia M.P declared support for the labor party meaning labor party formed a minority government (Radio Australia 1). This essay looks at how the 2010 Australian federal elections have demonstrated that the two party systems are no longer relevant in the society. Definition A political party is an organization of people who share the same ideas of governance and who se members are committed to party goals. They also get candidates elected to office and have laws passed to aid in party management. There are three party systems which end up making one party state, two party states and multiparty states. Australia is a two party state system as two parties have been exchanging power since 1949. They are the liberal and labor parties though there are minority parties as well (George Standards Organization 1). Democracy is a political system operating under the principles of constitutionalism, representative government, majority rule, civilian rule and minority rights (Miami Dade College 1). Two party systems is an electoral arrangement in which two or more parties compete for the support of the electorate and control of the government. Each party has a chance of winning the election. Minority parties in a two party system do not have a chance of winning the election.Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can he lp you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A two party contest is affected by realignments and to some extend the minority parties affect the two major parties by leading to a scenario as was witnessed in Australia (PSCI 1). Political institutions are concerned with the preservation of social order within a specified authority. Examples of political institutions include political parties, trade unions, lobby groups and special interest groups. These groups constitute and define the layers of the political process together with their interdependences (University of Munchen 1). History The two party systems started back in 1891 in Australia with the rise of the labor party as a political party in 1909 after the protectionist and free traders joined hands to form the party. In 1946, the modern liberal party was formed by Sir Robert Menzies. From then it has been about two political parties competing for public votes during elections over the years. The labor p arty is oldest party in Australia today and is a social democratic party that believes in government as a positive force in the community that is free to intervene in the operation of the economy to improve outcomes. The labor party also believes that all members of society should have access to quality and affordable housing as well as education and houses (Australia History 1). The liberal party believe advocates for sustainable equality, affirmative action, social and cultural rights, believes in government’s interference in individual’s lives to ensure justice is achieved. They favor interventionist, regulated market economic policies (Australia Politics 1). Irrelevance of two party systems to our society today The two parties have divided the Australian society into two fragments. The two parties have left the society with the choice of embracing either of the ideologies of the parties making it a bit unfair as there are no varieties of ideologies apart from the t wo ideologies from the labor and liberal parties.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Two Party Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From 1949 to date, the two major political parties have being playing an endless game of tug-of-war. The major reason for the constant switching back and forth between these two parties appears to be that the country has different needs at different times and voters tend to alternate these two parties according to their needs (Social Welfare 1). The switching of needs is not considered a good idea as those ideas which will act as the opportunity cost will still be needed to be implemented in the society. It has been argued out that the ideologies presented by both parties are significant for the growth of the Australian society and thus the two party systems which dictates that one system has to be adopted does not actually enhance justice by the fact that it denies the society one of the choices that they need (Conservative 1). Liberals believe in sustainable equality, affirmative action, social and cultural rights; they also believe in government’s interference in individual’s lives to ensure justice is achieved. They favor interventionist and regulated market economic policies (Liberal Party of Australia 1). The labor party believes in formal equality and that everyone should be treated equally under the law and government. They also believe in laissez –faire market economic policies and individuals controlling their own lives (Martin 1). Concerning the politics in Australia, it has been argued that: There can be no argument about the ubiquity, pervasiveness and centrality of party in Australia. The forms, processes and content of politics– executive, parliament, pressure groups, bureaucracy, issues and policymaking – are imbued with the influence of party, party rhetoric, party policy, and party doctrine. Government is party government. Elections are essentially party contests and the mechanics of electoral systems are determined by party policies and party advantages. Legislatures are party chambers. Legislators are overwhelmingly party members. The majority of electors follow their party identification. Politics in Australia, almost entirely, are party politics. (Marsh 1)Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The two party systems were based on electoral and organizational foundations. It is where activists and interest groups were brought together through party forums. Activists and special interest groups were allowed into party conferences and committees to influence formation of strategic political agenda. Actually the parties through the party brands gave enough cues for the formation of opinion by most electors on most issues. This led to strategic policy developments which were internalized within the two major parties. Today, these developments that greatly shaped the strong foundational features of the bi-party system dominance have been undermined and in some instances left out completely (Rush 1). The Australian society is growing in diversity shown by the proliferation of interest groups and social movements. These new groups of social movements show citizen identities’ in a new diversity not experienced before. These groups are not equal in terms of size, political sk ills, budgets, organizational sophistication and campaigning capacities. These groups are durable and they represent and sustain an interest for a long time seeking to persuade the undecided. These groups of organizations fill the void between the two political parties and the community. Most of these new groups advocate either for new issues or are defenders of traditional approaches like the anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia groups. Hence, party activists nowadays don’t have strong allegiance to one or other party and the way issues are introduced in the national stage has shifted. Today party forums are no longer the principal ground for activists. Party’s internal process no longer provides the means for acceptability of proposals or for seeding opinion formation (Marsh 1). The two party systems tend to distort national capabilities to mostly inform the public on long term issues. There are three different restraints that work towards derailing an informed discussi on on long term issues. They arise from the dynamics of the electoral contest between the two parties, second is the way the formal system distributes responsibilities of dealing with long term issues and lastly information available to guide public opinion about policy needs and priorities (Marsh 1). The two party systems has brought in one major deficiency in the form of fake enmity where the government declares a contentious issue to be white and public opinion is mostly divided or uncertain; the likely outcome is that the opposition will declare it to be black. As in early times, if the opposition was the government today, they would have supported a similar approach (March 1). What happens is that when public opinion is divided, the opposition tends to see this as a chance to gain from the public by going the popular way by championing contrasting views even if what they are championing for is not all that good for the public; all they care for is political impact (Australia Po litics 1). Today there is an â€Å"overlap in and convergence between the agendas of political parties and the initiative in promoting agendas is shared with other organizations. Issues only come to the arena after the government has decided what to do which encourages posturing and attention to electoral advantage† (Australia Politics 1). This leads to the two major political parties creating differences even when they do not exist hence these two major parties make issues that they know will shift debate away from matters that lack national importance (Australia Politics 1). The two party competition systems has also led to the inability to have public conversation and debates about long term issues mostly caused by organizational features of the formal making structure (Theodore and Romance 20). This is caused by an executive overload where a small number of people determine what issues will have standing on the formal political agenda. The leaders involved in setting the agenda include the prime minister, senior ministers and heads of major coordinating departments. Their work involves day to day running of the country and ministerial work plus running the departments and yet they control the recognition and management of strategic issues which later translates to a weak capacity of the system to process issues mostly in a strategic phase (March 1). The second deficiency of the two party systems lies in lack of access for interests groups and social movements to engage the attention of the formal system. These groups do have access and means to bring out and argue their issues but they face two problems (Disch 23). The first problem arises when they are arguing their case one-on-one basis and second is when such access is highly imbalanced. A good illustration is where regular access is given to the chief executive officers of Australian banks having access to the federal treasurer; this access is not granted to consumer organizations or the unions. The other problem arises where groups advocating a particular course of action have no venue where their views can be tested against those of others. This leads to sustained lobbying campaigns to develop public pressure as their views are not heard by the major parties (Marsh 1). When there is a disconnect between the two political parties, a challenge arises in the form of focusing on specific party disagreements which leads to lack of focus on important national issues and long term issues: â€Å"the corrupt farce that is our two-party system should be dismantled; parties give us temptations to attack opponents, become demagogues, and garner followers, distracting us from seeking the true good of the country† (Conservative 1). The two-party setup in Australia has divided the nation among two lines. Having names and labels for different political persuasions can be helpful, but they have too often led to pigeonholing and name-calling which hampers a free exchange of ideas. â€Å"Liberal and labor, conservative and liberal, right and left† (Conservative 1) have degenerated into terms used to ostracize and vilify the opposition and to stifle discussion of topics deemed politically incorrect. Conclusion The two parties system is comprised and does not offer the best choice for the public. It has been seen that this system offers a nation two choices to choose from. In such kind of a situation, the public has to forgo one of the options which might not necessarily be wrong. There is a need for the system to be changed as the two parties system does not seem to fully address the issues affecting a nation. The issue of the party having equally votes after elections have been carried out also matters and such a tie is not likely to happen in case of a single party system or a multi-party system. Australian History. Australian History: Political History. Australian History, n.d. Web. Australian Politics. Federal Elctions. Australia Politics, 2011. Web . https://australianpolitics.com/ Conservative. Conservative Intellectual, 2011. Political Cortex, 2007. Web. Disch, Lisa. The tyranny of the two-party system. New York: Prentice Hall, 2002. Print. Georgia Standards Organisation. Politics. Georgia standards, n.d. https://www.georgiastandards.org/Pages/default.aspx Liberal party of Australia. Politics. Party Politics. Liberal party of Australia, n.d. Web. https://www.liberal.org.au/ Marsh, Ian. what-next-for-the-two-party-system. CPD Organization, 2010. Web. https://cpd.org.au/2010/08/what-next-for-the-two-party-system/ Martin, Nick. Australia Politics. ALP, 2011. Web. https://www.alp.org.au/ Miami Dade College. Political Economic System. Miami Dade College, 2005. Web. PSCI. Two Party Sytem. PSCI, 2011. Web. http://politicalscience.unt.edu/ Radio Australia. Australia Politics. Radio Australia, 2011. Web. https://www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/ Rush, Ian. Politics. Australia Politics, 2011. Web. Social Welfare. The Two Party System. S ocial Welfare, 2011. Web. intellectualconservative.com/ Theodore, Lowi and Romance, Joseph. A republic of parties: debating the two-party system. New York: Cengage Learning, 1998. Print. University of Munchen. Politics. University of Munchen, 2005. May 25, 2011. https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/3165/1/Boerner_Kira_Astrid.pdf

Rome Example

Rome Example Rome – Coursework Example Rome Rome The fall of the Ancient Rome started as long as 190 AD. The main reason that contributed to the fall of Rome was disunity in the military and poor administration of the empire. The Roman Army did spread all over in the Western Europe, and each section of the army was governed with different ideas and leadership. Notably, each part of the army needed a different person for an emperor. In fact, one part of the army could fight and make its member an emperor after which another part of the army could wedge a war on the army in power and put its own member in power (Markel, 2008). Between 211 and 284 AD, twenty-three soldier emperors had governed Roman Empire and rival army killed twenty of these emperors. The lack of law and order in the ancient Roman Empire contributed to its fall. Later in 284 AD, Rome was divided into smaller empires including the Western and Eastern Empire that the Diocletian though could be easy to govern. Different leaders with different and distinct geo logical and responsibilities led a different empire (Markel, 2008). Nonetheless, more administrative problems rose, and more military defense were needed across the Rome Empire; thus, there was a need to recruit more military. However, the empire did not have enough money to sustain the military and other administrative matters. Therefore, it increased taxed thereby increasing prices of goods and services offered to people. These military and administrative steps made the Romans lose confidence in the leadership of the empire. Additionally, the Roman army lost its glory and power to defend and protect the empire, when other tribes including the Ostrogoth raided Rome, the army could not defend the empire, and Romans could only make deals with these tribes (Markel, 2008). These are among the factors that contributed to fall or the powerful Roman Empire.ReferenceMarkel, R. J. (2008).  The fall of the Roman Empire. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.

Understand the role of personal selling with marketing strategy Essay

Understand the role of personal selling with marketing strategy - Essay Example The face-to-face interactions experienced in this type of selling allow the sales people to observe the specific reactions of consumers to specific products. Sales people act as product introducers, brilliant communicators and demand pushers as they add exclusive utility to the commodities and services they are selling. These people play a very important role in determining the success of the marketing strategy of the company that they work for (Marks, 2008, p.5). Personal selling can be considered to be a form of product or service promotion (The Times 100, 2012). As they meet with the clients/consumers, sales people are expected to carry out a product promotion exercise through the employment of the right attitude, proper appearance and above all share some specialist knowledge about the product with the customer. They can tell the customer about the importance of using the product and how to use it. Personal selling is happens every day and everywhere, for instance, things that ar e sold through the counter like cosmetics or on the departmental stores. According to Balsley and Birsner (2007, p. 88), products which are highly priced and with technical features such as photocopiers, fridges and cars, require personal selling where a customer can get a chance to ask questions on the usage of the product. Promotion mix strategies do not aim at satisfying only the prospective or regular customers, but also aim at other customers who are ignorant of the product as well as those who are aware of the product and have the ability to buy it (Kotler, 2006, p.248). Let us consider a person who is unaware of computer operations but wants to buy a computer. Such a person will go out in search of computer information; he/she will pay attention to computer adverts, will attend computer exhibitions, computer company reputations or even contact sales people from different computer companies. Consequently, the aim of promotions is to reach out for new customers, retain the curr ent customers, reward loyal customers and even induce the buying action (Marketing Knowledge Center, 2009). Personal selling may be the most appropriate in achieving this since it involves direct contact between the sales people and the consumers. For any marketing strategy to succeed, a thorough understanding of consumer buying behavior has to be done (Balsley and Birsner, 2007, p. 91). Without such type of understanding a company may not know what exactly their customers want or even how much they supply to the market. Buying can take two forms: the common consumer buying and also the organizational buying such as retail outlets. Consumers buy their products specifically for personal use thus most companies are usually concerned about consumers’ reactions to their marketing efforts. For instance a company needs to know how pricing their products may affect their consumers (The Times 100, 2012). In cases where the consumer market is very price sensitive which means a small a lteration on price will have a very high impact on sales, a company will need to adopt appropriate pricing strategies. A lot of theories have been put forward in order to explain consumer buying behaviors. The buying behavior model which studies the buyer’s black box (Zandl and Leonard, 2002, p. 106). The black box contains external stimuli which influence his/her buying decisions as well as buying characteristics. Moreover, it contains buyers’ responses that are determinants of his/her attitude, product choice and amount to purchase and when. The model presents some of the key factors that influence a buyer’s buying decision. To start with, are the sociological factors which include