Party discipline
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Party discipline is a system of political norms, rules and subsequent respective consequences for deviance that are designed to ensure the relative cohesion of members of the respective party group.
Typology
In order to maintain party discipline, given political parties usually appoint a
Breaking party discipline in both formal and informal settings may result in a number of consequences. Punishment for members who break party discipline largely varies on a case-to-case basis, but members may find themselves in a variety of positions from being internally demoted in the party to being expelled from the party itself.[4] This results in there often being immense pressure for parliamentarians to compromise their beliefs if they conflict with the policy or decision that has been made by the parties leadership.[4]
In order to maintain strict discipline and discourage behaviour such as floor crossing, which entails the given member leaving the party to join another caucus in the legislature, parties often offer a number of incentives to loyal members. These incentives also greatly vary on a case-to-case basis; examples include financial incentives and internal promotion within the party.[5] There are, however, occasions in which members of a party are granted a conscience vote or free vote, in which party discipline is waived, and given members are free to vote to their individual preference.[6]
This shared ideology is an essential and important part of party cohesion, and reinforcing the given shared ideology through methods such as party discipline is crucial to the ruling party's survival in government.[7]
Strong party discipline
"It is my will to join the Communist Party of China, uphold the Party's program, observe the provisions of the Party constitution, fulfill a Party member's duties, carry out the Party's decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party."
Party discipline tends to vary largely depending on the type of governmental system of a given country.[6]
The term has a somewhat different meaning in
Other examples of even stronger party discipline include the French Section of the Workers' International and the French Communist Party which demand near absolute conformity to maintain party membership and good standing.[11]
Party discipline tends to be increasingly strong in countries that employ the Westminster parliamentary system, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.[6] The Australian Labor Party, for example, requires absolute solidarity with caucus decisions. Apart from extremely rare examples of a conscience vote, voting against the decision of the caucus will result in expulsion from the party entirely if internal discussions fail to dissuade the member from crossing the floor. Even in parties with no such requirement like the conservative Liberal Party of Australia, discipline remains strong and defections against the party are very rare.[12]
In India, party discipline in regards to voting is strong enough that a vote by the legislature against the government is understood, by convention, to cause the government to "collapse". Thus, it is rare for members to vote against the wishes of their party. Party leaders in such governments often have the authority to expel members of the party who violate the party line.[13]
Within the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament uses the
Weaker party discipline
Weak party discipline is usually more frequent in parties of
In the United States, the modern
Party discipline weakened to a degree in the United Kingdom during Brexit under Theresa May with only a slim majority and intra-party divisions between hard Brexiteers and soft or anti Brexiters; and post 2019 under Boris Johnson (though Johnson has a large majority, making backbench dissent less of a difficulty). An independent evaluation found that MPs in the
In Italy, party discipline or group discipline as its referred to is required by the statutes of parliamentary groups. This group discipline has registered an oscillation from strong to weak over the years, defined as a pendulum, depending on the political phase of the government.[19]
In Australia the electoral conditions can result in candidates from one of the minor parties or a
Increasing levels of party discipline and party cohesion in the 21st century
Party discipline has become increasingly important in the Twenty-First Century due in part to the rise of instant communication. The rise of digital media combined with global hyper-political polarization has caused parties to maintain not only strict party discipline[1] but even stricter message discipline; which has become increasingly important in order to present a strong sense of cohesion. Strict party discipline allows political parties to maintain control over the entire respective party caucus and ensure that the party's agenda is placed above all else.[1]
The brand ambassador phenomenon
Increasing levels of party discipline in liberal democracy have often seen the majority of low-ranking elected party members become simple brand ambassadors whose overarching duty is to represent the values of the larger party.[20] While the brand ambassador phenomenon does work to ensure the smooth operation of democracy, it also has several criticism, such as the oppression of condescending opinions. This oppression of condescending opinions sees the creation of a virtual barrier for free thinkers. Perspective party members who may vary from political norms in terms of sex, race or gender identity are thus placed at odds with party officials who may view this derivation from the norm as a threat to party cohesion.[20]
This proverbial prohibition of those who derivate from the norm in establishment politics includes its tendency to suppress the representation of women and minority members of the party. Research from a variety of global legislatures has indicated that parties tend to only select women and minorities who are extremely partisan loyal.[21] Parties also often systemically weed out members they deem to be a threat to party conformity. Examples of this behaviour include the expulsion of former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal Party of Canada in response to her pursuit of criminal proceedings in the SNC Lavalin scandal.
Parties often view minority candidates as simple brand ambassadors that check social diversity quotas which has been shown to impair these members from ever doing anything substantive. This, in turn, negatively correlates with the prioritization of women and other minority rights. This negative correlation can be seen to drastic effect in the practice of sacrificial lambs in electoral politics.[1]
Party discipline by country
Canada
Canadian parliaments have seen an especially drastic rise in party discipline over the past 100 years. In the early 1900s, just 20 percent of elected MPs voted with their respective party 100 percent of the time.[1] The past ten years[when?], however, has seen MPs vote against their party less than 1 percent of the time. This mass conformity has had a drastic effect on Canadian elections, with just 4 to 5 percent of Canadians listing the actual candidate as prioritization in elections. Furthermore, statistics show that voter opinions of local candidates matter in less than 15 percent of elections.[1] Thus Canada has become widely regarded as the parliamentary democracy with the most stringent party discipline. This, in turn, has led to frustration among many Canadian voters who feel their elected representative is no more than a simple brand ambassador.[1]
Concerns over presidentialization of parliamentary systems
This stringent discipline in the Canadian system has, in turn, played a part in what is deemed the presidentialization of the
Party discipline in the reformed Canadian Senate
The 2015 reforms to Canadian senate sought to increase independence, ideological diversity, and encouraging the exercising of formal powers, by eliminating political parties in the senate. While party discipline has been somewhat loosened, it has not really been effectively loosened as appointees are still likely to follow respective party policy and rhetoric.[22] While senators are now officially unaffiliated with political parties research has shown that they still to tend to largely vote along the same ideological party lines as before. While more time is needed to study the implemented reforms' effects, initial data shows that the reforms have been largely ineffective and have actually negatively impacted regional representation.[22]
See also
References
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- ^ a b Guay, Monique. "The pros and cons of party discipline".
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- ^ Sullivan 2012, p. 183.
- ^ "Constitution of the Communist Party of China | US-China Institute". china.usc.edu. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chinese Communist Party". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "French Communist Party | political party, France | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Loyalty or be damned: The Labor Party and caucus solidarity". 15 February 2022.
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- ^ "Senate's 50-50 split lets Manchin and Sinema revel in outsize influence". The Guardian. 29 October 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-472-11961-5.
- ^ "Report finds MPs vote with own party 99.6 per cent of the time, warns of unhealthy partisanship". The Globe and Mail. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ^ (in Italian) Giampiero Buonomo, Il pendolo della disciplina di gruppo parlamentare, Mondoperaio, n. 9/2021, pp. 58-61.
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