After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Explain how political parties contribute to democratic politics in America and how they may also detract from democratic values.
Review and explain the six "party-systems" in American history, noting why and how each system came into being.
Explain why the United States has a two-party system and why most of the other democracies in the world have a multi-party system. Be sure to define "single-member, simple plurality" and "proportional representation" systems.
Evaluate the current state of America's political parties, including the reasons behind the decline of party organizations and the reasons why such organizations might have rebounded.
Examine the argument as whether the power of
interest groups correlates negatively with the
power of parties.
