A Critique of Fiorina’s “The Decline of Collective Responsibility in American Politics”
In the early 1980s, political scientists were studying the changing status of American political parties (Fiorina 1981). During this time, Morris P. Fiorina wrote his essay to address these findings, most notably what he believes to be the decline of political parties. Fiorina concludes that strong political parties provide electoral accountability and discipline in government and keep the system afloat. Without it, the consequences are dire.
One could perhaps describe Fiorina’s overarching goal is to assert that stronger political parties in the U.S. equate to a better chance of achieving collective responsibility. Fiorina claims that less emphasis …show more content…
Two that are particularly important concepts are collective responsibility and accountability. Collective responsibility, in this context, means that the majority party, or Governing party possess all power and thus all blame if a bill does not pass. When one states accountability, that person means that the actions of the majority party- both good and bad- are accounted for while in office, and voters hold them accountable by either re-electing the party members next election or vote in members of the opposing party. A political party is a group of people who come together to agree on a basic platform and to promote their views by participating in governmental elections. Party discipline is responsible for keeping its elected members in line while in office because opposing the party’s overall platform will result in someone else replacing their seat in the next election. Immbolism is political inertia caused by weak leadership and increased difficulty and longevity in solutions, typically a product of weak parties. Single-issue politics occurs when an elected official or group of elected officials campaigns on only one notable issue. Finally, political alienation is the disengagement from politics that results from discouragement over believing to have to way to influence …show more content…
Personal demands are sacrificed for the greater good, with seemingly strong reason. With weak political parties, more time is spent fighting over every last issue, which allows various factions-special interest groups- to saunter in and gain political influence, contrasting the point of the Madisonian system of democracy. This, along with weak leadership, leads to the alienation of American citizens from politics. Thus, in order to maintain American participation in politics and uphold collective responsibility, one must form a political ideology and conform to a party that aligns with those ideals. This conformism allows elected officials to get more done for the people by limiting conflict within parties and upholding party discipline. Fiorina suggests that this technique seemed to work well for parties prior to the reforms in the 1960s and 1970s and notes how the system is faltering today without it. Thus, he upholds it as the necessary vehicle of political participation in the United
In the early 1980s, political scientists were studying the changing status of American political parties (Fiorina 1981). During this time, Morris P. Fiorina wrote his essay to address these findings, most notably what he believes to be the decline of political parties. Fiorina concludes that strong political parties provide electoral accountability and discipline in government and keep the system afloat. Without it, the consequences are dire.
One could perhaps describe Fiorina’s overarching goal is to assert that stronger political parties in the U.S. equate to a better chance of achieving collective responsibility. Fiorina claims that less emphasis …show more content…
Two that are particularly important concepts are collective responsibility and accountability. Collective responsibility, in this context, means that the majority party, or Governing party possess all power and thus all blame if a bill does not pass. When one states accountability, that person means that the actions of the majority party- both good and bad- are accounted for while in office, and voters hold them accountable by either re-electing the party members next election or vote in members of the opposing party. A political party is a group of people who come together to agree on a basic platform and to promote their views by participating in governmental elections. Party discipline is responsible for keeping its elected members in line while in office because opposing the party’s overall platform will result in someone else replacing their seat in the next election. Immbolism is political inertia caused by weak leadership and increased difficulty and longevity in solutions, typically a product of weak parties. Single-issue politics occurs when an elected official or group of elected officials campaigns on only one notable issue. Finally, political alienation is the disengagement from politics that results from discouragement over believing to have to way to influence …show more content…
Personal demands are sacrificed for the greater good, with seemingly strong reason. With weak political parties, more time is spent fighting over every last issue, which allows various factions-special interest groups- to saunter in and gain political influence, contrasting the point of the Madisonian system of democracy. This, along with weak leadership, leads to the alienation of American citizens from politics. Thus, in order to maintain American participation in politics and uphold collective responsibility, one must form a political ideology and conform to a party that aligns with those ideals. This conformism allows elected officials to get more done for the people by limiting conflict within parties and upholding party discipline. Fiorina suggests that this technique seemed to work well for parties prior to the reforms in the 1960s and 1970s and notes how the system is faltering today without it. Thus, he upholds it as the necessary vehicle of political participation in the United