Bipartisanship

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Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise. In multi-partisan electoral systems or in situations where multiple parties work together, it is called multipartisanship. Partisanship is the antonym, where an individual or political party adheres only to its interests without compromise.

Contents

Usage

The adjective bipartisan can refer to any political act in which both of the two major political parties agree about all or many parts of a political choice. Bipartisanship involves trying to find common ground, but there is debate whether the issues needing common ground are peripheral or central ones. [1] Often, compromises are called bipartisan if they reconcile the desires of both parties from an original version of legislation or other proposal. Failure to attain bipartisan support in such a system can easily lead to gridlock, often angering each other and their constituencies.

Bipartisanship in different party systems

According to political analyst James Fallows in The Atlantic (based on a "note from someone with many decades' experience in national politics"), bipartisanship is a phenomenon belonging to a two-party system such as the political system of the United States and does not apply to a parliamentary system (such as Great Britain) since the minority party is not involved in helping write legislation or voting for it. Fallows argues that in a two-party system, the minority party can be obstructionist and thwart the actions of the majority party. [2] However, analyst Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post suggested that partisanship had been rampant in the United Kingdom and described it as "a country in which the government and the opposition glower at each other from opposite sides of the House of Commons, in which backbenchers jeer when their opponents speak." Applebaum suggested there was bipartisanship in Britain, meaning a coalition in 2010 between two opposing parties but that it remained to be seen whether the coalition could stay together to solve serious problems such as tackling Britain's financial crisis. [3]

Bipartisanship (in the context of a two-party system) is the opposite of partisanship which is characterized by a lack of cooperation between rival political parties. [4]

Bipartisanship can also be between two or more opposite groups (e.g. liberal and conservative) to agree and determine a plan of action on an urgent matter that is of great importance to voters. This interpretation brings bipartisanship closer to the more applied notion of postpartisan decision-making; a solution-focused approach that creates a governance model with third-party arbiters used to detect bias.

It is also argued that bipartisanship exists in policy-making that does not have bipartisan support. This is the case if it involves bipartisan exchanges. This element is a central feature in the legislative process and is a bipartisan concept in the sense that it serves as a mechanism for achieving consensus and cooperation. [5]

Global examples of bipartisan politics

Canada

At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two big tent parties practicing "brokerage politics". [lower-alpha 1] [8] [9] [10] Both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada (or its predecessors) have attracted support from a broad spectrum of voters. [11] [12] [13] Although parties such as the Communist Party of Canada, the Quebec-Nationalist Bloc Quebecois, and others, have elected members to the House of Commons, far-right and far-left parties have never gained a prominent force in Canadian society and have never formed a government in the Canadian Parliament. [14] [15] [6]

United Kingdom

Although the United Kingdom has an adversarial political system there have often large areas of agreement between the Labour and Conservative parties that have often but not always also brought in the Liberal Democrats. Areas of agreement have tended to include foreign policy and policy towards Northern Ireland. Other questions such as the continued existence of the National Health Service or British membership of the European Union were areas where the parties would tend to agree on the central question but where divided, often sharply, on questions of approach.

There is also a convention within British politics where there are minor areas where there is little partisan cooperation to have formal and semi-secret cooperation facilitated by both parties parliamentary whips and senior civil servants, a process often referred to as the usual channels .

US perspectives

US commentators have sought to apply their understanding of bipartisanship to analyses of the UK situation. According to political analyst James Fallows in The Atlantic (based on a "note from someone with many decades' experience in national politics"), bipartisanship is a phenomenon belonging to a two-party system such as the political system of the United States and does not apply to a parliamentary system (such as Great Britain) since the minority party is not involved in helping write legislation or voting for it. Fallows argues that in a two-party system, the minority party can be obstructionist and thwart the actions of the majority party. [16]

However, analyst Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post suggested that partisanship had been rampant in the United Kingdom and described it as "a country in which the government and the opposition glower at each other from opposite sides of the House of Commons, in which backbenchers jeer when their opponents speak." Applebaum suggested there was bipartisanship in the UK with the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010. [17]

Republic of Ireland

Until recently politics in the Republic of Ireland had been broadly a two party system with the two main parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil both being supported by people from different social classes and political ideologies, [18] with very similar, and centre-right political positioning and a liberal conservative ideology. The reason they remain separate is due mainly to historical factors, with those who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the 1920s eventually becoming Fine Gael, and those opposed would join Fianna Fáil and seek an independent Ireland. In many areas such as openness to Foreign Direct Investment and a stated willingness to incorporate Northern Ireland the broad policies of the two parties were very similar.

United States

James Madison argued in The Federalist Papers that a danger to democracies were factions, which he defined as a group that pushed its interests to the detriment of the national interest. While the framers of the Constitution did not think that political parties would play a role in American politics, political parties have long been a major force in American politics, and the nation has alternated between periods of intense party rivalry and partisanship, as well as periods of bipartisanship.

There have been periods of bipartisanship in American politics, such as when Democrats worked with Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. [19] , with foreign policy was being seen as an area where bipartisanship was strongest with President Taft, stating that fundamental foreign policies should be above party differences. [20] Military policies of the Cold War and actions like the Iraq War were promoted and supported, through the mass media, as bipartisan acts. [21]

A more partisan tone tended to be taken on domestic policy and this could be sharper at some times such as Barack Obama's presidency with minority parties voting as a bloc against major legislation. [2] [22] [23] A call for bipartisanship is often made by presidents who "can't get their way in Congress," according to one view. [24]

Criticisms

Bipartisanship has been criticized because it can obscure the differences between parties, making voting for candidates based on policies difficult in a democracy. [25] Additionally, the concept of bipartisanship has been criticized as discouraging agreements between more than two parties, thus exercising a tyranny of the majority by forcing voters to side with one of the two largest parties.

Analyst Benedict Carey writing in The New York Times claims political analysts tend to agree that government will continue to be divided and marked by paralysis and feuding, there was research suggesting that humans have a "profound capacity through which vicious adversaries can form alliances," according to Berkeley professor Dacher Keltner. [26]

Notes

  1. Brokerage politics: "A Canadian term for successful big tent parties that embody a pluralistic catch-all approach to appeal to the median Canadian voter ... adopting centrist policies and electoral coalitions to satisfy the short-term preferences of a majority of electors who are not located on the ideological fringe." [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch is head of state. In practice, the executive powers are directed by the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown responsible to the elected House of Commons of Canada and chosen and headed by the Prime Minister of Canada.

A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referred to as the majority or governing party while the other is the minority or opposition party. Around the world, the term has different meanings. For example, in the United States, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe, the sense of two-party system describes an arrangement in which all or nearly all elected officials belong to either of the two major parties, and third parties rarely win any seats in the legislature. In such arrangements, two-party systems are thought to result from several factors, like "winner takes all" or "first past the post" election systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Party of Canada</span> Federal political party

The Liberal Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, and generally sits at the centre to centre-left of the Canadian political spectrum, with their main rival, the Conservative Party, positioned to their right and the New Democratic Party positioned to their left. The party is described as "big tent", practising "brokerage politics", attracting support from a broad spectrum of voters. The Liberal Party is the longest-serving and oldest active federal political party in the country, and has dominated federal politics of Canada for much of its history, holding power for almost 70 years of the 20th century. As a result, it has sometimes been referred to as Canada's "natural governing party".

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. In political parties specifically, the essential purpose of party discipline is to get all its parliamentary members to maintain the party line and vote in support of policies agreed to by a majority of the parliamentary members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quebec Liberal Party</span> Political party in Canada

The Quebec Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; each of their main opponents in different eras have been generally associated with the colour blue.

A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the legislature. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support or consent of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. In bicameral legislatures, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government.

The Conservative Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance, the latter being the successor of the Western Canadian–based Reform Party. The party sits at the centre-right to the right of the Canadian political spectrum, with their federal rival, the Liberal Party of Canada, positioned to their left. The Conservatives are defined as a "big tent" party, practising "brokerage politics" and welcoming a broad variety of members, including "Red Tories" and "Blue Tories".

Radical centrism, also called the radical center, the radical centre, and the radical middle, is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century. The radical in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical centrists to call for fundamental reform of institutions. The centrism refers to a belief that genuine solutions require realism and pragmatism, not just idealism and emotion.

Republicrat or Demopublican are portmanteau names for both of the two major political parties in the United States, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, collectively. These derogatory names first appeared in the 1872 U.S. presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Canada</span> Federal government of Canada

The government of Canada is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown assumes distinct roles: the executive, as the Crown-in-Council; the legislative, as the Crown-in-Parliament; and the judicial, as the Crown-on-the-Bench. Three institutions—the Privy Council, the Parliament, and the judiciary, respectively—exercise the powers of the Crown.

A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition has an absolute majority of legislators in a parliament or other legislature. This situation is also known as a balanced parliament, or as a legislature under no overall control (NOC), and can result in a minority government.

Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by liberalism.

This article gives an overview of liberalism and its related history in South Korea. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proven by having had a representation in parliament.

In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with more conservative views than most Democrats. Traditionally, conservative Democrats have been elected to office from the Southern states, rural areas, the Rust Belt, and the Midwest. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 14% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters identify as conservative or very conservative, 38% identify as moderate, and 47% identify as liberal or very liberal.

A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party having members covering a broad spectrum of beliefs. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined ideology, seek voters who adhere to that ideology, and attempt to convince people towards it.

Transpartisan, or transpartisanship, represents an emerging paradigm of political thought which accepts the validity of truths across a range of political perspectives and seeks to synthesize them into an inclusive, pragmatic container beyond typical political dualities. It is distinct from bipartisanship, which aims to negotiate between "right" and "left", resulting in a dualistic perspective, and nonpartisanship, which tends to avoid political affiliation altogether.

In parliamentary politics, balance of power is a situation in which one or more members of a parliamentary or similar chamber can by their uncommitted vote enable a party to attain and remain in minority government. The term may also be applied to the members who hold that position. The members holding the balance of power may guarantee their support for a government by either joining it in a coalition government or by an assurance that they will vote against any motion of no confidence in the government or will abstain in such a vote. In return for such a commitment, such members may demand legislative or policy commitments from the party they are to support. A person or party may also hold a balance of power in a chamber without any commitment to government, in which case both the government and opposition groupings may on occasion need to negotiate for that person's or party's support.

Post-partisanship is an approach to dispute resolution between political factions that emphasizes compromise and collaboration over political ideology and party discipline. It does not imply neutrality. Usage of the term has grown since 2008 as the concept takes hold among policy-makers. The New York Times has attributed an oblique reference to postpartisan idealism in a statement by US President Thomas Jefferson, when he declared in his inaugural address in 1801: "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."

Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the left or the right.

American politics has often settled into a two party system, which as well as involving conflict between the two parties has also involved long periods of bipartisanship.

References

  1. Dan Froomkin (April 30, 2009). "What Bipartisanship Is -- and Isn't". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  2. 1 2 James Fallows (February 1, 2010). "Why bipartisanship can't work: the expert view". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  3. Anne Applebaum (June 1, 2010). "Can the Brits learn bipartisanship?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  4. Robert Siegel (October 21, 2010). "Sen. Cornyn On Bipartisanship, Health Care". NPR . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  5. Rawal, Purva H. (2016). The Affordable Care Act: Examining the Facts. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 6–8, 17–18. ISBN   9781440834424.
  6. 1 2 Marland, Alex; Giasson, Thierry; Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2012). Political Marketing in Canada. UBC Press. p. 257. ISBN   978-0-7748-2231-2.
  7. John Courtney; David Smith (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. OUP USA. p. 195. ISBN   978-0-19-533535-4.
  8. Brooks, Stephen (2004). Canadian Democracy: An Introduction . Oxford University Press. p.  265. ISBN   978-0-19-541806-4. two historically dominant political parties have avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled "brokerage politics"
  9. Johnson, David (2016). Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press. pp. 13–23. ISBN   978-1-4426-3521-0. ...most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency and economy...
  10. Baumer, Donald C.; Gold, Howard J. (2015). Parties, Polarization and Democracy in the United States. Taylor & Francis. p. 152. ISBN   978-1-317-25478-2.
  11. Smith, Miriam (2014). Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada: Second Edition. University of Toronto Press. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-4426-0695-1. Canada's party system has long been described as a "brokerage system" in which the leading parties (Liberal and Conservative) follow strategies that appeal across major social cleavages in an effort to defuse potential tensions.
  12. Elections Canada (2018). "Plurality-Majority Electoral Systems: A Review". Elections Canada. First Past the Post in Canada has favoured broadly-based, accommodative, centrist parties...
  13. Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of Toronto Press. pp. 55–60. ISBN   978-1-4426-0871-9.
  14. Ambrose, Emma; Mudde, Cas (2015). "Canadian Multiculturalism and the Absence of the Far Right". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 21 (2): 213–236. doi:10.1080/13537113.2015.1032033. S2CID   145773856.
  15. Taub, Amanda (2017). "Canada's Secret to Resisting the West's Populist Wave". The New York Times.
  16. James Fallows (February 1, 2010). "Why bipartisanship can't work: the expert view". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  17. Anne Applebaum (June 1, 2010). "Can the Brits learn bipartisanship?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  18. Weeks, Liam (2018). "Parties and the party system". In John Coakley; Michael Gallagher (eds.). Politics in the Republic of Ireland: Sixth Edition. Taylor & Francis. p. 156. ISBN   978-1-317-31269-7.
  19. John R. Bohrer (September 30, 2009). "Because Bipartisanship Is Dead Until 2011: A Defense of Senate Moderates". HuffPost . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  20. Collier, Ellen (2011). Bipartisanship & the Making of Foreign Policy: A Historical Survey. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation. p. 9. ISBN   9781462844388.
  21. Rhonda Hammer; Douglas Kellner (2009). Media/Cultural Studies: Critical Approaches. Peter Lang. p. 463. ISBN   9780820495262.
  22. Linda Feldmann (June 25, 2009). "Rahm Emanuel redefines bipartisanship". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  23. Charles Babington (November 4, 2010). "Election doesn't end major discord for GOP, Obama". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 7, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-04 via Yahoo! News.
  24. Mark Knoller (February 9, 2010). "Obama Says Bipartisanship, But What He Wants Is GOP Surrender". CBS News . Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  25. Sam Haselby (March 22, 2009). "Divided we stand: The problem with bipartisanship". The Boston Globe . Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  26. Benedict Carey (November 4, 2010). "Cede Political Turf? Never! Well, Maybe". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-04.