Exam 14: Political Parties and the Party System

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The term "the iron law of oligarchy" describes the tendency toward elitism within all political parties. Specifically, this elitism can occur in three ways. First, party leaders may create a small coterie of advisers, who cut off the leader from party influence. A second common development is that the parliamentary wing of the party claims precedence over the party organization. In terms of policy, for example, when a party has official status in the House of Commons, it is entitled to hire a substantial number of researchers. In every such party, even in opposition, the complement of publicly paid staff supporting the leader, caucus, and individual MPs clearly outnumbers the staff at party headquarters and may prescribe different policy approaches than those that come out of party policy discussions. In the third place, a small group of executive members often seek re-election for many terms and effectively maintain control.