In Why Parties Aldrich describes how Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren created an alliance in order to increase the power of the Democratic Party. Jackson merges plain Republicans with the planters of the South. Two factors played into his successful merging of different interests. The first reason Jackson was able to recruit differing factions for the Democrats is that he could offer them the spoils of victory. Another reason was that he was vague about positions. Different factions felt comfortable joining Jackson’s party, because when groups said they cared about a particular issue it never contradicted the party platform.
So how do these principles apply to political parties in Israel? The last Israeli election took place in 2009. Binyamin Netanyahu faced the same problem as Jackson. He needed a broader base in order to maintain power. Like Jackson, he merges different groups in order to achieve the alliance he needs.
Part of the reason Netanyahu was able to form a majority coalition is that he was able to offer the spoils of victory to leaders of various parties that form his majority coalition. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Party, now serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ehud Barak, a leader of the left social welfare Labour Party, serves as the defense minister. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/24/israel-labour-likud-netanyahu).
However, Netanyahu’s Likud Party did not have vague policy positions like Jackson did. So was Aldrich wrong in his assertion that vague policy positions were crucial in Jackson’s success? Van Buren’s struggles to maintain the coalition, because his policy positions were clearer suggests that Aldrich was correct. So why was Netanyahu able to form a coalition of diverse groups successfully? The reason is that each party in Netanyahu’s coalition possesses the ability to defect if an important issue for that party does not go their way. Netanyahu’s desire to preserve the current government ensures that minority needs are addressed even if the Likud Party would prefer to handle the issue differently (http://www.jstor.org/stable/27638560?seq=2 ). Settlements in the West Bank are an example of an issue that continues largely because of a minority party influence.
How does the Likud Party deal with direct contradictions in the wishes of the minor parties? If each can defect if a decision goes against the minor party's goals, it seems like Netanyahu's strategy puts his security in a more precarious position than Jackson's vague propositions.
ReplyDeleteApparently, in order to increase the power of the party you need to make alliances with other people in authority. But before you can do that you need to be able to guarantee some type of reward, like a share in the spoils. Therefore through bribery and following through with alliances, you can increase the power of your party and stay in power longer. I get it! Next time I play basketball I'll ask the best players to be on my team and I'll promise them a share in the bragging rights!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that a main reason for the continued West Bank settlements is that the minority parties have the power to influence the government because the Likud Party formed a coalition of various parties. It reminds me of Italy. I remember one of my teachers explaining that one Prime Minister of Italy (PM-A) keeps coming back "like a bad penny" because his party is large. Because his party is so large it is strong, and any party that tries to form a coalition of small parties against him (PM-B) has difficulty sustaining power because as soon as one party gets upset and leaves, PM-B's combined power is not enough and PM-A returns to power. To me, this is a big problem with the Parliamentary system. Although it does represent the different opinions of the public, because there is an endless supply of parties, it is very difficult to get anything done.
ReplyDeleteSo, returning to Likud Party ideals, its good that they are representing the public. But this is part of the reason for the West Bank Settlements that are causing so much trouble with relations in Israel- halting peace talks. And all because of the influence of small political parties. The Likud Party might be trying to juggle to many parties.