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Illustration shows a donkey labeled "Democratic Party" and an elephant labeled "Republican Party" sitting on a porch; a stork carrying a bag labeled "Dr. Stork" is coming around the corner of the building.

Why Political Parties

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Overview
Curriculum
  • 4 Sections
  • 11 Lessons
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Overview of the Party System
3 Lessons
  1. What Do Parties Do?
  2. What to Read- From the APSA Report on Parties
  3. Additional Reading
Parties and the Electoral System
2 Lessons
  1. Understanding the Current System
  2. Party Structure and It's Consquences
So why can’t we just all switch to ranked choice voting and fix everything?
5 Lessons
  1. Why 3rd Parties aren't competative
  2. Possible way to mitigate this? Ranked choice voting
  3. Can we reform the parties instead?
  4. Other Solutions- Including the Top Two
  5. What about proportional represenation?
Parties and Ideology (Extra)
1 Lesson
  1. Parties, Partisanship, and Ideology

 “...Modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of the parties.”

- Schattschneider Party Government, (1942)

Everyone hates political parties, but political scientists pretty much are unanimous that we need them for democracy to work. 

This quick overview will explain why political scientists think we need parties, what parties do, and why third parties just can't seem to get ahead in the United States. 

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