In a democratic society, a political party is on the input side of a political system, that is, the demands and interests of the people are collected from political parties and analysed by the government before any policy decision is made.
American political scientist E.E. Schattschneider carried out a comprehensive research on party politics. He concluded that political parties created democracy and modern democracy is unthinkable without parties.
Schattschneider held that the main function of political parties is to act as a bridge between the government and the public. Another function of political parties is to bring aggregation of people of different interests and thus they serve a number of vital functions to create a democratic society. In addition, integration of new groups into a political system can also be done by political parties. Where integration of working class into the political system failed, radical movements might take place.
Furthermore, political parties can be considered a training ground for leaders. Besides, political parties act as a monitoring tool for the government. They bring people's voice in the discussion and suggest alternative policies and choices to the government. They hold the government accountable and responsive to act on those policies. Thus the government cannot ignore public opinion.
Two major parties, the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) dominate politics in the country. Their leaders always raise their voice in favour of democracy but they do not practise democracy in their parties. That means problem lies in the root.
Again, though the politicians say the country is bigger than party, they actually believe in party rule and many of them are alleged to treat politics as business. When they are in power they become rich overnight.
Political culture is also absent in these political parties. Top leaders neither meet nor exchange views with each other. They cannot reach consensus even on key national issues.
Politicians here talk about public interests but hardly pay attention to public opinion. They always seek the interests of their party people instead of acting as a bridge between the government and the people. For this reason people are losing trust in political parties.
To conclude, more than a hundred people have died and many more have been injured in the two-month-long political violence. Every sector of national life has been affected by political instability. Businessmen are counting loss. But the political parties are adamant on their respective positions. There is no sign of mutual respect and tolerance - no sign of compromise. Where is the way out?
helalabdullah@gmail.com
The role of political parties
Md. Abdullah Al Helal | Published: March 11, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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