Republican Party, byname Grand Old Party (GOP), in the United States, one of the two major political

parties, the
other being theDemocratic Party. During the 19th century the Republican Party stood against the extension
of slavery to the countrys new territories and, ultimately, for slaverys complete abolition. During the 20th and 21st
centuries the party came to be associated with laissez-faire capitalism, low taxes, and conservative social policies.
The party acquired the acronym GOP, widely understood as Grand Old Party, in the 1870s. The partys official logo,
the elephant, is derived from a cartoon by Thomas Nast and also dates from the 1870s.
HISTORY
The term Republican was adopted in 1792 by supporters of Thomas Jefferson, who favoured a decentralized
government with limited powers. Although Jeffersons political philosophy is consistent with the outlook of the modern
Republican Party, his faction, which soon became known as the Democratic-Republican Party, ironically evolved by
the 1830s into the Democratic Party, the modern Republican Partys chief rival.
The Republican Party traces its roots to the 1850s, when antislavery leaders (including former members of the
Democratic, Whig, and Free-Soil parties) joined forces to oppose the extension of slavery into
the Kansas andNebraska territories by the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act. At meetings in Ripon, Wisconsin (May
1854), and Jackson, Michigan (July 1854), they recommended forming a new party, which was duly established at
thepolitical convention in Jackson.
At their first presidential nominating convention in 1856, the Republicans nominated John C. Frmont on a platform
that called on Congress to abolishslavery in the territories, reflecting a widely held view in the North. Although
ultimately unsuccessful in his presidential bid, Frmont carried 11 Northern states and received nearly two-fifths of
the electoral vote. During the first four years of its existence, the party rapidly displaced the Whigs as the main
opposition to the dominant Democratic Party. In 1860 the Democrats split over the slavery issue, as the Northern and
Southern wings of the party nominated different candidates (Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckinridge,
respectively); the election that year also included John Bell, the nominee of the Constitutional Union Party. Thus, the
Republican candidate,Abraham Lincoln, was able to capture the presidency, winning 18 Northern states and
receiving 60 percent of the electoral vote but only 40 percent of the popular vote. By the time of Lincolns inauguration
as president, however, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union, and the country soon descended into
the American Civil War (186165).
In 1863 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in rebelling states to be forever free
and welcomed them to join the Unions armed forces. The abolition of slavery would, in 1865, be formally entrenched
in the Constitution of the United States with the adoption of theThirteenth Amendment. Because the historical role
played by Lincoln and the Republican Party in the abolition of slavery came to be regarded as their greatest legacy,
the Republican Party is sometimes referred to as the party of Lincoln.

POLICY AND STRUCTURE

Although its founders refused to recognize the right of states and territories to practice slavery, the modern
Republican Party supports states rightsagainst the power of the federal government in most cases, and it opposes
the federal regulation of traditionally state and local matters, such as policing and education. Because the party is
highly decentralized (as is the Democratic Party), it encompasses a wide variety of opinion on certain issues, though
it is ideologically more unified at the national level than the Democratic Party is. The Republicans advocate reduced
taxes as a means of stimulating the economy and advancing individual economic freedom. They tend to oppose
extensive government regulation of the economy, government-funded social programs, affirmative action, and
policies aimed at strengthening the rights of workers. Many Republicans, though not all, favour increased government
regulation of the private, noneconomic lives of citizens in some areas, such as abortion, though most Republicans
also strongly oppose gun-control legislation. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support organized prayer
in public schools and to oppose the legal recognition of equal rights for gays and lesbians (see gay rights movement).
Regarding foreign policy, the Republican Party traditionally has supported a strong national defense and the
aggressive pursuit of U.S. national security interests, even when it entails acting unilaterally or in opposition to the
views of the international community.

Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party formulate their platforms quadrennially at national political
conventions, which are held to nominate the parties presidential candidates. The conventions take place in the
summer of each presidential election year; by tradition, the incumbent party holds its convention second. The
Republican National Convention typically gathers some 2,000 delegates who are selected during the winter and
spring.
Until the 1970s, few nationwide rules governed the selection of delegates to the Republican National Convention.
After the Democratic Party adopted a system based on state primaries and caucuses, the Republicans followed suit.
More than 40 states now select delegates to the Republican convention through primary elections, while several
other states choose delegates through caucuses. Virtually all Republican primaries allocate delegates on a winnertake-all basis, so that the candidate who wins the most votes in a state is awarded all the delegates of that state. In
contrast, almost all Democratic primaries allocate delegates based on the proportion of the vote each candidate
receives. As a result, the Republicans tend to choose their presidential nominees more quickly than the Democrats
do, often long before the summer nominating convention, leaving the convention simply to ratify the winner of the
primaries.
In addition to confirming the partys presidential nominee and adopting the party platform, the national convention
formally chooses a national committee to organize the next convention and to govern the party until the next
convention is held. The Republican National Committee (RNC) consists of about 150 party leaders representing all
U.S. states and territories. Its chairman is typically named by the partys presidential nominee and then formally
elected by the committee. Republican members of the House and the Senate organize themselves into party
conferences that elect the party leaders of each chamber. In keeping with the decentralized nature of the party, each
chamber also creates separate committees to raise and disburse funds for House and Senate election campaigns.
Although Republican congressional party organizations maintain close informal relationships with the RNC, they are
formally separate from it and not subject to its control. Similarly, state party organizations are not subject to direct
control by the national committee.
Democratic Party
Democratic Party, in the United States, one of the two major political parties, the other being the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party has changed significantly during its more than two centuries of existence. During the 19th
century the party supported or tolerated slavery, and it opposed civil rights reforms after the American Civil War in
order to retain the support of Southern voters. By the mid-20th century it had undergone a dramatic ideological
realignment and reinvented itself as a party supporting organized labour, the civil rights of minorities, and progressive
reform. Since Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the party has also tended to favour greater
government intervention in the economy and to oppose government intervention in the private noneconomic affairs
of citizens. The logo of the Democratic Party, thedonkey, was popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s;
though widely used, it has never been officially adopted by the party.
HISTORY
The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the United States and among the oldest political parties in the
world. It traces its roots to 1792, when followers of Thomas Jefferson adopted the name Republican to emphasize
their antimonarchical views. The Republican Party, also known as the Jeffersonian Republicans, advocated a
decentralized government with limited powers. Another faction to emerge in the early years of the republic,
the Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, favoured a strong central government. Jeffersons faction developed
from the group of Anti-Federalistswho had agitated in favour of the addition of a Bill of Rights to theConstitution of the
United States. The Federalists called Jeffersons faction the Democratic-Republican Party in an attempt to identify it
with the disorder spawned by the radical democrats of the French Revolution of 1789. After the Federalist John
Adams was elected president in 1796, theRepublican Party served as the countrys first opposition party, and in 1798
the Republicans adopted the derisive Democratic-Republican label as their official name.
In 1800 Adams was defeated by Jefferson, whose victory ushered in a period of prolonged Democratic-Republican
dominance. Jefferson won reelection easily in 1804, and Democratic-Republicans James Madison (1808 and 1812)
and James Monroe (1816 and 1820) were also subsequently elected. By 1820 the Federalist Party had faded from
national politics, leaving the Democratic-Republicans as the countrys sole major party and allowing Monroe to run
unopposed in that years presidential election.

During the 1820s new states entered the union, voting laws were relaxed, and several states passed legislation that
provided for the direct election of presidential electors by voters (electors had previously been appointed by state
legislatures). These changes split the Democratic-Republicans into factions, each of which nominated its own
candidate in the presidential election of 1824. The partys congressional caucus nominated William H. Crawford of
Georgia, but Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, the leaders of the partys two largest factions, also sought the
presidency; Henry Clay, the speaker of the House of Representatives, was nominated by
theKentucky and Tennessee legislatures. Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes, but no candidate
received the necessary majority in theelectoral college. When the election went to the House of Representatives (as
stipulated in the Constitution), Claywho had finished fourth and was thus eliminated from considerationthrew his
support to Adams, who won the House vote and subsequently appointed Clay secretary of state.
POLICY AND STRUCTURE
Despite tracing its roots to Thomas Jeffersonwho advocated a less-powerful, more-decentralized
federal governmentthe modern Democratic Party generally supports a strong federal government
with powers to regulate business and industry in the public interest; federally financed social
services and benefits for the poor, the unemployed, the aged, and other groups; and the protection
of civil rights. Most Democrats also endorse a strong separation of church and state, and they
generally oppose government regulation of the private, noneconomic lives of citizens. Regarding
foreign policy, Democrats tend to prefer internationalism and multilateralismi.e., the execution of
foreign policy through international institutions such as the United Nationsover isolationism and
unilateralism. However, because the party is highly decentralized (as is the Republican Party), it
encompasses a wide variety of opinion on certain issues. Although most Democrats
favouraffirmative action and gun control, for example, some moderate and conservative Democrats
oppose those policies or give them only qualified support.
Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party formulate their platforms quadrennially at
national conventions, which are held to nominate the parties presidential candidates. The
conventions take place in the summer of each presidential election year; by tradition, the incumbent
party holds its convention second. The Democratic National Convention is typically attended by
some 4,000 delegates, most of whom are selected during the preceding winter and spring. Socalled superdelegates, which include members of the Democratic National Committee (the partys
formal governing body) as well as Democratic governors and members of Congress, also
participate.
Until the 1970s, few nationwide rules governed the selection of delegates to the Democratic
National Convention. After the 1968 convention, during which Humphrey was able to secure the
Democratic nomination without having won a single primary election or caucus, the party imposed
strict rules requiring that states select delegates through primaries or caucuses and that delegates
vote on the first ballot for the candidate to whom they are pledged, thus eliminating the direct
election of candidates by the conventions. More than 40 states now select delegates to the
Democratic convention through primary elections. Virtually all Democratic primaries allocate
delegates on a proportional basis, so that the proportion of delegates awarded to a candidate in a
state is roughly the same as the proportion of the vote he receives in that state (provided that he
receives at least 15 percent). In contrast, almost all Republican presidential primaries award all
delegates to the candidate who receives the most votes. Thus, candidates running for the
Democratic nomination tend to win at least some delegates in each primary, resulting generally in
closer and longer nominating contests. Nevertheless, one candidate usually captures a majority of
delegates before the summer nominating convention, leaving the convention simply to ratify the
winner.
In addition to confirming the party nominee and adopting the party platform, the national convention
formally chooses a national committee to organize the next convention and to govern the party until
the next convention is held. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) consists of about 400 party
leaders representing all U.S. states and territories. Its chairman is typically named by the partys
presidential nominee and then formally elected by the committee. The DNC has little power,
because it lacks direct authority over party members in Congress and even in the states.
Democratic members of the House and the Senate organize themselves into party conferences

that elect the party leaders of each chamber. In keeping with the decentralized nature of the party,
each chamber also creates separate committees to raise and disburse funds for House and Senate
election campaigns.

A short history of political parties in Britain

England has the oldest parliament in the world. The English parliament met for the first time at the
Palace of Westminster in the year 1265, but it took more than four centuries before the concept of
"political parties" gave a new dimension to political life in Britain.
Before the birth of political parties in the seventeenth century, the English parliament consisted of
aristocrats and wealthy men who formed alliances and majorities based on specific factors or
loyalties. It was not until after the English Civil War, and parliamentary upheavals during the
Republican years of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1649-1660), that the first English
political parties began to take shape. During the years from 1678 to 1681, and the constitutional
crisis known as the Exclusion Crisis, most members of the English parliament formed into two
"parties", named Whigs and Tories. The descendants of these two original parties are the two
parties that formed the coalition government under Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010 to
2015.
Until the early 20th century, alone or in coalition with other groups, these two political parties in
turn formed successive British governments, based on the results of parliamentary elections.
Initially, the Whigs were the party of the liberal and reforming aristocracy. In contrast to the
Tories, the Whig Party attracted people more favorable to constitutional reforms, and in 1832 led
the most significant modernization of the British Parliament, the Reform Act, which rebalanced
parliamentary constituencies, and greatly expanded the electoral base to the middle classes. In the
1850's, the Whig Party became the most important element of a union of Whigs and Radicals who
took the name "Liberal Party". This centrist party continued until 1988, when it merged with the
new but smaller Social Democratic Party to form today'sLiberal Democrats
. The word Tory designated early supporters of strong royal power; Tories were monarchists and
traditionalists, especially at the time of the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. During the
eighteenth century, the Whigs dominated British politics, and the Tory party played a relatively small
role in the political life of the United Kingdom.
This changed in the last three decades of the eighteenth century, when the rise of reformism
and radicalism in Europe, which was to lead notably to the French Revolution (1789), gave a new
impetus to defenders of the status quo and conservatism. The Tories re-emerged as a major force
in British politics in 1770 - but this time as a modern party in favor of maintaining the best traditions
of Britain, but at the same time strongly supporting the new opportunities created by the industrial
revolution and imperial and commercial expansion. During the 19th century - as today - the Tory
party, which became theConservative Party in 1834, was torn between its traditionalists and its
reformers. Benjamin Disraeli, the Conservative prime minister from 1874 to 1880, was one of the
great reformers of the 19th century.
After the First World War, a new party came to power in the British Parliament, theLabour
Party. The first Labour MPs had been elected in 1900 as representatives of the Independent
Labour Party. The Labour Party formed a minority government in 1924, but it did not last. Labour
first formed a majority government in 1929. The rise of the Labour Party came however at the
expense of the other non-Conservative party, the Liberals, and Labour replaced the Liberals as the
main alternative to the Conservatives.
From 1929 to 2010, power alternated between the Conservatives and the Labour Party.
Following the general election of 2010, no single party emerged with an absolute majority of
MPs; so for the first time in living memory, a coalition government was formed, with the
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats sharing power.

Right-wing or conservative parties

The Conservative Party
This is the British party of the right, including a broad range of traditional conservatives and
royalists, neo-liberals and social conservatives. For the last forty years, the party has been deeply
divided over issues of sovereignty and the role of Britain in the European Union. A majority of party
members are in favour of a revision of the terms of Britain's membership of the European Union,
and the holding of a referendum on withdrawal. But other Conservatives, including industrial and
business leaders, are strongly pro-European. Recent leaders have been beset by problems trying
to reconcile the strongly opposing views of party members on this issue.
In 2016, the divisions were sharply amplified during the campaign for the Brexit referendum; two
thirds of the Party's MPs - essentially the centre-right moderate wing of the party - were in favour of
remaining in the EU; one third, the Conservative sovereignist hard-liners and the neo-conservative
faction, were in favour of leaving. However, grass-roots Conservative party activists are on the
whole further to the right than their MPs
The Conservative Party is made up of local Associations which play a major role in the selection
of candidates and the appointment of the party leader. The importance of this local structure
reflects the very old tradition of territorial representation in British politics, a tradition dating back to
the Middle Ages. However, "Central Office" often imposes candidates on local associations to
enable up-and-coming stars to enter parliament, as was the case with Margaret Thatcher.
In her short speech to the press, on taking up her job as Prime Minister, Theresa Maypositioned
herself very clearly as a "one-nation" moderate Conservative, keen to build a new Britain for
ordinary people, not just for the wealthy. It was a speech that could equally well have been made
by David Cameron, or most of the recent leaders of the Labour Party.
Parties of the centre
The Liberal Democrat party - the Liberal Democrats , or Lib Dems
A party of the centre, formed in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) , the
latter being made up of dissidents from the Labour party. The Lib Dems are thus a mixture of social conservatives and
social democrats. The party is the most pro-European of the major British parties, and until 2015 shared power with the
Conservative Party in the coalition government.
In the 2015 election, the Lib Dems lost most of their MPs. However, following the election of left-winger Jeremy
Corbyn to the head of the Labour party in September 2015, many are predicting an unexpected revival in the fortunes
of the Liberal Democrats as disaffected social democrats abandon Labour.
In 2016, expectations have been raised further since the Brexit referendum vote. In the 48 hours following the
Referendum, the Liberal-Democrats reported a surge of applications to join the party, and over
4000 new members in 48 hours at a time when both Conservatives and Labour are losing
members.
The parties of the Left
The Labour Party
The Labour party covers virtually the whole spectrum of left wing politics in Britain, and includes a
smaller party known as the Co-operative party. Until 2010, since the time of Tony Blair, it had been
dominated by the social-liberal centre-left (initially known as New Labour): the collectivist "Old
Labour" views were very much in a minority . From 2010 to 2015, under the leadership of Ed
Miliband, it remained essentially a centre-left party; but in September 2015, with the election to the
leadership of a left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party has moved into a new period in its

history. (see below)

The party is supported and funded by the British trade unions, but it is not controlled or
significantly influenced by them, and this influence was further reduced in 2015. Very weak
following the recession of the 1970s, the party was largely reformed later by Tony Blair, who
transformed it into a modern social democratic party.
The Labour Party is made up of local parties (Constituency Labour Parties), most British trade
unions and other associations. These structures send delegates to party conferences, depending
on the number of their members. Party Conferences define the general lines of party policy, but
conference decisions are not binding on the parliamentary party . Until 2014 Labour party leaders
were elected by three electoral colleges, individual members , Labour MPs, and trade unions,
each college representing a third of the final result. The last leader, Ed Miliband, was elected by the
weight of union vote, even though both Labour MPs and individual members preferred his brother
David Miliband. After his election, and to reassure not only the country but also a large number of
his constituents , Ed Miliband sought to emphasize his total independence from the unions. In
2014, he announced plans to reduce the role of the unions even further in the election of the party
leader. A new electoral process was introduced, whereby the leader is elected by paid up
members of the party and anyone else who signs up and pays to vote in the electoral process.
Following the party's defeat in the 2015 General Election, Miliband stepped down as leader of the
Labour Party. In September however, Party members and other electors chose as the new leader
of the labour Party a radical left-winger, Jeremy Corbyn the most left-wing leader the party has
ever had. Corbyn's election has sparked a serious rift in the party, and within hours of his election,
eight members of the shadow cabinet had announced that they would not be part of Corbyn's team.
Others are expected to follow.
For Corbyn's supporters, his election marks a return by the Labour party to its core socialist
values; for his opponents, it has simply made the Labour Party unelectable for at least ten years....
if not longer. Opinion polls persistently show that while Labour party militants may favour a strong
left-wing agenda, British voters as a whole do not.
In 2016, during the Brexit referendum campaign, Jeremy Corbyn was repeatedly accused of
showing only half-hearted support for his party's official position, which is in favour of Britain
remaining in the European Union. In the days following the vote, eleven members of his Shadow
cabinet either resigned or were sacked, and a motion has been tabled calling on Corbyn to step
down, on the grounds that he does not show the leadership qualities that the party needs if it wants
to have any hope of winning another General Election.
Corbyn has retaliated, saying that he will not resign, and will stand again if there is a new
leadership election. Since the Party leader is elected by party activists, not by MPs, it is not
impossible that he might win a new leadership contest, which would plunge the party into further
chaos