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The Student Side of the The Challenge of Democracy Site
Updated March 10, 2017

Internet Links for Chapter 8: Political Parties

Chapter 8 discusses the nature of political parties and the functions, a history of two-party politics in United States, and party ideology and organization. These Internet links amplify on those topic and take you to new sites dealing with political parties in foreign countries.


U.S. Parties
Party Platforms
The American Presidency Project maintains a site for all major party platforms from 1840 to 2016.
Democratic sites
The Democratic National Committee
Democrats.org is the hip, Internet label for the official site of the DNC. It offers daily news updates, policy analysis, links, email updates and opportunities to participate in the political process.
The Democratic Governors' Association
Founded in 1983, the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is an independent voluntary political organization organized to support Democratic governors and candidates across the nation.
Republican sites
Republican National Committee
GOP.com is the hip, Internet label for the official site of the RNC.
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
"Our aim is to Reclaim the Republican Party for Conservatives, Reform the Party back to it's Conservative Values, and Restore Republican's faith in the GOP. We don't need a third party. We need to return the Republican Party to its pro-Constitution roots."
Third parties
Libertarian Party
"The Party of Principle" campaigns on "Minimum Government, Maximum Freedom." Note the similarities between its quiz, asking "Are you a Libertarian?" and the IDEAlog quiz by Janda and Goldman that accompanies The Challenge of Democracy at IDEAlog.org. Read about the origins of IDEAlog on its home page to see the connection between the two quizzes.
Official Reform Party Home Page
The Reform Party grew out of Ross Perot's presidential campaign in 1992. "When someone talks about the Reform Party USA, they generally mean the Reform Party National Committee.  There are four levels of national organization to the Reform Party." This site describes the four levels.
The Natural Law Party of the USA
The national headquarters of the Natural Law Party have closed effective on April 30, 2004.." This site tells how to contact state Natural Law Party headquarters and describes the close of the national offices.
Green Party
"The Green Party of the United States is a federation of state Green Parties. Committed to ecology, social justice grassroots democracy and non-violence, Greens are renewing democracy in the United States through community-based organizing without the support of corporate donors."
Constitution Party
"We declare the platform of the Constitution Party to be predicated on the principles of The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights. According to the original intent of the Founding Fathers, these founding documents are the foundation of our Liberty and the Supreme Law of the Land. The sole purpose of government, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, is to secure our unalienable rights given us by our Creator. When Government grows beyond this scope, it is usurpation, and liberty is compromised."
Guides
The Green Papers: Monitoring U.S. Elections
An extraordinarily useful nonpartisan source about candidates running and votes cast in American primary and general elections on a state-by-state basis.
Ballot Access News
Painstakingly compiled by Richard Winger, BAN focuses on state laws concerning how candidates and parties get on the ballot. But BAN also publishes very useful tables on candidates, parties, and votes in statewide and national elections.
Comparative Political Parties
Wikipedia List of: Political:Parties
Wikipedia offers a very comprehensive list of political parties across the world.
Janda's Party Systems and Country Governance
This is my own list of major parties in 212 countries of the world. to get the list, print the PDF noted at the end of the page.
Governments on the WWW: Political Parties
"Comprehensive database of governmental institutions on the World Wide Web: parliaments, ministries, offices, law courts, embassies, city councils, public broadcasting corporations, central banks, multi-governmental institutions etc. Includes also political parties."