The top down approach is a type of approach which concentrates on breaking down a system so as to have access to the whole system through the subsystems. This involves the use of the central government and moving down with the details of governance down to the community at the grassroots level. This is where policies required in the government to be established first starts from the top of the central powers to the bottom so at to ensure an all inclusive participation.
This type ensures that the positive policies of the central government are the best ever to be put in place and that their positive effects will finally drop down to the community. This strengthens the policies also in the party formation as it starts from the top leadership of the party to the party members. This ensures that all the developments in the party are collective responsibility of all the party members and the leadership. When there is centralized form of leadership, there is establishment of good party policies and the administration which will at the end reach down to the entire population at all levels (Clark, Golder and Golder 79).
The bottom up approach is another form of approach in formation of parties which concentrates on joining together and empowering the local initiatives and the cultural institutions so as to attain the best type of governance. This approach is very useful as it takes into consideration the desires, wishes and needs of the people in establishing the policies of good governance. It mainly enables the entire community participate in the formation of policies to be implemented in the party and the entire government.
This approach values the needs and demands of the community people. This approach discourages the dominance of the external actors in the process of the formation of the party and the state at large. Bottom up approach is very reliable as it enables the establishment of sustainable forms of leadership and peaceful coexistence of the people or members even without the institutions in place.
The type of approach which accounts for the existence of the democrats and the republicans parties is the bottom up approach. This is because the power of the people is the driving force behind the development. The development of the two party systems in the United States of America began to develop in the current world concentrating on policies related to the public offices, power and the main driving force is the vote of the majority which has offered little chance to other parties to come up. Over the last two hundred years, it is clearly indicated that the two major parties are the democrats and the republicans who have dominated the political arena in the presidential and the congressional elections (Collier 115).
This is due to concerns of the people to have new issues in the society which were to clear away the habitual party loyalties. The issues included the slavery and the civil war in America which the people through their parties concentrated to fight or wipe them out. The American citizens aligned with the party which had better promise of tomorrow and the one which offered the policies fitting their demands. The party of democrats was considered by the Americans to be party of the south, which led to only winning four presidential elections between 1868 and 1928 while the republicans won twelve of them.
The policies of the two parties offered the American people only two options which at all times were viable hence the people would only choose between them. The people determined every step which has been taken in the current parties’ formation in the United States of America. In 1920, there was a great depression which made people to realign along the party which had excellent policies in eliminating the depression. During this time the republican party down played the crisis while the democrats wanted the government to be actively involved in the solving the crisis by initiating an employment program and expanding the social network.
This made the democrats attract wide number of people across the political class, religions, cultures, such as the minorities, business people, blacks, workers, Christians and the Catholics among others. It’s the worth of the policies being proposed by the party which is finally accepted by the people. This means that the people are the power behind the development of the two parties since they only align themselves on these two parties depending on their policies and the state of the communities based on the effects they are undergoing. In developing power basis by the parties, they had to win the hearts of the American citizens capable of establishing a majority. The majority policy makers are the people who ensured that the Democrats retained power from 1920s to 1970s and 80s.
The structure of the political parties’ formation indicates that the people at the grassroots are the main concerns in determining the party leadership as they participate in primary elections which will eventually shows the way in the national representation. This is achieved through the committees which are always autonomous and composed of party members who are the delegates. The delegates are regulated by the grassroots elections held within the party or at state level. The two party system is very flexible, decentralizes its powers, and capable of compromising the means which leads to utilizing the new ideas and policies quickly creating a stable government which is constitutionally recognized hence brings changes in leadership. All these factors favor the bottom up approach in party formation.
References
Clark, William Roberts, Matt Golder and Sona Nadenichek Golder. Principles of Comparative Politics. CQ Press, 2008.
Collier, Paul. Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places. Harper, 2009.