A political party in a democracy consistently nominates only wealthy candidates and receives large donations from big corporations. How does this practice undermine the party's core purpose in a democracy?
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 13:19 · grounding rag
Model Answer
A political party's core purpose is to represent the people, promote collective good, and implement policies that reflect public interest through democratic elections.
When a party consistently nominates only wealthy candidates and accepts large corporate donations, it undermines this purpose in the following ways:
- Exclusion of common citizens: Only rich candidates get nominated, denying ordinary people fair representation.
- Policy capture: Rich donors and corporations gain influence over the party's decisions and policies, which should serve public interest, not private profit.
- Electoral malpractice: Focusing on money over merit is a short-cut that corrupts the democratic process.
As the textbook notes, "Rich people and companies who give funds to the parties tend to have influence on the policies and decisions of the party," directly compromising its democratic role.
Source: Political Parties, Challenges to political parties — Chapter 4
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Explanation
- The examiner expects you to link the practice to the third challenge (money and muscle power) described in the chapter.
- Quote or closely paraphrase the textbook line about rich donors influencing party policy — it shows you've read the source.
- Name the core purpose of a party first (collective good, representing people) before explaining how the practice violates it. That contrast earns marks.
- Three clear points fit a 3-mark answer well; avoid bullet overload or padding.