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Single-issue politics involvespolitical campaigning or political support based on onepolicy area or idea.
One weakness of such an approach is that effectivepolitical parties are usuallycoalitions offactions oradvocacy groups. Bringing together political forces based on a single intellectual or cultural common denominator can be unrealistic; though there may be considerablepublic opinion on one side of an argument, it does not necessarily follow that mobilizing under that one banner will bring results. Adefining issue may indeed come to dominate one particular electoral campaign, sufficiently to swing the result. Imposing such an issue may well be what single-issue politics concern; but for the most part success is rather limited, and electorates choose governments for reasons with a broader base.
Single-issue politics may express itself through the formation of a single-issue party, an approach that tends to be more successful inparliamentary systems based onproportional representation than in rigidtwo-party systems (like that of theUnited States). Alternatively, it may proceed through politicaladvocacy groups of various kinds, including Lobby groups, pressure groups and other forms of political expression external to normalrepresentative government. Within a broad-based party it may be the concern of asingle-issuecaucus.
Very visible as it was inWestern democracies in the second half of the twentieth century, single-issue politics is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1880s, the third government ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone madeBritish politics in practical terms single-issue, around theHome Rule Bill, leading to a split of theLiberal Party.
Single-issue politics are a form oflitmus test; common examples areabortion,taxation,animal rights,environment, andguns. TheNational Rifle Association in the United States, which has only one specific interest, is an example of a single-issue group. What differentiates single-issue groups from other interest groups is their intense style of lobbying.
The termsingle-issue voter has been used to describe people who may make voting decisions based on the candidates' stance on a single issue (e.g., support or opposition to abortion rights, or in support ofgun rights orgun control). The existence of single-issue voters can give a distorted impression: a candidate's overall views may not enjoy the same support. For example, a person who votes for a socially liberal Republican candidate, based solely on theirsupport of abortion, may not necessarily share the candidate's other views onsocial issues, such asgun rights orfamily values.
Asingle-issue party is apolitical party which focuses any campaign, efforts, or activism almost exclusively on only a single issue or a very narrow range of issues (e.g., such as a gun rights organization that might also support knife rights).
In instant-runoff electoral systems which allow unsuccessful parties to designate where their votes are redistributed, single-issue parties may be formed as a way to funnel more votes to another candidate with quite different policies. For instance, in the1999 New South Wales state election, candidateMalcolm Jones received just 0.2% of the primary vote, but achieved the quota of 4.5% required to win a Legislative Council seat after receiving preferences from a wide range of minor parties (including both the "Gun Owners and Sporting Hunters Rights Party" and the "Animal Liberation Party"); MLCLee Rhiannon accused many of these parties of being nothing more than fronts.[1]
TheNHK Party opposes thetelevision licence system imposed byNHK, the country's public broadcaster.
The most electorally successful British single-issue party is the pro-BrexitUK Independence Party (UKIP), which later expanded to support other policies. Its former leader,Nigel Farage, subsequently left UKIP and founded theBrexit Party, which was later renamedReform UK after the completion of Brexit.[2]
Other single-issue parties in the UK are anti-devolutionAbolish the Scottish Parliament Party andAbolish the Welsh Assembly Party,animal rights advocatesAnimal Protection Party and theAnimal Welfare Party and the profox-huntingCountryside Party. There were also the electoral reform advocatesNo Candidate Deserves My Vote! party.
The National Flood Prevention Party andParty of Women are two single-issue parties with councillors inWindsor and Maidenhead andMaldon respectively.
In Germany,Tierschutzpartei andTierschutz hier! are animal rights parties. There is also theParty for Rejuvenation Research.
In 2019, ananti-environmentalistPolish political party called theParty of Drivers (Polish:Partia Kierowców) was formed with the aim of "fighting for the rights of drivers and hauliers".[3][4][5]
In Norway, there is a party calledPatient Focus, which supports the expansion of the hospital inAlta Municipality,Finnmark.
TheAnti-Masonic Party opposedFreemasonry.
Rent is Too Damn High is focused on housing.
TheFree-Soil Party opposed slavery.
TheUS Marijuana Party andLegalize Cannabis Now Party are the major parties that focus on marijuana legalization.
TheApproval Voting Party is focused on the implementation ofApproval Voting.
In Australia, a number of single-issue parties have been elected to federal and state parliaments such as theAnimal Justice Party,Dignity for Disability, theAustralian Reason Party,Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party.