Editing Political movement (section)

== Relation to political parties ==
Political movements are different from political parties since movements are usually focused on a single issue and they have no interest in attaining office in government. A political movement is generally an informal organization and uses unconventional methods to achieve their goals.<ref name=":6" /> In a political party, a political organization seeks to influence or control government policy through conventional methods,<ref name=":6" /> usually by nominating their candidates and seating candidates in politics and governmental offices.<ref name=":7" />

However, political parties and movements both aim to influence government in one way or another<ref name=":6" /> and both are often related to a certain ideology. Parties also participate in electoral campaigns and educational outreach or protest actions aiming to convince citizens or governments to take action on the issues and concerns which are the focus of the movement.<ref name=":7" /> 

Some political movements have turned into or launched political parties. For example, the [[Anti-austerity movement in Spain|15-M Movement]] against austerity in Spain led to the creation of the populist party [[Podemos (Spanish political party)|Podemos]]<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Della Porta|first1=Donatella|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0K9DgAAQBAJ&q=movement+born+parties&pg=PT96|title=Movement Parties Against Austerity|last2=Fernández|first2=Joseba|last3=Kouki|first3=Hara|last4=Mosca|first4=Lorenzo|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5095-1149-5|location=Cambridge|language=en}}</ref> and the labor movements in Brazil helped form the [[Workers' Party (Brazil)|Brazilian Workers' Party]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=van Cott|first=Donna Lee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6n40IdN85oC&q=movement+parties&pg=PR7|title=From Movements to Parties in Latin America: The Evolution of Ethnic Politics|publisher=University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-521-70703-9|location=Cambridge|pages=14|language=en}}</ref> These types of '''movement parties''' serve to raise awareness on the main issue of their initial political movement in government, since the established parties may have neglected this issue in the past.<ref name=":5" />

Political scientists Santos and Mercea argue that, in recent years, "the rise of movement parties across Europe has disrupted traditional notions of party politics and opened up new avenues for citizen engagement and political mobilisation. Movement parties are the reflection of a wider socio-political transformation of increasing interconnection between electoral and non-electoral politics". They identify four types of movement parties: [[green parties|green]]/[[left-libertarian]], [[far-right]], [[syncretic politics|eclectic]], and [[centrism|centrist]].<ref name="z540">{{cite journal | last=Santos | first=Felipe G. | last2=Mercea | first2=Dan | title=Young democrats, critical citizens and protest voters: studying the profiles of movement party supporters | journal=Acta Politica | date=20 January 2024 | issn=0001-6810 | doi=10.1057/s41269-023-00321-7 | page=| doi-access=free }}</ref>

For groups seeking to influence policy, social movements can provide an alternative to formal electoral politics. For example, the political scientist [[S. Laurel Weldon]] has shown that women's movements and women's policy agencies have tended to be more effective in reducing [[violence against women]] than the presence of women in the legislatures.<ref>{{cite journal |first=S. Laurel |last=Weldon |author-link=S. Laurel Weldon |title=Beyond Bodies: Institutional Sources of Representation for Women in Democratic Policymaking |journal=The Journal of Politics |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=1153–1174 |date=November 2002|doi=10.1111/1468-2508.00167 |s2cid=154551984 }}</ref>

High [[barriers to entry]] to the political competition can disenfranchise political movements.<ref>[http://www.jstor.org/stable/1816288 Tullock, Gordon. "Entry barriers in politics." The American Economic Review 55.1/2 (1965): 458-466.]</ref>