These organizations generally do not nominate candidates for election but some of them have in the past they otherwise function similarly to political parties political party founded in former titles international affiliations african peoples socialist party 1972 uhuru movement american nazi party remnants 1959 world union of free enterprise national socialists national socialist white . The republican party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the united states of america since the 1880s it has been nicknamed by the media the grand old party or gop although it is younger than the democratic party founded in 1854 by northern anti slavery activists and modernizers the republican party rose to prominence in 1860 with the election of. Today america is a multi party system the democratic party and the republican party are the most powerful yet other parties such as the reform libertarian socialist natural law constitution and green parties can promote candidates in a presidential election. Politics parties and elections in america seventh edition is filled with the latest research on what political parties do how they are organized how party leaders behave the functions of political parties and their limitations the unique features of american political parties and the impact of political parties within the american political system