Comoarative Politics Quiz #4 Study Guide

What are some critiques of the “first-past-the-post / single-member district plurality electoral systems

-Potential to produce unrepresentative outcomes on both district & national levels

-Encourages voters to vote strategically as opposed to their true preferences

-Can encourage ethnic parties in countries in which ethnic groups are regionally concentrated

What does disproportionality refer to in the context of electoral system design

-The degree of disproportionality produced between the shares of voters and the shares of seats gained by each competing party

Basic features of single-member district plurality/first past the post

-Voters cast a single vote for a candidate in single-member districts

-The candidate with the most votes is elected from the district

Mixed-member proportional

-Combines single-member district system with a proportional voting system

-Half single-member vote half party listed vote

Two-round majority

-Voters cast a single vote for a candidate in a single-member district of no candidate wins by absolute majority the top two vote winners go compete in a runoff election; candidate who wins second round wins the whole election

Alternative vote

-The winning candidate must win majority of votes bused in single-member districts where voters rank candidates

Open list PR

Allow voters to cast votes for a individual candidates on one party’s list-voters control who is elected

Closed-list PR

-Candidates are elected according to their pre-stated position

-A vote for a particular party is read as an endorsement of their list

What changed in New Zealand politics after the introduction of mixed-member proportional representation

New Zealand now has a “split-ticket” voting system, first vote is candidate vote and second vote is party vote

Majoritarian electoral system

Candidates or parties with the most votes win

Proportional electoral system

Goal: Produce proportional outcomes

Ex: If a party wins 10% of the vote, it SHOULD win 10% of seats

What type of electoral system is most common in the world

Majoritarian electoral-systems

What type of electoral system does the US use

Single-member district plurality system

What is district magnitude

Refers to the number of representatives elected in a district

How does district magnitude vary across electoral systems

More proportional when the district magnitude is large, as smaller parts are much more likely to win seats

What is a party system

A concept in comparative politics concerning the system of government by political parties in a democratic country

What is a political party

Control the government, has a stable base of mass popular support, and create internal mechanisms for controlling funding, informations & nominations

Political party’s goal

To attain power

Political party’s purpose

To recruit, nominate, and evaluate candidates for election

Social cleavage’s: cross-cutting

When different social or political identifiers overlap

Social cleavages: Reinforcing

When two different identifiers are aligned

Common cleavages around the world

-Racial

-Religious

-Political

-Ethnic

How have social cleavages changed overtime

Shifts in demographics, economic conditions, or cultural factors impacting political alignments

Duverger’s law

Single-member district plurality systems encourage two-party systems

Duverger’s theory

The size of a country’s party system depends on the complex interplay of both social and institutional forces

How do Duverger’s law differ from Duverger’s theory

Duverger’s law focuses on the restriction of two parties under FPTP, while Duverger’s theory describes the overall mechanisms and how different voting systems affect party competition

Strategic voting

Voting in consideration of possible ballots cast by other voters in order to maximize one’s satisfaction with the election’s results

What are some determinants of party system size

-District magnitude

-Electoral thresholds

-Government structure

Candidate quotas

Legally mandated requiring all political parties to include a minimum percentage of under-representative groups on political list

Reserved seat quotas

-Regulations set aside a fixed number or percentage of seats in a legislative body to be filled by a specific group

-Ensures the election of a certain number of representatives

Voluntary party quotas

Internal rules adopted by political parties, not law, to mandate that a specific percentage of candidates are women or unrepresented groups

Wha are political gender quotas

Political tools or legal requirements that mandate a specific percentage or number of seats/positions for women and/or men designed to accelerate gender-balanced representation in politics & corporate government

Majoritarian Democracy

“Winner takes all” mindset

Consensus democracy

Prioritize power-sharing

Formalistic representation

Focuses on the institutional rules, authorization, and accountability.

*Asks if the agent is officially authorized to represent, rather than what they do

Descriptive representation

Focuses on “resemblance” between representatives and the represented sharing same race, gender, and background.

*Asks if the body “looks like” the people regardless of actions

Substantive representation

Focuses on actions- what the representative does on behalf of the constituents such as voting or drafting legislation that acts in their interest

Symbolic representation

Focuses on meaning the representative has the represented, or how they stand for them.

*Invokes the feelings of legitimacy or patriotism, independent of policy actions