PS 241 review

Is the government responsible to the elected legislature?

Legislative responsibility (only in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems, not presidential systems), vote of no confidence, constructive vote of no confidence, vote of confidence (initated by government, not legislature)

Is the head of state elected popularly elected for a fixed term?

Presidential democracy: democracies in which the government doesn’t depend upon a legislative majority to exist

Parliamentary democracy: democracies in which the government depends on a legislative majority to exist & in which the head of state isn’t popularly elected for a fixed term

Semi-presidential democracy: democracies in which the government depends on a legislative majority to exist & in which the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term

Majoritarian electoral systems

One in which the candidates or parties that receive the most votes win

Single-member district plurality system

Single nontransferable vote (multimember districts, top # corresponding to # of seats)

Alternative vote (absolute majority, run-offs)

Majority runoff two round system

Proportional electoral systems

All employ multimember districts & use a quota or divisor to determine who’s elected in each district

List PR systems (parties receive legislative seats in proportion to the overall share of votes going to their list)

District magnitude (the number of representatives elected in a district)

Electoral thresholds

Types of party lists (closed vs open)

Single transferable vote (no party lists, multimember districts where members rank their candidates)