Political Science 2700 Final Exam

top-down transition

the dictatorial ruling elite introduces liberalizing reforms that ultimately lead to a democratic transition

collective action problem

individual members of a group often have little incentive to contribute to the provision of a public good that will benefit all members of the group

public good

non-excludable and non-rival in consumption (e.g. clean air, a lighthouse, democracy)

free-rider problem

same as collective action problem

preference falsification

not revealing one’s true preferences in public

revolutionary threshold

the size of the protest at which an individual is willing to participate

revolutionary cascade

when one person’s participation triggers the participation of another, which triggers the participation of another, and so on

selectorate theory

characterizes all governments by their location in a two dimensional institutional space—the size of the selectorate and winning coalition

tipping model

an individual must choose whether to publicly support or oppose the dictatorship

monarchy

an autocracy in which the executive comes to and maintains power on the basis of family and kin networks

military dictatorship

an autocracy in which the executive relies on the armed forces to come to and stay in power; often ruled by a committee or junta

civilian dictatorship

head of government is not a current or past member of the armed forces or from a family and kin network

dominant-party dictatorship

one party dominates office and control over policy, though other parties may exist and compete in elections

personalistic dictatorship

the leader controls all policy decisions and selection of regime personnel

hegemonic electoral regime

the leader’s party routinely wins with overwhelming majorities

competitive authoritarian regime

opposition parties win substantial minorities

dictator’s dilemma

he relies on repression to stay in power, but this repression creates incentives for everyone to falsify their preferences so that the dictator never knows his true level of societal support

personality cult

alter the beliefs of the citizenry and help the leader hold onto power

Condorcet paradox

a set of rational individuals may not act rationally when they act as a group

Borda count

a candidate-centered electoral system used in either single- or multimember districts in which voters must use numbers to mark their preferences for all of the nominated candidates. These preferences are then assigned a value using equal steps to reflect the voters’ preference ordering. These values are then summed, and the candidates with the most “valuable” votes is (are) elected.

reversal paradox

a situation where a trend observed in several different groups of data disappears or reverses when the groups are combined; can lead to misleading or counterintuitive conclusions about voter behavior, policy support, or electoral outcomes.

sincere voting

actors will vote for their most preferred option

median voter theorem

proposal matching the ideal point of the median voter will defeat all other alternatives if there is/are two alternatives, one dimension, odd number of voters, single-peaked preferences, and sincere voting

single-peaked preferences

characterized by a utility function that reaches a maximum at some point and slopes away from this maximum on either side, such that a movement away from the maximum never raises the actor’s utility

Chaos theorem

if there are two or more dimensions and three or more voters voting sincerely there will be no Condorcet winner

Arrow’s theorem

every decision-making process that we could possibly design must sacrifice at least one of Arrow’s fairness conditions— nondictatorship, universal admissibility, unanimity, or independence from irrelevant alternatives— if it is to guarantee group transitivity and hence stable outcomes

vote of no confidence

initiated by the legislature; if the government does not obtain a legislative majority in this vote, it must resign

constructive vote of no confidence

must indicate who will replace the government if the incumbent loses a vote of no confidence

legislative responsibility

a situation in which a legislative majority has the constitutional power— a vote of no confidence— to remove a government from office without cause

investiture vote

a formal vote in the legislature to determine whether a proposed government can take office

formateur

the person designated to form the government in a parliamentary regime; often the PM designate

informateur

examines politically feasible coalitions and nominates a formateur

minimal winning coalition

there are no parties that are not required to control a legislative majority

least minimal winning coalition

the MWC with the lowest number of surplus seats

Gamson’s law

states that cabinet portfolios will be distributed among government parties in strict proportion to the number of seats that each party contributes to the government’s legislative majority

policy-seeking politician

only wants to shape policy

connected coalition

the member parties are located directly next to each other in the policy space

minority government

the governmental parties do not together command a majority of legislative seats

electoral system

a set of laws that regulate electoral competition between candidates or parties or both

electoral formula

determines how votes are translated into seats

district magnitude

the number of representatives elected in a district

ballot structure

how electoral choices are presented on the ballot paper

alternative vote

used in single-member districts, an electoral system in which voters mark their preferences by rank ordering the candidates. A candidate who receives an absolute majority is elected. If no candidate wins an absolute majority, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and her votes are reallocated until one candidate has an absolute majority of the valid votes remaining

two-round system

candidates or parties are automatically elected in the first round if they obtain a specified level of votes, typically an absolute majority. Those candidates or parties that win the most votes in the second round are elected.

proportional representation

a quota- or divisor-based electoral system employed in multimember districts

electoral threshold

the minimum level of support a party needs to obtain representation

party system

distinguished by the number and size of the parties that they contain

whip

someone who ensures that party members attend legislative sessions and vote as the party leadership desires

nonpartisan democracy

a democracy with no official political parties

two-party system

only two major political parties have a realistic chance of holding power

multiparty system

more than two parties have a realistic chance of holding power

effective number of parties

a measure that captures both the number and the size of parties in a country

social cleavage

urban-rural cleavage, The Confessional cleavage, the secular-clerical cleavage, the class cleavage, the post-material cleavage, ethnic and linguistic cleavages