Chapter 11 Flashcards

Flashcards about Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Democracies

How are democracies often classified?

According to their form of government: Parliamentary, Presidential, or Semi-Presidential.

What is legislative responsibility?

A situation in which a legislative majority has the constitutional power to remove a government from office without cause.

What is a vote of no confidence?

It is initiated by the legislature, requiring the government to resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority.

What is a constructive vote of no confidence?

A vote of no confidence that must indicate who will replace the government if the incumbent loses.

What is a vote of confidence?

It is initiated by the government, and the government must resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority.

What is the defining feature of presidential democracies regarding legislative responsibility?

They do not have legislative responsibility.

What democracies have legislative responsibility?

Parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies.

What additional feature do semi-presidential democracies have besides legislative responsibility?

A head of state who is popularly elected for a fixed term.

How is a head of state considered popularly elected?

If they are elected through direct ballots for a candidate or through an electoral college whose sole purpose is to elect the head of state.

Where can presidents exist in a democracy?

Presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary democracies.

Where do monarchs exist?

Only in parliamentary democracies.

Define presidential democracy

Democracies in which the government doesn’t depend on a legislative majority to exist are presidential.

Define parliamentary democracy

Democracies in which the government depends on a legislative majority to exist and in which the head of state isn’t popularly elected for a fixed term are parliamentary.

Define semi-presidential democracy

Democracies in which the government depends on a legislative majority to exist and in which the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term are semi-presidential.

In a parliamentary democracy, what does the government comprise of?

A prime minister and the cabinet.

In a parliamentary democracy, who is the political chief executive and head of the government?

The prime minister.

What is the cabinet in a parliamentary democracy?

It is composed of ministers whose job it is to be in the cabinet and head the various government departments.

What is ministerial responsibility?

It is the constitutional doctrine by which cabinet ministers must bear ultimate responsibility for what happens in their ministry.

What is collective cabinet responsibility?

It is the doctrine by which ministers must publicly support collective cabinet decisions or resign.

In a parliamentary democracy, who do voters elect?

Representatives, who then bargain over who should go into government instead of governments.

What must all proposed governments enjoy when thinking about the government formation process?

The confidence of the legislature, both to come to power and to stay in power.

In some countries, what may a potential government have to demonstrate?

That it has legislative support before it can take office

What does the head of state do over the government formation process

Presides over the government formation process and grants a government the constitutional authority to take office.

What is a formateur?

The person designated to form the government in a parliamentary democracy, and is often the PM designate.

What is an informateur?

An informateur examines politically feasible coalitions and nominates a formateur.

What is an investiture vote?

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

What is a caretaker government?

A government that occurs when an election is called or when an incumbent government either resigns or is defeated in a vote of no confidence and remains in office until the next government formation process is completed.

What is Gamson's Law?

Cabinet portfolios will be distributed among government parties in strict proportion to the number of seats each party contributes to the government’s legislative seat total.

What is a minimal winning coalition (MWC)?

One in which there are no parties that aren’t required to control a legislative majority.

What is a least minimal winning coalition?

The MWC with the lowest number of surplus seats.

What is a connected coalition?

A connected coalition is one in which the member parties are located directly next to each other in the policy space.

What is a single-party majority government?

A single-party majority government comprises a single party that controls a majority of the legislative seats.

What is a single-party minority government?

A single-party minority government comprises a single party that doesn’t command a majority of the legislative seats.

What is a minority coalition government?

A minority coalition government comprises multiple governmental parties that don’t together command a majority of the legislative seats.

What is a surplus majority government?

A surplus majority government comprises more parties than are strictly necessary to control a majority of the legislative seats.

What do corporatist interest group relations entail

key social and economic actors, such as labor, business, and agriculture groups, are integrated into the formal policymaking process.

What do pluralist interest group relations entail

interest groups compete in the political marketplace outside of the formal policymaking process.

In a presidential democracy, what does the government comprise of?

The president and the cabinet.

In a presidential democracy, who is the political chief executive and head of state?

The president.

What is the cabinet in a presidential democracy?

It is composed of ministers whose job it is to be in the cabinet and head the various government departments.

In a presidential democracy, what is the executive branch?

The government and the president.

In presidential democracies, why are minority governments more frequent?

A minority government that enjoys the implicit support of a legislative majority can exist in both presidential and parliamentary democracies. A minority government that doesn’t have the implicit support of a legislative majority can exist only in presidential democracies.

What is a nonpartisan minister

Someone who does not come from the legislature.

What are the two types of semi-presidential democracy?

1. In a premier-presidential system, the government is responsible to the legislature but not the president. 2. In a president-parliamentary system, the government is responsible to the legislature and the president.

In a semi-presidential democracy, what does the government comprise of?

A prime minister and the cabinet.

In a semi-presidential democracy, who is the political chief executive and the head of state?

The prime minister is the political chief executive and the president is the head of state.

In a semi-presidential democracy, what does the executive branch comprise of?

The president and the government.

What is cohabitation in semi-presidential democracies?

Cohabitation – a president from one political bloc and a prime minister from another – occurs when the party of the president doesn’t control a majority in the legislature and isn’t represented in the cabinet.

What is delegation?

An act where one person or group, called the principal, relies on another person or group, called an agent, to act on their behalf.

What is direct democracy?

A form of government in which people collectively make decisions for themselves.

What is representative democracy?

A form of government where citizens delegate power to elected individuals to represent them and act on their behalf.

What is a principal-agent (or delegation) problem?

Principal-agent, or delegation, problem refers to the difficulties that arise when a principal delegates authority to an agent who (1) potentially has different goals than the principal and (2) can’t be perfectly monitored.

What is agency loss?

The difference between the actual consequence of delegation and what the consequence would have been had the agent been perfect.

Was delegation successful?

Delegation is considered successful if the delegation outcome improves the principal’s welfare relative to what would have happened if the principal had chosen not to delegate.

What is adverse selection?

Adverse selection occurs when the agent has attributes that are hidden from the principal. Types are unobserved.

What is moral hazard?

Moral hazard occurs when the agent has the opportunity to take actions that are hidden from the principal. Actions are unobserved.

What are ex ante mechanisms?

Mechanisms that help principals to learn about their agents before these agents are chosen; useful if principals anticipate adverse selection problems.

What are ex post mechanisms?

Mechanisms that are used to learn about the actions of agents after they’ve occurred; useful if principals anticipate moral hazard problems.

What is a fire alarm system?

A fire alarm system is when the principal relies on information from others to learn about what the agent is doing.

What is a police patrol system?

A police patrol system is when the principal monitors the actions of their agents themself.