Key Concepts in Comparative Politics: Governments, Electoral Systems, and Representation

Caretaker government

Temporary, non-elected government that manages a country's day-to-day affairs between an election and the formation of a new government

Civil Service Systems

Rules and laws that govern how public employees are hired, kept, and promoted.

Clientelism

Giving targeted goods or services in exchange for individual political support.

Cohabitation

Having a president from one political block and a prime minister from another; occurs when the party of the president does not control a majority in the legislature and is not represented in the cabinet

Constituency service

Help provided by elected officials to people in their district to deal with government problems or bureaucracy.

Core Voter

predisposed to a specific political party or programmatic grounds

Decentralization

actual policymaking power lies with the central or regional government in a country

Delegation

When a principal gives authority to an agent to act on their behalf.

Descriptive representation

When representatives physically or socially resemble their constituents.

Duverger's law

Hold that the simple-majority single-ballot system favors the two-party system

District magnitude

How many winners are going to be elected in one district ie. number of seats per district

Electoral formula

Translate votes into seats or offices

(Electoral) threshold

Minimum vote share a party needs to be eligible for a seat

Effective Number of Parties

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

Federalism

a form of political organization in which the activities in the government are divided between regional gov and central gov. Each kind of gov has some activities on which it makes final decision

Insurgency

Technologies for violence, rural guerrilla warfare, is the form through which groups (ethnic, ideological, religious) challenge states

Least minimal winning coalition

minimum winning coalition with the least surplus seat or votes

Legislative Responsibility

Duty of a government's lawmaking body (the legislature) to create laws, control spending, and represent the people

Majoritarian electoral system

Selecting the single candidate that has the most votes

Mixed electoral system

voters elect representatives from two different systems, one maj and on proportional 

Parliamentary democracy

if the government depends on a legislative majority to exist and in which the head of state is not popularly elected for a fixed term

Party Discipline

High when all party members are on the same page about party policy and leaders can speak for the party

Party Platform

Set of policy goals which are supported by a party to appeal to a general public with the purpose of winning votes

Patronage

Politicians appoint trusted individuals to non-elective positions in the public sector

Personal Vote

Occurs when an individual votes based upon the characteristics of a particular candidate rather than the characteristics of the party to which they belong

Political cleavage

Alignment between a social cleavage and a political party that endures over time

Presidential democracy

If the government does not depend on a legislative majority to exist

Primary Election

an election by the political parties to nominate their candidates for the General Election ballot

Principal-agent problem

Refers to the problems that come when a principal delegates authority to an agent who has different goals from the principal and can't be monitored

Proportionality

Electoral system is more proportional if the distribution of seats mirrors the distribution of votes more closely

Semi-presidential democracy

If the government depends on a legislative majority to exist and in which the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term

Strategic voting

Voters choose a candidate not on their personal preference but on the likelihood of influencing the outcome of an election in a specific way

Substantive representation

Representatives 'act for' their constituents by taking actions in line with their constituents' substantive or ideological interests

Symbolic representation

Characterizes the meaning that is constructed when representatives 'stand for' their constituents

Vote of no confidence

A vote showing that a majority does not support the policy of a leader or governing body