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

Refers to the law that govern the recruitment, retention, and promotion of civilian public employees

Clientelism

Distribution of goods or services that is not a public good or not shaped by publicized rules that's contingent on some form of 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

Assistance provided by elected representatives, like legislators or members of Congress, to the people in their district to help them navigate government bureaucracy, solve problems, and address their concerns

Core Voter

Inclined to a specific political party or programmatic grounds

Decentralization

Central governments choose to share policy-making authority with subnational governments

Delegation

Occurs when one person or group relies on another person or group to act on the principal's behalf

Descriptive representation

Characterizes the degree to which representatives resemble and therefore 'stand for' their constituents

Duverger's law

Hold that the simple-majority single-ballot system favors the two-party system Why? Bc there is only one party in their electoral district, and if favored parties are tiny, so strategic choice is to vote for lesser of the evils bc that party has a realistic chance of winning

District magnitude

How many winners are going to be elected in one 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 government and central government

Insurgency

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

Least minimal winning coalition

Does not mean the absolute smallest of parties, no extra parties in addition to those that are required to control a legislative majority

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

Combination of majoritarian and proportional system

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

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

Proportional Representation

candidates are elected in proportion to their support from voters

Electoral Quota

the number of votes a candidate needs to be guaranteed election

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

Characterizes the degree to which 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

FPTP

Choose one, first preference plurality (largest vote share wins)