pol100 Quiz 2

Mass political parties

Educate working class and recruit

Financially dependant on members

More accountable to members

Emerge from the working class eg. socialist and worker parties

Cadre political parties

Elite driven

Have more money

Influential people, prestige, connections

Cadre tend to turn mass over time

Iron law of oligarchy

Political theory by Robert Michels

States that all forms of organization, no matter how democratic they will start will eventually end up developing oligarchic tendencies

Electoral-professional parties

Employ professionals to market the party to voters

Less clear ideologies

Benefits them to be vague and broad

Brockerage party

Find compromises and diversify interests

Focus on national unity

Water down political ideological positions

Eg. liberal party of Canada

Programmatic party

No compromises, specific ideas

Eg. NDP and Green

Personalistic

revolves around one person

Single influential party

Party is a vehicle for leaders political progression

Juan Perón of Argentina in 1945

Two party system

Two leading parties typically win most seats in legislature

Usually results in majority government with an opposition

Competitive

Multi party system

Three or more parties: two-plus system (Uk, Canada)

moderate multi-party system: 3-5, (Germany

Fragmented multiparty system: 5 or more parties, less stability, longer negotiations (Italy, Netherlands, Belgium)

One party dominant system

A single party rules for long periods

Opposition is weak or divided

Cannot challenge the dominant party for control of the government

Japan (Liberal Democratic Party) South Africa (African National Congress) Singapore (People’s Action Party)

Party Caucus

Closed door meeting of the parties parliamentary members (Prime Minister and Cabinet)

Universal suffrage

All adult citizens have the equal right to vote, regardless of gender, ethnicity, wealth or education

Rural population agrees their vote doesn’t matter as much as those in urban areas

Gerrymandering

Named after governor Gerry of Massachusetts

Boundaries of electoral districts are redrawn in one way, giving one political party an unfair advantage

Politicians choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians

Plurality/Majoritarian;MMP

Single representative

Which candidate lost the most votes

Designed to ensure that winning candidate has the support of the majority, but not always the case

Single member plurality (first past the post)

criticism: inaccurately translates votes to seats

Canada, UK, British colonies

Runoff elections

Two-round elections

An election held if no candidate receives a majority of votes (<50%) generally, only the top two candidates appear on the second ballot to ensure that the winning candidate has the majority of the votes cast

The candidate with the most votes on the second ballot wins

Designed to reduce the fragmentation of the French

Independent commission

Internal neutral party that monitors elections

Also external groups assess freedom and fairness of election

Single member plurality/FPTP

Part of plurality/majoritarian gov

Has stability and take more determined action

But imposes an artificial majority and a particular perspective

Also less democratic than proportional representation systems

Preferential voting

Vote in rank and the candidate with the first preference wins

If no first preference majority, one with least votes is eliminated

Mixed member proportional

Mixture of single member plurality/majoritarian and proportional representation

2 votes, vote for candidate and vote for party

Winner takes all but the seats reflect the percentages

Proportional representation

The proportion of seats a part obtains in there legislature is about the same as the proportion of votes obtained

Every party gets representation

Closed list PR: party decides order of candidates, voters choose from the party list

Open list PR: voters choose preferred candidate

Single transferrable vote system

Voters rank candidates

Candidates must reach a quota to be elected

Elongated candidates transferred to next preferences

Focus on individual candidates

State

Four conditions:

Defined territory

Permanent population

Government

Capacity to enter relations to other states/recognition by other states

Sovereignty

Highest authority for their population and territory

Act independently, not subject to external authority

Legally equal to other states

Equal abroad, master at home

De Jure sovereignty

The legal and recognizable authority of the states to govern itself and make decisions independently

The Facto sovereignty

The actual control and exercise of power by a state, regardless of its legal recognition or legitimacy

State vs government

Ship vs master

UN structure

193 member states, 2 observer states

Six main organs

General assembly: main policy making and decisive organ, adopts non-binding resolutions

Security council: P5 with Veto, 10 other voters that switch out every 2 years

Economic and social council (SDGs)

ICJ: 15 judges elected to dispute legal issues between states

Secretariat: headed by UN secretary general Antonia Guterres

Trusteeship council: support transition to independence for countries tagt have been colonized, now a “retired body”

P5

Russia, UK, US, France, China

Russia veto power on resolutions concerning Syrian civil war, US veto power on resolutions stating Israeli settlements as illegal

Only protects national interests

Failed state

State that is unable to enforce laws, maintain order, protect the lives of citizens, and provide basic services

Civil wars, extreme corruption, violence, economic collapse, no governing authority

By calling nations failed states it over generalizes and is used to justify military intervention and state building

Nation vs Nation-state

Nation state: dominant ethnic group, homogenous, no minorities country

Nation: the people, but not everyone is alike. people share common identity based on language, culture, religion, territory, self government

Types of nationalism

Ethnic nationalism: common ancestors, traditions, language for a nation-state

Civic: shared optical values as a basic for a nation-state

Globalization

Economic globalization: free trade and markets, less role of government, efficiency

Cultural globalism: flow of cultures, particularly Western culture, colonization of the mind

Political globalization: UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank, other international legal orders

Institutions that developed to coordinate the actions of states to deal with global problems