Pol114: Midterm

Tariffs

taxes on imported goods

Democratic Transition

moving to democracy from some other form of government 

Top-Down Transition

the rulers start to feel pressure (from groups in society, business community, international communities, etc). Negotiated compromise. Initiated by the leaders, voluntarily introducing reforms.

• less violent and more stable

Bottom-Up Transition

Grassroots– people show up and start protesting, and can end up in violence. (ex. Arab Spring). Ordinary citizens force a collapse

• Matters what side the military is on

Competitive Authoritarianism

Countries that are experiencing backsliding, but still have competitive elections–rigged in a way that makes it hard for the competition to succeed. Elements of democracy combined with authoritarianism.

• Elections are being conducted- there is competition, but it is not fair. 

Hybrid Regimes

under competitive authoritarianism, combine both democratic features (such as regular, multi-party elections) and authoritarian practices (such as restricted civil liberties and skewed political competition)

Democratic Consolidation

the political process by which a new democracy matures into a stable and permanent system where it becomes the only game in town (no other systems trying to overthrow it)

Democratic Consolidation: Two Turnover Test

You have an autocratic regime, then it has a democratic transition through an election. When party A loses and can transition power peacefully to party B– when power B loses again to party A peacefully, that is considered two turnovers.  

Democratic Consolidation: Only Game in Town Consensus

everyone in the country (especially prominent figures/stakeholders) all agree that the only way to change a government is through free and fair elections. Agreed that this option is the only available.

Deconsolidation/backsliding

deconsolidation refers to the public losing faith in democratic norms, and backsliding refers to the actual institutional breakdown caused by leaders or political shifts.

Vertical Accountability

referring to elections–all the rules/regulations associated with them, and the general public holding governments accountable through them

Horizontal Accountability

Independent institutions that enforce democracy (ex. Justice department, FBI, Judiciary Commission, Police Commission, Anti-corruption Commission, Labor Commission)-central to holding the government accountable. 

Three Waves of Democracy

• 1st Wave: 1820s-1920s: only about 15 countries becoming a democracy 

  • 1st Reversed Wave: 1922-1942–mainly due to the rise of facism, number of democracies go down 

• 2nd Wave: 1942-1962: DRASTIC increase in number of democracies due to decolonization & countries becoming independent 

  • 2nd Reversed Wave: 1962-1974–mainly because of communism/the Cold War. The US supported autocrats, as long as they weren’t communist it was okay. SUPPORT FOR AUTOCRACIES & LACK OF INSTITUTIONS 

• 3rd Wave: 1974- soviet union imploding, leaders dying, etc. 

Hungary and the US with Competitive Authoritarianism

• Trump’s efforts to concentrate authority in an all-controlling executive parallels what happened in Hungary with Viktor Orban– created EU’s only autocracy

  • Trump has greater constraints than Orban though, despite their similarities 

  • Trump has more constraints, can’t weaken checks and balances as easily

  • Orban was able to autocratize the country due to flaws in the democracy

Populism

• Claim to represent the common person/real people, (varies who they are talking about). 

  • Leaders are personalistic in politics, looking for unrestrained power–end up undermining the institutions that do this.

  • Divides society into normal people and elite.

Right Wing Populists

focus on national identity and culture. anti-immigrant, anti-sementic, misogynistic 

Left Wing Populists

focus on economic inequality and corporate power. Want to take wealth from the rich and redistribute it.

Similarity between left and right wing populists

• THEY BOTH HATE GLOBALIZATION- left see it as a way for multinational corporations to grow more powerful, right sees it as hollowing out of small scale industries 

• They also almost always fail, causing more damage to the country

Presidential Democracy

when the government does not depend on/need support of a legislative majority to exist. (government refers to the executive and their cabinet). President and cabinet are NOT members of the HOR or Senate  

Parliamentary Democracy

• when the government depends ONLY on a legislative majority to exist (government is the prime minister and its cabinet). Power is fused, the prime minister and cabinet are ALSO members of the parliament.

  • If the prime minister doesn’t have a majority, he can’t run the government.

Mixed Democracy

government depends on a legislative majority and an independently elected president (ex. France, Mali, Ukraine, Sri Lanka). Could lead to issues if the president is from one party and the legislative is from another. 

Majority System for electing representatives

have to have >50% of the votes

Plurality System for electing representatives

Whoever wins the largest amount of votes (whoever comes first, you don’t need a majority). You have the largest share of whoever was competing.

Runoff in a majority system of voting

if there is no majority, take people who came first and second and run another election. (participation typically goes down)

Majority-Plurality Two Round System

if someone wins a majority, the election is over. If they DON’T win the majority, they take anyone that earned 12.5% or more of the votes and go again. In the second round, you don’t have to win a majority to get elected, you just need to get first place. 

• France uses this system.

Single Member District Plurality System (First Past the Post)

Electing only one person, and whoever comes first wins. (US, UK)

The problem is when you have multiple people, someone may only win 33% of the votes but you still come first. This means 66% didn’t pick you to represent them.

Easy to understand

Alternative Voting System (Instant Runoff/Rank Order Voting)

On ballot paper, you rank the different candidates by your preferences. Don’t have to rank them all. 

Proportional Representation

feature of consociationalism, Number/percentage of seats a party gets is directly connected to the number/percentage of votes the party won

• Leads to many parties 

Israel’s Proportional Representation

• Have 120 seats, need 61 seats to form government

• In the history of Israel, no party has ever one 61 seats 

• If cant form majority, have to keep having elections

• Party wins 10% of votes, wins 10% of seats 

• Not voting for candidate, voting for party

• Better for multiethnic country with lots of groups

Duvergers Law

first past the post systems leads to TWO PARTY governments, while proportional representation usually leads to MANY PARTIES.

Mixed Electoral System

• Mixing first past the post with proportional representation

• With one vote you're voting for a party, with one vote you're voting for a party

• Ex. 500 seats 

  • 250 districts

  • Picking someone to represent your district, whoever comes first wins 

  • Use another vote, you vote for a party

• Ex. Japan, NZ

• Can be more democratic

Presidential System of Government

• President is directly elected

• Can be unitary, federal

• The Head of State is usually popularly elected for a FIXED period. 

• The legislature can neither appoint or remove the government 

• Head of State is ALSO the head of government 

• In the US, we know when the elections will be held, always

• Hard to get rid of president → impeach 

Parliamentary System of Government

• Can be unitary, federal

• Ex. India is federal, but parliamentary

• Ex. UK is unitary, but parliamentary

• Cabinet: prime minister and leading members

• In the UK, the King is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government —> the country is run in the name of the King. 

• The prime minister in most countries is elected for a 5 year period (terms are not fixed)

• In other countries, ex. Israel, India, the head of state is the president.

• NO FIXED TERMS IN PARLIAMENT- can call elections anytime, don’t need to call election to change prime minister

Aspects of UK Parliament

King is the Head of State, Prime Minister is the Head of Government— country is run in the name of the King/Queen. Prime minister can request to DISSOLVE parliament at any point by going to the head of state.

Prime ministers can be changed without election.

In a UK parliament power is…

FUSED. prime minister is head of gov with cabinet (executive). The same group of people will also be members of parliament. (power isn’t separated like it is in the US)

Hung Parliament

• no party has a majority in parliament. 

  • If the party had the most seats, the king would ask the leader of the party to try and form a government in the king's name. 

• Government is tried to be formed by two parties joining together, or the largest party tries to govern alone

Restraint in parliament

Knowing power will alternate

Knowing your decisions can be overturned

House of Commons

known as the “peoples house,” as its elected. 650 MP’s (members of parliament). propose and pass new laws, approve government spending. Leader of the party that has majority of the seats becomes the PRIME MINISTER.

MP’s DO NOT have to live in a constituency to represent them, can be from all over.

House of Lords

the upper house, 800 members are known as peers. Chose by their knowledge and expertise for life. Includes small number of hereditary peers and spiritual peers. Acts as a second opinion on laws, using specialized knowledge to improve things coming from the Commons.

Shadow Cabinet

• the leadership of the opposition. They follow very closely what the government is doing. (ex. Shadow minister of Education follows the Minister of education to see what they are doing)

  • If you aren’t on governments side you are the opposition 

  • Role is to see what they are doing, what their policies are doing, etc

  • All members of house of commons

  • Allows for a quick transition of government (shadowers can take over quickly)

  • Keeps governing party accountable

Political parties in the UK

Labor Party: majority of government today, want less inequality, strong public services.

Tories (conservative party): free market, lower taxes, traditional values.

Lib Dems: individual freedoms, constitutional reform.

Reform UK: limits on immigration, lower taxes, euroscpeticism.

Party ruling during Brexit

UK indpendence party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage

Seperation between powers of Monarch and Prime Minister

• King is head of state–has no power, but the country is run in his name 

• Prime minister and his parties RULE, monarch reigns 

Monarch’s Reserved Powers (6)

• Calling for new elections (prime minister has to dissolve parliament for this to occur)

• Power of Veto (never happens)

• Conferring with Prime Minister (meets about once a week, right to be consulted, right to encourage, right to warn, access to all classified docs)

• Forming a government

• address to parliament

• symbol of the state (represents state and its his government)

Fundamental Principles within the UK

1. Constitutional Monarchy

2. Unitary State

3. Executive and Legislative are Fused

4. Parliament is sovereign (what they say goes)

5. Strong ethic of responsible government

6. adhere to some EU rules

West Lothian Question

Idea that the Welsh, Northern Irish, and Scottish have regional parliament, and can vote on regional issues. England doesn’t have this, decisions made by parliament in Westminster. 

Judicial Review

UK does not have judicial review (including pre and post enactment).

• Court can rule on procedural issues, not if the laws passed in parliament are constitutional (like what the US does)

Post-Enactment Judicial Review

legislation has passed, then it goes to the court. The court doesn’t rule on anything before it is passed.

Pre Enactment Judicial Review

before a bill is voted on and becomes law, the bill is published in the “government newspaper”, to brief the country on what they will be doing. The court can send a note to the government that there are issues in it, so then the supreme court will tweak it.

Eurosceptics

skeptical about the EU

Europhiles

loves the EU, want to rejoin

Sources contributed to Britains Unwritten Constitution (5)

1. common law (legal precedents, court rulings abt individual freedom)

2. Statue Law: laws passed by parliament (more important than common law, because parliament is sovereign, can pass laws that override common law) 

3. European Law: human rights, trade issues, (observe/practice EU laws and regulations and meet their standards)

4. Customs and Conventions

5. Commentaries  articles by prominent people (ex, scholars, legal journals, house of commons and lords)

Four Freedoms of Being Apart of the EU

1. Freedom of Goods 

   1. Customs union–all the rules about the trade of goods are the same for every member (ex. Germany can’t tax france higher than bulgaria) 

      1. Connected to a common market, so there must be common standards

2. Freedom of Services

3. Freedom of Capital

   1. Can do business anywhere in the EU

4. Freedom of People

   1. Can go from one country to another in the EU without a passport, visa, etc.