Comparative Politics Final exam

Head of _____ in presidential systems is same as _____ of state

Govt, state

1st Difference between presidentialism and parliamentarism

- in parliamentary countries, the executive is divided into two parts: Head of govt (the prime minister) and the head of state (monarch or president)

- The head of state is a figurehead with symbolic, procedural and diplomatic roles, as they are the embodiment of the nation and are above politics. Ex: Queen Elizabeth

Who elects the Prime minister in parliamentary systems? * 2nd difference between parliament and president systems

- In parliamentary countries the Head of Govt (PM) is chosen by the parliament

- Voters elects members of parliament (MPs) who elect a govt from amongst themselves

The cabinet in parlm. systems

- The govt is run by the cabinet which is a collective body

- the govt running the is only indirectly responsible to the electorate

- The PM is the head of the cabinet, the "first among equals"

- FUSED POWERS: executive and legislative powers reside in parliament

Formateur in parlm systems

- The name given to the politician appointed to initiate the process of govt formation after a general election or the collapse of the prior govt

* Puts the govt together

- usually from the largest party/majority and chosen from head of state

- They are in charge of possessing a government (PM and cabinet) to parliament

Forming a govt after an election is a relatively straightforward task if the largest party wins _______ in parlm

majority of seats

If no party holds majority, the formateur can cause a _____ govt or a ____ ____ ____

colation, single party minority

Forming a government in a parlm regime

Number of parties in govt (based on the # of members)

- single party government

- coalition

Govt status (greater or less than 50% of the votes)

- majority

-minority * often centrists

When a minority govt is in place at some point the parlm majority gave it support for them to take office

To stay in power the govt needs the _____ (_________) of a parliamentary majority

support (confidence)

Generally the govt must resign if______

it loses confidence of a parliament majority

- a parlm vote of censure or no confidence removes a govt from power (and a new round of govt formation is initiated)

Parliament can get dissolved when:

- it loses confidence of the parliament majority

or

- at the request of the govt leading to new elections and a subsequent round of govt formation

*** Why is parliament called the system of mutual dependence? 3rd difference between pres and parlm

- Parlm can vote no confidence on the govt and fire it, and the govt can call for new elections dissolving the parliament

-when the govt calls for elections, it puts its future on the line because after the election a different party or coalition may assume govt

A motion of no confidence is like ______ the government. However, the PM can______

firing, attach a confidence vote to a bill which gives parlm an ultimatum to pass the bill or fire me.

Extra The "Constructive" vote of no confidence

- Germany, there is a specific rule that requires that a vote of no confidence in the government

can occur only if parliament can support an alternative government to assume power.

- So if they want to overturn the govt they need a successor ready, this makes votes of no confidence harder

* How to get rid of a prime minister?

- popular election

- parliamentary vote/ voter no confidence

- rejection from within the PM's party

PM in the Cabinet and its functions

The cabinet is the committee that makes the most important political decisions

- It coordinates policy and strategy across the different ministers and manages day to day operations of the executive branch

- Virtual monopoly over the legislative agenda and drafting of bills

Two specific roles

1. political head if one of the major departments of the state (like education, treasury, health, defense)

2. Member of a collective body that ames crucial policy decisions

- every cabinet decision must be signed by a majority of ministers, and each minister is responsible for signing the decisions in their departments

Semi-presidentialism and France

3 elements

1. The president if the republic is directly elected by the people for a fixed term

2. The president possess executive/ considerable powers

3. The president has a PM and a cabinet that can stay as long as they have confidence from the parliament majority

ex: France IV republic (1947-58) with Charles de Gaulle

Two modes of semi-presidnetialism in France

1. The pres. and PM are from the same party (unified govt): The president leads the govt

2. Cohabitation: Pres and PM are from different parties: PM has the primary role in govt and the president remains crucial in foreign policy and defense

Presidential systems

1. The legislative branch remains separate from the executive

2. pres. elected directly by voters for a fixed period of time, not dependent on the confidence of the legislatures

3. head of govt is the same as head of state

4. The pres appoints the members of cabinet

5. president is the sole executive

6. presidents aren't responsible to parlm, held to a "constitutional standard"

7. pres can't dissolve the legislature and call for anticipated elections. A system of mutual INDEPENDENCE

Presidential systems in the US vs Latin American

1. The formal right to initiate legislation (all pres in L.A. countries can initiate legislation on their own without congress)

2. Exclusive rights to initiate legislation in a variety of policy areas (the pres is a gatekeeper in those areas)

3. Presidents often have wide authority to protect financial bills from congressional amending (which often need sponsorship from the pres to pass)

4. A few countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru) have used exceptional decree power in a far-reaching way

5. Wider veto authority (partial and amendatory veto)- presidents can do more with the power of veto

Presidentialism vs Parliamentarism (In terms of democratic stability)

after ww2, statistical analysis showed greater stability in parliamentary regimes than presidential regimes

Why are presidential systems more prone to breakdown than parliamentary systems?

Two arguments

1. Endogenous hypothesis that focus on the inner workings of presidentialism

( something wrong with the constitutional structure of presidentialism)

2. Exogenous hypothesis which focus on the impact of forces unrelated to the inner workings of presidentialism

(The poor performance is caused by other factors)

Advocates of this perspective argue that pres. systems have no incentives to form govt coalitions b/c they...

1. The president doesn't need confidence of a legislature majority to stay in govt (fixed terms)

2. Conjecture: President's do not find formal coalitions useful b/c they can't always rely on them for support

- less displainced

Parliamentarism according to Linz and other advocates..

promote inclusive governments and consensual politics

Why are minority govt's supposed to be a big problem?

- they are executive-legislative deadlock, and are more problematic in pres than parlm systems (since they are harder to get rid of)

_________ makes the formation of minority govts more likely, thereby making this situation a common occurrence

multipartism

What's the classic critique of presidential systems/ why do they provide incentives for executive-legislative deadlocks?

1. The lack of mutual confidence

2. Dual demo legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two represents the will of the people.

3. Style of Pres politics, which leaves less room for consensus building, coalition shifting, and the making of compromises which are hard to defend in public

Cheiubs' argument on why Pres. Demos are fragile

1. coalitions aren't rare in pres. countries

- pres without a single party majority are more likely to form coalitions

- they can still benefit when forming coalitions with other parties

2. minority govts don't make demo breakdown more likely (no statistical evidence found by chieub)

3. multipartism doesn't make dmeo breakdown more likely

- in fact Presidential democracies actually face higher risks of collapsing into an authoritarian regime when there are relatively few parties, between three and four

Deadlock

conditions for it (when no policy change is possible) are said to exist when non-presidentialism parties hold more than 50% of legislative seats, but not enough to override a presidential veto

Military-Presidential Nexus Cherub

Due to the shorter lives of democracy that follow military dictatorships and the fact that pres. systems are more likely to have followed military regimes

(basically civilian dictator who choose parlm later on are better than military dictators who choose pres later on)

________ demo. are more likely to succeed military dictatorships

Presidential

Majoritarianism govt

Def: Govt run by a single maj party (minority parties excluded from govt) plurality elections in single-member districts; no separation of power or bill of rights

case against it:

- Minorities aren't protected or included thus they are less likely to remain moderate or loyal

Foreign Protectorate

Def: foreign powers establish proecterates that restrain the majority and protect minorities

- where third party act as third party guranators

case against it:

- many states are unwilling to give up their sovereignty

- many find it difficult to find a neutral guarantor

- many see the foreign protectorates as biased by the disadvantaged groups

Partition of the state

Def: necessary when significant communities o not wish to remain within a common state, creates borders ex: Czechoslovakia

case against it

- can lead to new minoroties, ethoc conflict, and refuse flowd in sucessor states

- there may be no agreements on the boundaries between ethic groups

****Power sharing (what are the 3 elements)

1. Inclusive government: the participation of reps from all communal groups in political decision making, especially executive authority

2. Group autonomy: give these groups some authority to run their own affairs, especially in areas of education and culture

3. Proportionality: for elections, the allocating of bureaucracy and other offices and the distribution of budgetary funds

**** Power sharing (what are 3-4 institutions)

- PR and compensatory setas which broadly create a representative legislature - proportionality

- Parliamentary systems and the cabinet : collective decision body that offers great setting for power sharing in the executive (inclusive govt), as they can include members of all minorities as members of cabinet

- Federalism and Decentralization (group autonomy): Great for divided societies with geographically concentrated communal groups, as it gives each geyp a chance to have autonomy. Bicameralism not so much since there's a risk of gridlock unless its weak

- can also divide on non-territorial such as with religious divisions

**** Power sharing (what are its probelms)

- hard to enforce the power sharing boundaries and ultimalt creates incentives to entho national crises as leaders in power can increase demands for greater rights as well as the power to backup these demands ( such as vetoing legislation)

****Power Dividing (what are the 3 elements)

1. Civil Liberties: extensive individual rights lower the stakes of politics making many decsion out of government jands. These limits on govt foster fluid as opposed to predetermined intersys.

2. Multiple majorities

the separation of powers at all levels of govt creates multiple majoritoes, which increases the likelihood that ethnic minorities are majorities on some issues and encourages cross cutting identities

3. Checks and balances:

Separation of powers makes it more difficult to form a majority consensus to infringe the rights of minorities and harder to sustain such a situation over many issues over a long time

****Power Dividing (what are the 3-4 institutions )

- Presidentialism w/ the balance of power between the executive and legislative branch

- Bicameral legislatures with upper chambers representing different majorities over unicameral chambers

- Constitutional reforms- would require concurrent approval by multiple organs empowering different majorities.

* Ultimately power dividing must use cross-cutting divisions without breaking ethnic divisions, but something that separates power so no single majority can take all power

****Power Dividing (Problems with it)

- Ethnic leaders may resist flexible settlements

- the heavy reliance of civil rights can worry some groups who question if they will be given fairly

- Minority inclusion in the executive is unlikely

DM (District Magnitude)

The number of seats available in each district at the time of the election

ex: for u.s house rep 1 dm

Plurality in Single member districts

- Dm = 1

- first past the post

- the candidate with the most votes wins

Single non transferable vote

parties present lists of candidates. Each voter picks one candidate. The candidates with the most vote wins (DM>1)

Plurality List (Bloc Vote)

- DM > 1

- different lists of multiple candidates compete, voters pick one list, the list with the most votes wins, and all its members are elected

Majority Rule

1. Majority Runoff DM=1

to win in the first round a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote OR there is a second election between top two vote-getters

2. Majority plurality DM = 1

To win in the first round a candidate need more than 50% of the vote OR there is a second election to choose between those candidates that passed the Electoral threshold

Alternative Vote

DM = 1

Also called "the instant-runoff voting" - it's a type of ranked choice voting system

- voters rank candidate according to preference

Proportional Representation

- DM is always greater than 1

- seats are distributed according to the percentage of votes received by the diff. parties or candidates

PR lists types closed vs open

- closed (vote parties not individuals, no incentive "personal vote")

- Open (pick individuals, higher chances of preference more incentive for a personal vote )

PR Lists can vary according to

- DM

- Mathematical formulas (Hare Quota vs D'hondt divisor system)

- electoral thresholds

-Tiers

- how voters articulate their prefances (open vs. closed lists)

PR and its relation to DM

The higher the DM the more proportional the allocation of seats to votes (making it more favorable for smaller parties to win)

The _____ formula tends to be least proportional and thus favors ____ parties, while the _____ tends to be more proportional and thus favors smaller parties

D'hondt divisor, larger; Hare Quota, smaller

Some counties that use PR establish a _____ ____ of votes to win a seat in parlm, to keep minority parties out

minimum thresholds

Mixed systems

- They combine Plurality and PR elections

- Voters pick a candidate in a single member district and party list in multi member districts (2 votes)

two types

1. Corrective mixed systems (seats are allocated at the end and added)

2. Parallel mixed systems (no corrective measure)

- They both start off as plurality but the difference lies in the fact that parallel don't have corrective seats

The effects of electoral rules

1. Fairness (votes = seats)

- PR systems can foster more inclusive elections and results, while in contrast plurality and majoritarian systems are "winner takes it all" systems and thus tends to be very dispprotionaial

2. Representation and effectiveness (multipartism)

- There is often a trade off between representation for multiple parties and achieving majority

- Single party majority are more efficient than multi party or colarions (concentrated policy-making power and clear govt responsibility

3. Presidential mandate

- Under plurality, a candidate can win office e/ less than a majority of the popular vote

- runoff systems are popular since they force majorities

- However, majority-runoff is associated w/ more candidates running for president than plurality systems

4. Accountability and Personal vote

- Geographically based single member distructs can affect partisan and personal votes

- in closed list PR system High DM center more on party platforms than individuals

- In open lists PR systems candidates compete within their own parties and other parties to win

Duverger's Law

plurality in single member districts tends to generate two-party systems

This is because of two reasons.

1. Mechanical: the fact that it's a single contest with one winner forces parties to regroup join forces

- he believed that parties who don't unite would get eliminated

2. Psychological: Voters don't want to waste their votes for third parties and instead concentrates on the two strongest parties

Duverger's Hypothesis

states that proportional representation electoral rules favor multiparty systems.

- under majority runoff small parties have incentives o run candidates dispute, with hopes of coming up on top