PLSC 3 - Chs. 11 - 13

Exam 4

Presidential Democracies

The government is not responsible to the elected legislature

Semi-Presidential Democracy

The head of state is elected for a fixed term of office

Parliamentary Democracies

The head of state is not elected for a fixed term of office and the government bears legislative responsibility

Legislative Responsibility

When the majority of the legislature can, for any reason, remove the government from office without cause

Vote of No Confidence

In a non-presidential democracy, the legislature can force the government to resign if the legislative majority votes to do so

Investiture Vote

A parliamentary government must face a vote before officially taking office to ensure a majority of the legislature deems them competent

Constructive Vote of No Confidence

The legislature must indicate who will replace the government if the incumbent loses a vote of no confidence

Vote of Confidence

Initiated by the current government. If they fail to obtain a legislative majority through the vote, they must resign

Who is the head of state in a democracy?

Either the President or a Monarch

Prime Minister

Political chief executive and head of the government in a parliamentary democracy

Cabinet

It is composed of ministers who are responsible for different portfolios (different departments) who are typically chosen by the political chief executive or head of the government

Ministerial Responsibility

Refers to the constitutional doctrine that cabinet ministers must bear ultimate responsibility for what happens in their ministry in a parliamentary democracy

Collective Cabinet Responsibility

Refers to the doctrine by which ministers must publicly support collective cabinet decisions in a parliamentary democracy. If they do not support them publicy, they have to resign

Formateur (Parliamentary)

Often the Prime Minister designate since their job is to form the government

Caretaker Government

In a parliamentary democracy, when a new election happens or a vote of no confidence succeeds, the incumbent government remains in office until a new government is chosen

Office Seeking Politicians

They want intrinsic benefits or office, and the formateur can only get other parties to join the government by giving them office

Policy Seeking Politicians

Those who want to shape policy, the formateur can only get other parties to join the government by giving them policy concessions

Minimal Winning Coalition (MWC)

Only including the exact number of parties necessary in a government to maintain a legislative majority

Connected Coalition

When members of parties are located directly next to each other in the political sphere

Gamson’s Law

Cabinet portfolios will be distributed among government parties in strict proportion to the number of seats each party contributes to the government’s legislative seat total

Single-Party Minority Government

When a single party that does not command a legislative majority controls the government

Minority Coalition Government

Many parties that do not command a legislative majority control the government. They still have an implicit majority through the support of other parties

Surplus Majority Government

More parties than are strictly necessary to have a legislative majority

Corporatist Interest Group Relations

Occur when key social and economic actors (labor, business, and agriculture groups) are integrated into formal policymaking

Pluralist Interest Group Relations

Occur when interest groups compete in the political marketplace outside of the formal policymaking process

President

The political Chief Executive and Head of State in Presidential Democracies. Just the Head of State in others

When are minority governments more common?

In Presidential democracies due to legislative support not being needed or when opposition influence is strong and when outsiders have a greater say in the government

Non-Partisan Minister

Someone who does not come from the legislature

When do coalition governments not exist in a presidential democracy?

When the government race is in a pure office-seeking world

Premier-Presidential System (Semi-Presidential)

The government can be removed by the legislature, but not the President

President-Parliamentary System (Semi-Presidential)

Both the legislature and the President can remove the government

Executive Branch (Semi-Presidential)

The President and the government

What are the Presidents’ and Prime Ministers’ roles in a Semi-Preisdential government?

The President is the Head of State, and the Prime Minister is the Political Chief Executive

Cohabitation

A president from one party and a prime minister from another. It is not divided government as a vote of no confidence exists

Delegation

Occurs when the principal delegates some power to an agent to get tasks done

Systems of Accountability

Each level of delegation holds the one above it accountable for its decisions. The system is less transparent in multi-chain delegation systems

Principal-Agent/Delegation Problem

When an agent may have different goals than a principal and/or cannot be perfectly monitored

Agency Loss

Difference between the actual consequences and what would have happened if there were a perfect agent

Perfect Agent

One that does what a principal would have done if they were the agent

Adverse Selection Problem

When the agent has hidden attributes from the principal

Moral-Hazard

When the agent can take actions hidden from the principal

Ex-Ante Mechanisms

Helps the principal learn about their agents before they are chosen

Screening Devices

A test or a task to distinguish between good or bad candidates

Selection Mechanism

A signaling failure that determines if the agent is a good candidate or not

Ex-Post Mechanisms

Used to learn about the actions of agents after they have occurred

Fire-Alarm System

Principal relies on information from others to learn about what the agent is doing

Police Patrol System

The principal monitors the action of their agents themself or through other agents

When are delegation problems greater?

In presidential democracies over parliamentry ones, due to a multi-chain system

Elections in Democracy

Used to show consent given from the people

Elections in Dictatorships

Used to show where oppositions are geographically located

Electoral Integrity

Refers to elections meeting internatonal standards and global norms

Electoral Malpractice

Violating electoral integrity via activities such as stuffing ballot boxes, and making elections restrictive

Election Monitoring

Visiting polling stations to make sure things are going well. It can increase electoral fraud in unmonitored stations

Election Forensics

Usage of looking at turnout rates and results as a whole

Benford’s Law

Refers to how likely you are to see the first digits and second digits of a number

Majoritarian System

A system where whichever candidate or party wins the most votes wins the election in most cases. Some do not require candidates to win a majority

Single-Member District Plurality (SMDP)

A system where individuals cast a single vote for a candidate in a single-member district. It is the most common system

Single Nontransferable Vote System (SNTV)

A system where voters cast a single candidate-centered vote in a multimember district. The top candidates win

Alternative Vote System (AV)

A system where voters in a single-member district rank their preference order of candidates. If a candidate wins an absolute majority of first-ranked votes, they are immediately elected. If not, it goes down the line until someone is elected

Majority-Runoff Two-Round System (TRS)

A system used for electing presidents where voters cast a single candidate-centered vote in a single-member district. Any candidate who wins an absolute majority in the first round is elected, if that does not happen, the top two go into a second round

Proportional Electoral Systems

Quota or divisor-based system used in multimember districts.

List Proportional Representation (PR) Systems

Each party lists candidates in a multimember district and parties receieve seats in proportion to the percentage of votes their list had in the election

Quota System

Says how many votes a party needs to win to get a seat in a district. For example, winning one seat for every 10,000 votes gained for the party

Divisor System

Divides the total number of votes won by each party in a district by a series of numbers (divisors) to obtain quotients. The highest numbers out of the divisors get the seats

District Magnitude

Refers to the number of representatives elected in a district

Electoral Threshold

Minimum amount of votes needed to get a seat

Natural Threshold

Mathematical by-product of the electoral system

Formal Threshold

A threshold that is written into electoral law

When is electoral proportionality low?

When an electoral threshold is high

Closed Party List System

The party leader determines the order of the candidates on the list; voters cannot express specific preferences but rather only vote for the party

Open Party List System

The voters can indicate both the preferred party as well as their favorite candidate inside of the party

Free Party List System

Voters have multiple votes they can allocate either within a single party list or across different party lists

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

A candidate-centered preferential system in multimember districts where there is a quota. Once a candidate reaches that quota, they are elected. If nobody is elected in the first round, the least picked candidate is eliminated, and the votes are counted again

Mixed Electoral Systems

Systems where voters elect their representatives through two different systems

Electoral Tiers

A requirement for mixed electoral systems where there are levels of which votes are translated into seats such as the district level and the national level

Independent Mixed Electoral System

Majoritarian and proportional components of the electoral system happen independently from each other

Depdendent Mixed Electoral System

Majoritarian and proportional components of the electoral system happen at the same time and depend on each other

Political Parties

Groups of people who are trying to hold office, as well as those who vote them into office

4 Main Purposes of Political Parties

1. Structure the political world

2. Recruitment and socialization of the political elite

3. Mobilization of the masses

4. Link between rulers and the ruled

Non-Partisan Democracy

No official political parties in the system

Single-Party System

Only one party is allowed to exist. This can only be seen in dictatorships

One-Party Dominant System

Multiple parties are allowed to exist, but only one has a realistic chance of gaining power

Two-Party System

The classification for when there are two significant and dominant parties. There can be more than two, however

Multi-Party Systems

The classification for when there are three or more parties that have a chance. Coalition governments are popular

Primordial (bottom-up) View

Party formation treats parties as the natural representatives of people who share common interests

Instrumental (top-down) View

Party formation treats parties as teams of office seekers and focuses on the role of the political elite

Political Entrepreneurs

Create parties which are able to represent a previously unrepresented interest and even make citizens aware of that interest

3 Necessary Components of Populism

1. People-centrism

2. Anti-pluralism

3. Moralized politics

Attribute

A characteristic such as religion, class, language, and others, that qualifies an individual for membership in an identity group. These are given and self-evident

Identity Group

Social groups where individuals place themselves based on their attributes. These are socially constructed

Cross-cutting Attributes

A country with uncorrelated attributes. There is no evident cleavages

Reinforcing Attributes

A country with correlated attributes. There are evident cleavages

Duverger’s Theory

Social divisions are the primary driving force behind party formation (the more there are, the more demand for parties), but electoral institutions affect how cleavages are translated into parties

Mechanical Effect

The way votes are translated into seats. Disproportional electoral systems punish small parties but reward large parties

Strategic Effect

The way votes are translated into seats influences the strategic behavior of voters and the political elite. People tend to vote strategically and elites enter strategically

When will political parties be low?

Where countries have low cleavages (regardless of their electoral rules), or if the demand from cleavages is high but the electoral rules do not allow for proportionality (SMDP)

When will there be many parties?

If there are high amounts of cleavages and the electoral rules allow for proportionality (PR)

Proximity Voting

Voting for the party located closest to oneself in policy positions

Median Voter Theorem

Predicts that parties converge on the position of the median voter. As the numbers of parties increase, they are expected to disperse out in the policy sphere

Issue Competition

When parties compete by trying to strategically shape how much voters care about different issues. Parties put emphasis on some issues over others