POL101 Final Exam UofT

Direct Democracy

citizens participate directly in decision-making, rather than electing representatives to make decisions on their behalf

Representative Democracy

citizens elect officials to make decisions and create laws on their behalf.

Majoritarian Electoral System

decisions are made based on the majority rule, meaning policies and laws are determined by the preferences of the majority of the population or their elected representatives.

First Past the Post (FPTP) → Majoritarian

An electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins, regardless of whether they achieve an absolute majority (or if they have less than half the total votes cast). Simple and quick, but can lead to disproportionate results.

Two-round system → Majoritarian

An electoral system in which voting occurs in two stages if no candidate secures a required majority (usually 50%+1) in the first round.

• In the first round, voters choose from all candidates.

• If no candidate achieves the majority, a second round is held, typically between the top two candidates or those meeting specific criteria.

Alternative Vote → Majoritarian

Electoral system where voters rank candidates in order of preference.

• If a candidate receives a majority (more than 50%) of first-preference votes, they win.

• If no candidate achieves a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the second preference marked on the eliminated ballots.

• This process continues until one candidate secures a majority.

Single Nontransferable Vote → Majoritarian

Electoral system in which voters cast a single vote for one candidate in a multi-member district, regardless of how many seats are available. Can be time consuming

• The candidates with the highest number of votes fill the seats, up to the number of seats available.

• Unlike proportional representation, votes are not redistributed, and voters cannot rank candidates or transfer their vote.

Proportional Representation

A voting system where seats in a legislature are allocated based on the proportion of votes each party or candidate receives. The goal is to closely match the percentage of votes with the percentage of seats a party or group holds in the governing body, ensuring fairer representation for smaller parties. There is fairer representation, but it can lead to fragmented parliaments.

Party-list proportional representation → Proportional

An electoral system in which voters cast their votes for political parties rather than individual candidates. Seats in the legislature are then allocated to parties based on the proportion of votes they receive.

In this system:

• Closed-list: Voters select a party, and the party determines the order of candidates who will fill the seats based on the party's vote share.

• Open-list: Voters can also choose individual candidates within the party list, which can influence the order in which candidates are elected.

Single Transferable Vote → Proportional

An electoral system used in multi-member districts where voters rank candidates in order of preference. There is voter choice and proportionality, but it can be complicated to understand.

• To be elected, a candidate must reach a specific quota of votes, which is calculated based on the number of seats available and the total votes cast.

• In the first round, votes are counted based on voters' first choices. If a candidate reaches the quota, they are elected, and any surplus votes (beyond the quota) are transferred to other candidates based on voters' next preferences.

• If no candidate reaches the quota, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to second preferences.

• This process continues until all seats are filled.

Mixed Member Electoral Systems

• Majoritarian: allocation of seats to party lists proceeds independently of how many seats each party has won through their candidate

• Proportional: if a party is over-represented in the candidate’s list relative to the party-list vote percentage, it will receive relatively few party-list seats; if a party has been under-represented in the candidate tier, it will receive additional seats from the list tier to bring its overall total into proportion with its party-list votes

  • Two votes, one for the candidate and one for the party.

Ideational change

How individuals, groups, or societies exchange old ideas for new ones

Orthodox Marxism

the traditional interpretation of this theory, based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It emphasizes historical materialism, class struggle, and the necessity of a proletarian revolution to overthrow capitalism, leading to socialism and ultimately a classless, stateless society (communism). It advocates for revolutionary change rather than gradual reform.

Neoliberalism

an economic and political ideology that emphasizes free-market capitalism, limited government intervention, deregulation, privatization, and the reduction of social welfare programs. It advocates for the belief that market forces, rather than state control, should drive economic growth and individual prosperity. It came as a response to Marxism

Ideational Approach to Populism

Emphasizes that political actions and decisions are influenced by underlying ideas rather than just material interests or institutional structures. It appeals to emotions, those of indignation and resentment. It often simplifies complex issues through slogans that appeal to sentiments of justice and fairness.

Federalism

Division of power between the national (federal) government and the state governments

Centralized Federalism

A system where the national government exerts significant control over state governments, often overriding state authority.

Decentralized Federalism

Power is not centralized in the national government, but decentralized across the states

Legislative Branch

Branch of the United States is the Congress, which consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Its main responsibility is to make and pass laws, approve the federal budget, and represent the interests of the public. The Senate has 100 members (two per state), while the House has 435 members, based on population.

Executive Branch

The branch of the United States is responsible for enforcing and implementing laws. It is headed by the President, who serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the military and the Chief Executive. The branch also includes the Vice President, the Cabinet, and numerous federal agencies and departments that carry out governmental functions and policies.

Judicial Branch

Responsible for interpreting laws and ensuring they are applied fairly. It is headed by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, and includes lower federal courts. The branch resolves legal disputes, reviews laws for constitutionality, and protects individual rights.

Voter Identification Laws

Require individuals to present a government-issued identification before voting in elections. These laws are intended to prevent voter fraud but have been controversial, as critics argue they can disenfranchise certain groups, such as minorities, the elderly, and low-income voters, who may have difficulty obtaining ID.

Early Voting

Voting method allowing individuals to cast their ballots in an election before the official Election Day.

Electoral College

The system used to elect the president and vice president of the United States. Voters cast ballots for electors, who then vote to select the president. Each state has a set number of electors based on its congressional representation. A candidate needs a majority of electoral votes (270 out of 538) to win the presidency.

Rational Choice Theory (RCT)

Individuals make decisions by weighing the costs and benefits to maximize their personal preferences or utility. It assumes that political actors, such as voters, politicians, and interest groups, act rationally to achieve the most favorable outcomes based on available information. This type of voter should choose not to vote since there is no relationship between a vote’s behavior and the victory of their preferred party (focuses on the INDIVIDUAL voter habits).

Social Cleavage Structures

Individuals are more likely to vote for their social group or interests (focuses on GROUP voter habits).

Empire

Large political body which rules over territories outside of its original borders (Roman, Ottoman, British).

• Geographical: Defined by the expanse of their territory

  • Ex: Naval Power, Connected by land, Frontier.

• Economic: Gained power through economic means

  • Ex: Slave owning, rentier, mercantile, capitalist

Political Empires

• Formal: Appointed official in the territory occupied, that official would head the economy

  • Nigeria

• Informal: Weren’t concerned with having own people ruling. Concerned with forming alliances.

  • Athenian

• Military: Political power is used as a formal power, but with use of force

  • Roman

• Bureaucratic: Centralized administration, divided country into administrative areas, ruled by centrally appointed officials through merit.

  • Han Dynasty

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

entities formed by multiple sovereign states to work on common issues or goals. They are established through treaties or agreements and operate at the international level. Examples include the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the European Union (EU). They promote cooperation on issues like trade, security, human rights, and environmental protection.

Nongovernmental Organizations

nonprofit groups that operate independently of government control. They work on various social, environmental, humanitarian, or advocacy issues, often at local, national, or international levels. Examples include Amnesty International, Red Cross, and Greenpeace. These aim to address issues such as human rights, development, and environmental sustainability.

Multinational Corporations (MNCs)

are companies that operate in multiple countries, managing production, marketing, and other business activities across borders. They typically have a global presence, with subsidiaries or branches in various nations. They aim to maximize profits by taking advantage of international markets, resources, and labor. Examples include Apple, Toyota, and Coca-Cola

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

collaborative agreements between government entities and private sector companies to deliver public services or infrastructure projects. In these, the private sector typically provides funding, expertise, and management, while the government may offer regulatory support or resources. These aim to leverage the strengths of both sectors to improve efficiency, innovation, and project outcomes. Examples include toll roads, healthcare facilities, and public transportation systems.

Realism

theory that emphasizes the role of power, national interests, and the inherent anarchy of the international system. They argue that states act primarily in their own self-interest, seeking security and power, often through military means, and that conflict is an inevitable part of global politics. Cooperation occurs when a collection of states observe a common threat and have pooled their relative power to defend against that threat.

• Offensive: Primary goals of states are to maximize their power, and international institutions are often ineffective.

Classical Liberal Internationalism

Theory that emphasizes the importance of international cooperation, democratic governance, and the promotion of human rights and free trade. It advocates for a rules-based international order, where institutions like the United Nations and international law play a key role in maintaining peace and resolving conflicts. They believe that democratic states are less likely to go to war with each other and that global prosperity is best achieved through open markets and cooperation.

International Norms/Soft Law

Refer to shared expectations and practices that guide the behavior of states and other international actors, though they are not legally binding. This is a form of international law that lacks the strict enforceability of hard law but still influences state behavior through agreements, declarations, and guidelines. This often serves as a precursor to the development of binding legal frameworks and can shape international relations by establishing norms of conduct.

Neoliberal Institutionalism

Theory that emphasizes the role of international institutions in promoting cooperation among states. While recognizing the importance of state power and interests, it argues that institutions (like the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and International Monetary Fund) help mitigate anarchy, reduce uncertainty, and facilitate cooperation by establishing rules, norms, and mechanisms for resolving conflicts. They believe that such institutions can make it easier for states to achieve mutual benefits, even in an environment of competition and distrust.

Constructivism

Theory that emphasizes the role of ideas, beliefs, and identities in shaping the behavior of states and other actors. They argue that the international system is socially constructed, meaning that it is shaped by shared norms, values, and perceptions, rather than by inherent material forces like power or economics. According to this, state behavior is influenced not only by material interests but also by how actors view their identities, relationships, and the world around them.

Feminism

movement and ideology focused on advocating for gender equality, particularly in relation to women's rights and the dismantling of patriarchy. It seeks to address social, political, and economic inequalities that affect women and other marginalized genders. It encompasses a range of perspectives, from seeking legal equality to challenging cultural norms and power structures. It has various waves, each addressing different aspects of inequality, such as suffrage, reproductive rights, and intersectionality (recognizing how gender intersects with race, class, and other social factors).

Charles Tilly

“War makes states, states make war”

Sun Tzu

“The art of war is of vital importance to the state”

War

Thompson and Levy, “sustained coordinated violence between political organizations.”

• “It is violent. It involves the use of force to kill and injure people and destroy military and economic resources.

• REQUIRES SUSTAINED VIOLENCE.

• Violence must be reciprocated for it to qualify as this. If the target of the initial violence does not fight back, we don’t qualify it.

• The actors are organizations, not individuals. Individuals do the fighting, but they fight on behalf of a larger collective political unity, under the direction and coordination of political and/or military leaders, to advance the goals of the collectivity/leadership.

• Violence is purposeful and tries to influence the behavior of state adversaries.

Cold War

Not technically a war, it was an open war.

Individual level of War

Foreign policy decisions are explained by people who hold power. They have a causal impact in war. This level includes human nature and its predispositions toward aggression

• Problem: States make war.

The National/Nation State Level of War

We are interested in the factors associated with the government and the factors associated with society. At the society level, we would look at the rule of public opinion, political culture, and ideology.

System Level of War

Looks at the structure of the international system. We look at the number of major powers, distribution of the military/economic power, patterns of alliances, etc.

• This is the best analysis since it not only studies war, but the international system as a whole.

Realist Theory of War

Focused on explaining the rational pursuit and preservation of power among actors within a system that is anarchic (system where there is not controlling rules/principles to give order)

• Origins: Peloponnesian War

The Security Dilemma

Actions taken by a state to increase its security—such as building up its military—can be perceived as a threat by other states. This perception may lead those states to respond with their own security measures, potentially escalating tensions and creating a cycle of mutual distrust, even if neither side intended to act aggressively. Highlights the challenges of maintaining stability in an anarchic international system.

• Offensive: involves a state taking proactive or aggressive measures to maximize its security, such as building a stronger military, forming alliances, or even launching preemptive attacks.

• Defensive: involves measures taken by a state to protect its security without threatening others. These actions prioritize maintaining the status quo and reducing the likelihood of conflict.

Rivalry Theory of War

The onset of war is a process that comes out of the interaction of states taken over time. When crises recur between the same disputes, the behavior and outcome in one crisis has an impact on the next one, because decision makers learn from their previous bargaining behavior.

• States become rivals if they have territorial disputes, make outside alliances against each other, and engage in arms races

• Conflict resolution techniques have limited success in ending rivalry.

Bargaining Model of War

War is costly and an inefficient means of resolving conflict because it destroys resources that might otherwise be distributed elsewhere. Nonetheless, war happens because of the choices that individuals make based on the information that is availible to them.

Psychological Theories of War

Different leaders produce different outcomes and that these outcomes are often significant enough to have casual impact on the probability of war.

Democratic Peace Theory of War (liberal)

Democracies rarely fight each other.

• Ex: U.S. and Canada

Model of Institutional Constraints (liberal)

Certain political institutions like electoral institutions, institutional checks and balances, the decentralization of power, and the free press, prevent or inhibit political leaders from taking unilateral military action. These ensure an open public debate, and require leaders to secure a broad base of public support before adopting risky policies (audience cost).

Selectorate Model of War (liberal)

Political survival is the primary goal of political leaders

Economic interdependence and Peace Theory of War

Trade generates economic benefits and that the anticipation of war will disrupt trade and lead to a loss or reduction of the gains from trade, deterring political leaders from taking actions that are likely to lead to war. As a consequence, the higher level of trades between to states, the greater the economic deterrent effects of a bilateral war.

Essentialism/Primordialism (ethnic conflict)

Ethnicities are historically rooted. Emerged as a result of witnessing ethnic resistance from decolonized/decolonizing nations encountered from within their territories. The argument to explain the internal ethnic resistance that decolonized nations were facing was that the ethnic bond in those nations was a stronger bond and a more powerful motivator of human conduct than the pull of civic ties being forged by new states.

• Critics argue that this cannot account for variations about why conflict now but not before.

• A lot of ethnic conflict in the world had nothing to do with old hostilities but instead with new contact.

Instrumentalism (ethnic conflict)

Ethnicity is neither inherent in human nature nor intrinsically valuable. Ethnicity masks a deeper core of interests, which are either economic or political. Ethnicity is useful for gaining political power or for drawing resources from the state. That is why it is deployed so often in multiethnic societies. Conflicts take place because leaders strategically manipulate ethnicity for the sake of political power or for extracting resources from the state.

• Critics of this argue that it can’t explain why ethnicity is considered a valuable political instrument or why society buys into ethnic propaganda.

Constructivism (ethnic conflict)

Our ethnic and national identities are constructs of the modern epoch.

• Critics of this argue that this might explain identity formation, but doesn’t really explain ethnic conflict

Institutionalism (ethnic conflict)

The designs of political institutions—consociational or majoritarian polities, proportional representation or first-past-the-post electoral systems, federal or
unitary governments—explain why some multiethnic societies have
violence, and others, peace. And so, if ethnic conflict can be explained through institutions, ethnic pluralism or ethnic peace, it is argued, requires political institutions distinct from those that are suitable for ethnically undivided societies.

Realism (ethnic conflict)

When an existing state collapses, relations between ethnic groups begin to resemble those between states in the international system, the difference between defensive and offensive ethnic mobilization disappears, and neighbours kill neighbours to ensure that they are not possible killed in the future.

Negative Peace

Even if you are not directly experiencing direct, personal violence, you may be experiencing structural violence, which is harm caused by social structures and institutions that perpetuate inequality and injustice. Galtung’s (1969) argument is that violence is not only physical, but embedded in societal systems that disadvantage certain groups.

Positive Peace

Not only is there no direct or personal violence, but that there is also no structural violence. We can think of positive peace as the presence of justice and equality.

Liberal Peace

Liberal political and economic principles are at the root of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Democratic systems (free/fair elections, rule of law, accountable governance) are less likely to experience internal conflict and more capable of resolving disputes peacefully. Economic interdependence and prosperity reduce the likelihood of conflict and foster stability

The Constrained Rational Voter

• First, the voter will gather information only on the candidates who are most likely to win. They will look for that information in places that are easily accessible.

• Second, the voter will assess the new information that they have acquired
  based on their past experiences

The Fast and Frugal Voter

These voters will limit their consideration to “one or two issues that are
personally important to [them], and [that] are relatively easy to process”

The Identity Voter

The main goal for this type of voter is to reaffirm their identity through their choices

The Intuitive Voter

This voter simplifies the environment that informs their decision-making. They want to limit the amount of information that they need to find, and they want “to make an easy decision rather than carefully making sure they make the best decision” (Redlawsk and Habegger 2020, 18).

The Emotions Voter

When candidates generate enthusiasm, voters rely primarily on partisanship and do not look every deeply into [the opinions of the candidates]. But when anxiety is generated, voters may stop and pay attention, and perhaps learn more about what is going on in politics

Political Identity Convergence

Argues that “people use their vote to express something, not to get something.
They vote in defense of their identity. The motivation behind such voting is to preserve the identity’s distinctiveness, [and] not necessarily to reap the
benefits of the policies put forth by the party.”

Affinity Voting

Your voting behaviour can be related to gender, age, geography, language, or religion, “but by far the most common claims [regarding
affinity voting] are about race and ethnicity”

Interest-Based Affinity Voting

Policy Stereotyping: Candidate ethnicity is a mental shortcut for finding out information about candidates’ positions on specific issues

Ideological Stereotyping: There are two versions of ideological stereotyping: either (1) “racialized candidates are seen [...] as left-leaning or (2) [they are seen] as ideologically ‘closer’ to the racialized voter.

General Group Interest: Refers to when voters think a candidate of their own ethnic
the group will act in their interests in some diffuse, nonspecific way