10: Political Participation Flashcards
What is the role of media in a liberal democracy? What is a condition of it? How does it relate to partisan media?
Investigatory and reporting.
Must be a free press.
Partisanship not a big issue when aware of it, problematic otherwise.
What is an election platform?
List of goals a party wants to pursue and wants to achieve; positions on issues.
What are constituencies? Provide an example of how they work.
Divided equitably, based on where people live (e.g., ridings in rural SK physically larger than rural ones).
Why is setting boundaries for ridings controversial?
Gerrymandering: political group tries to change voting district to create result that helps them, or hurts the group against them.
What is voter apathy, a consequence of it, and the challenge involved with it?
Believe elections do not affect/influence them or believe they have little influence over outcomes.
Low voter turnout.
Make voters feel connected and that their vote counts.
What is compulsory voting? Provide an example of a nation that uses it.
Citizens have legal obligation to vote in elections.
Australia.
Define a political party.
Organizations that offer slates of candidates to voters at election time; recruit and select candidates, fundraise, develop policies.
In liberal democracies, parties are not _____ by nor are they _____ of the State.
Created; agents.
A political party is a way of organizing _____.
Power.
Parties have a recruitment function. What does this mean?
Role played to help bring new voters into electoral process; educate voters, show general preference of citizens.
Canada’s political parties have historically avoided what? What does this result in?
Ideological appeals.
Brokerage politics (“big tent” policies).
John Meisel identified seven functions political parties must perform. What are they?
Integrate citizens into political system.
Develop policy.
Elite recruitment.
Organization of government.
Structuring the vote.
Organizing public opinion.
Interest aggregation.
What are elections?
Formalized expression of preference by governed; then aggregated, transformed into collective decision about who will govern.
Why is the House of Commons the pre-eminent institution?
The only elected body.
In liberal democracies, what is presumed about citizens and laws?
They consent to the extent they participated in choosing law-makers.
