(19) Representative & Direct Democracy Flashcards
Delegate model
> implement “will of the people”
(assumes that “will of the people” exists and that representatives can know what it is)
Trustee model
> own judgement on what is best for the greater good
(assumes that there is a “greater good”)
Substantive representation
(stress on second syllable)
= representation of policy
substantive representation: congruence
- Congruence (stress on first syllable)
- How far apart are policies of voters and representatives?
- static
substantive representation: responsiveness
- voters move policy → Do parties move too?
- dynamic
- parties move with median voter
- might decrease congruence in a coalition government
Descriptive representation
= represent make-up of society
idea: “people who look/act like me will have similar views”→ leads to trust in democracy and higher democratic participation
not always the case (cf. Priti Patel vs. Kamela Harris)
Evolution Women in Parliament (Europe)
1998-2020
- generally increases
- unequally
- Scandinavia & central Europe: high
- southern & eastern Europe: low
Symbolic representation
= specific acts to show that politicians “care”
e.g. speeches in parliament, opening of hospitals…
Measuring substantive representation
required:
- position of median voter
- many voters don’t have stable policy preferences
- 2 points in time
- movement of parties (ideological content of policy)
- difficult to measure ideological content
- difficult to compare with position of voters
Connecting with voters (US Senators)
- ideologically well aligned with state
→ less regional policy focus + more national policy position taking - ideologically unaligned with state
→ more regional policy focus + more particularist credit claiming
Institutions
- government in consensual democracies
- cover middle of political space → better at substantive representation
- some electoral rules are more conducive to electing women and minorities than others
- some electoral institutions make descriptive representation more visible than others
- institutions with focus on parties, closed lists, SMDP
- people can’t vote for specific members → descriptive representation less focused on
Gerrymandering =
- based on American cartoon
- Gerry (governor of Massachusetts) + salamander
- electoral district was constructed in a way which secured Gerry’s success
- gab es aber auch in Luzern 1851
Gerrymandering: possible legitimate reasons
- descriptive representation: Majority-minority districts (overrepresentation of otherwise marginal groups → guarantees their election success, e.g. POC women)
- people choose to live close to people who are similar anyway
Gerrymandering: solutions
- district-drafting by non-partisan panels (UK)
- follow natural borders
- proportional electoral systems with higher district magnitude
- bigger districts
Gerrymandering: Effects
- over-representation of rural areas
- guarantees representation for them
- politicians pay more attention to overrepresented areas
