7. Regime types, agenda setters and veto players

Question 1

According to Lijphart, what is the difference between government by majority and government by concensus

Answer 1

Government by majority Government by concensus Who will do the governing? The majority of the people As many people as possible To who’s interests will the government be responsive?

Question 2

What is the majoritarian model according to Lijphart

Answer 2

• Pursues democratic ideal of not allowing rule by an elite minority by giving power to the majority wishes of the population
• An electoral majority is formed and should be able to govern without constraint
• Westminster model in UK - largest party is awarded bonus seats to give them ability to govern
• Some call this dictatorship by the majority

Question 3

What is the concensus model according to Lijphart

Answer 3

• Encourages policy-making that is supported by as many groups and interests as possible
• Requires building broad support accross a range of institutions in order to pass a new policy
• Ensures no single group can become dominant

Question 4

What institutional features constrain the power of the majority (and increase the chance of having a concensus government)

Answer 4

• Presidential regime - to separate powers and encourage concensus-building on individual issues
• Coalition/minority governments - by having a proportional electoral system
• Bicameral legislature - having 2 levels (congress and senate)
  
  • Germany, lower house elected nationally, upper house elected regionally (you need support at both levels to get a bill passed)
• Federalism/decentralisation - restricts power of central government
• Referendums - places power directly in people’s hands
• Written constitutions, bills of rights and contitutional courts - formal limits on policies, can be challenged in court

Question 5

Describe the interaction between Government Type and Regime Type

Answer 5

Question 6

List the 4 assumptions about political actors and their behaviour proposed by the spatial model of politics

Answer 6

1. Politics and policy-making can be conceptualized in a political space, such as the left-right dimension
2. Each policital actor (voter, party, polititian) has an ideal point in the policy space based on their preferences
3. When choosing between policies, each actor will vote for the policy which is closest to their ideal point
4. If no policy is agreed, the status quo remains

Question 7

What is Black’s Median Voter Theorem

Answer 7

In an environment with no parites, policies will converge on the median voter

Example:

• SQ is the status quo
• P1 is adopted because it has support from CDE
• P2 is then adopted because it has support from ABC
• P3 is then adopted because it has support from CDE

Question 8

What 2 powers did George Tsebelis identify that political actors might have

Answer 8

Powers a political actor can have

1. Agenda setting power
2. Veto power

Question 9

How does agenda setting power affect policy-making in a majoritarian (single-party) government

Answer 9

The adopted policy will end up closer to the position of the leader of the government because he has the ability to enforce party cohesion

Example:

• SQ is the status quo
• B is the majority party leader
• P1 is adopted because it has support from AB and B has the ability to force C to vote with him (even though P1 is further from his desired party position than SQ)

Question 10

How does agenda setting power affect policy-making in a concensus (coalition) government

Answer 10

The adopted policy will end up between B and C because though B is the leader of the government, he does not have the ability to enforce party cohesion

Example:

• SQ is the status quo
• B is the majority party leader
• P1 is adopted because it has support from ABC but B had to compromise in order to keep C’s support

Question 11

What is gridlock

Answer 11

• Can occur when there are 2 veto players who have different policy positions
  
  • Presidential system where the president and legislature are not from the same party
  • Coalition government
• Provides greater policy stability but can also render a government non-functional
• The further apart the positions of veto players, the greater the gridlock interval

Question 12

What were Tsebelis’ propositions based on application of agenda setting and veto powers

Answer 12

1. The addition of new veto players increases policy stability
2. The bigger the party distance between 2 veto players, the less policy change there will be

Question 13

Is policy change good or bad

Answer 13

Neither inherently good or bad, it depends on the situation and perspective

• Political minorities would welcome processes that delay or prevent policy changes when they are worried their rights will be eroded
• In a situation of exogenous shock (recession 2007-08), rapid policy change is more desirable

Question 14

What happened in the global recession of 2007-08

Answer 14

Belgium

• High number of political parties who were unable to form a government at the time
• So they were not able to react

UK

• Majority government responded very rapidly

Question 15

Why do parties stick to their manifestos when they are a majority single-party government

Answer 15

• They don’t need to comprimise
• They are more accountable

Question 16

What are the Pros of a majoritarian government

Answer 16

• Decisive
• Clear responsibility
• Electoral promises kept

Question 17

What are the Cons of a majoritarian government

Answer 17

• Decisions too quick
• Elective dictatorship
• No compromises
• Threat to minority interests

Question 18

What are the Pros of a coalition government

Answer 18

• Slow and deliberative decisions
• Broad political compromise
• Protection of minority interests

Question 19

What are the Cons of a coalition government

Answer 19

• Decisions too slow
• No clear responsibility
• Electoral promises broken
• Vetoes by minority groups

Question 20

Describe the 3 different democratic regime types

Answer 20

1. Parliamentary democracy - a fusion of powers between the executive and the legislative
2. Presidential democracy - separation of powers
3. Mixed democracy - has both a president (elected by the people) and a prime minister (elected by the president)

Question 21

Historically, which type of democratic regime has been most popular

Answer 21

• Historically, parliamentary democracy
• More recently presidential and mixed

Question 22

Describe how agenda setting and veto power work in a parliamentary democracy

Answer 22

• Agenda setting power usually lies with the government who propose the legislative agenda
• Veto power lies with the majority in parliament

Question 23

Describe how agenda setting and veto power work in a presidential democracy

Answer 23

• Agenda setting power lies with any member of the legislature
  In some cases the president also has agenda setting power
• Veto power lies with the majority in the lower chamber
  President also has veto power

Question 24

Describe how agenda setting and veto power work in a mixed democracy

Answer 24

• Agenda setting power lies with the parliamentary government
  However, since the president appoints the prime minister, he has indirect agenda setting power
• Veto power lies with the majority in parliament
  The president does not have veto power

Question 25

Describe the policy-making process in a parliamentary system

Answer 25

• Usually has a majority (whether single party or coalition)
• Government set sout legislative timetable which inclues limited time for private members bills (where non-government members can propose legislation)
• Government can enforce party cohesion
• Often called dictatorship of the majority
  
  • High agenda setting power combined with ability to force majority to support them

Question 26

Describe the policy-making process in a presidental system

Answer 26

Unified government (president and legislature are from the same party)

• President can have agenda setting power but cannot enforce party cohesiveness through a threat to disolve parliament or call an election
  
  • So support for proposed bills has to be built on an issue-by-issue basis

Divided government (president and legislature are from the different parties)

• 2 possible outcomes
  
  • President becomes weak
    Majority in legislature sets agenda and proposes bills taht it prefers to the status quo which are also acceptable to the president
    President’s only power is to veto
  • Gridlock

Question 27

Describe the policy-making process in a mixed system

Answer 27

Unified government

• Will behave the same as a unified government in a presidential system

Cohabitation government

• Will behave the same as a coalition parliamentary system
  However, the president retains the right to dismiss parliament
  
  • France 1986-88 Mitterand (pres) and Chirac (PM)
    1997-2002 Chirac (pres) and Jospin (PM)

Question 28

In general, which regime type can enforce greater party cohesion

Answer 28

Parliamentary

Question 29

What can a leader do in order to enforce party cohesion in a parliamentary system

Answer 29

• Offer pomotion from back0benches to a cabinet position
• Disincentives such as attaching a non-confidence vote to a bill
• Party can prevent a candidate from running for the party
• In CLPR systems, leadership can bump candidates down the list

Question 30

What can a president do in order to enforce party cohesion in a presidential system

Answer 30

Not much…

• Presidents can’t offer real opportunities for promotion
• They also have no power to call new elections
• Members and president are elected separately so the members are less dependent on the performance of the president for re-election

Question 31

Why did Linz believe that parliamentary democracies have a better chance of survival?

Answer 31

• Fusion of executive and legislative power in a parliamentary system allows for functioning policy-making
• In a presidential system, the separation of pwers allows the possibility of a divided government
• Since the president and legislature are elected on fixed terms, their is no relief for deadlcok (apart from impeachment)
• Linz believed that this deadlock let to the collapse of many new democracies in Latin America in the 70s and 80s
  
  • The lack of mechanisms to relieve deadlock led some actors to step in and resolve it through extra-constitutional methods

Question 32

What was Horowitz’ criticism of Linz

Answer 32

• He believed that Linz over-relied on a limited sample of Latin American countries and pointed to many African parliamentary democracies that collapsed
• He believed that the real problem is highly majoritarian systems that produce an adversarial culture

Question 33

What are the Pros of a presidential regime

Answer 33

• Directly elected executive (accountable)
• Strong legislature (counter-balancing executive)
• Greater checks and balances (co-equal branches) results in better thought out and inclusive policies

Question 34

What are the Cons of a presidential regime

Answer 34

• Prone to legislative gridlock
• Weak executive
• Weak parties
• Regime instability

Question 35

What are the Pros of a parliamentary regime

Answer 35

• One election
• Powerful executive
• Cohesive parties
• Strong mandate to govern

Question 36

What are the Cons of a parliamentary regime

Answer 36

• Indirectly accountable government
• Weak parliamant
• Powerful party whips
• Policy change can be too quick