Electing Assemblies & Party Government

Question 1

What is redistribution?

Answer 1

• Redrawing electoral boundaries
• Each district should have roughly the same number of voters but people move around
• In Australia this is done automatically after every election by the independent Australian Electoral Commission
• In most countries happens far left often than that
• In the US, each state draws its own boundaries for congressional elections
• The process is not always independent from political interference

Question 2

What is Gerrymandering?

Answer 2

• By carefully drawing electoral boundaries, a party can distort the outcome by concentrating opposition voters in one district
• This produces one very safe seat and many marginal seats

Question 3

What is malapportionment?

Answer 3

• Where some districts are better represented than others
• Urban vs Rural, lower per capita is more represented, votes are worth more
• This violates the principle of one vote, one value
• Different from gerrymandering but similar in effect
• Has been used in some Australian states

Question 4

Why are parties important in government?

Answer 4

• Political parties are the unifiers of separate institutions
• In parlimentary regimes, a multiparty coalition supporting the cabinet merges powers
• In presidential regimes, parties can promote either cooperation or conflict between the presidency and the assembly

Question 5

What is the key difference in the way the presidential system and parliamentary systems elect chief executives?

Answer 5

• Investiture of prime minister by majority of Parliament

- The people do not elect the Government, the Parliament does

Question 6

What defines the Minimum Winning Coalition?

Answer 6

• Defined by offices and closeness in policy positions
• To form a winning coalition, parties can develop two basic
  motivations:
  
  • Power (Size)
  • Policy-ideology (Distance)
• No Superfluous partners
• Political parties in parliament tend to form minimum-size winning coalitions and prefer partners located on contiguous positions along the policy ideology space

Question 7

What is true of government duration in Parliamentary Regimes?

Answer 7

• Single party majority cabinets tend to last longer than multiparty coalition or minority cabinets
• Unexpected events can alter parties electoral expectations and provoke
  
  • Reshuffling in governemtn
  • The replacement of the incumbent coalition
  • The dissolution of the parliament

Question 8

Who are the 3 pivotal actors in the legislative process?

Answer 8

• President
• Median legislator
• Veto legislator

Question 9

What is Unified Government?

Answer 9

The dominant presidential party has a majority of seats in congress, including both the median and the veto legislator

Question 10

What is divided government?

Answer 10

• The present’s party does not have a majority of seats in congress
• If the president’s party does not control the veto legislator, conflict between the presidency and the assembly is likely to arise

Question 11

What is the deadlock interval and what defines it?

Answer 11

• The set of stable policies
• Is shorter with multiple parties than with two parties, and even shorter with low party discipline and individual representatives freedom to vote