Electoral Systems Flashcards
What is Duvergers Law?
Single Plurality systems favour 2 party systems
Who stated that Duvergers Law is no longer correct?
Colomer
What is Colomers research about Duvergers law?
that as the number of parties increase then there is greater risk to the established parties
What are the 4 draw backs to FPTP according to Blau?
- the decline of cube law
- the increased voting of minority parties
- Decreased cohesiveness of government backbenchers
- the increase in the Pro-Labour Bias
When was Blau written?
2004
What is cube law?
it is when the party who gets the most votes has an advantage which extends their majority
what is the advantage of Cube law?
it extends the advantage of the winner making a stable majority
What does Blau argue has had a greater effect on voting than the decline of cube law?
the effect of minority parties
voting for minorities in 1955 compared to 2015?
1955 - 4%
2015 - 31%
how has minority voting effected the stability of the majority?
it has decreased the size of the majority making it more unstable
King?
when parties are in coalition this highlights the tensions between the front and back benchers
what is the downfall of FPTP related to decreased cohesiveness?
constituency voting leads to MPs having their own agenda in parliament
What forms does the labour bias come in?
size bias (to do with voter distribution), Turnout bias (they win in constituencies with lower turnouts) and subnational constituency bias
What did Blau say about the electoral system?
Britain’s electoral system has done its job at most elections
Evaluation of Blau statement about the electoral system?
it hasn’t done a good job and it doesn’t mean that it will continue to do its job
how does Blau think that FPTP is working today?
not working very well
Who said Electoral reform is likely to take place?
Blau and
Under what method of PR would have Lib Dems won?
Coombs
Who said that the system is no longer effective at denying third party votes?
Curtice
what is a problem with predicting the way people will vote not in FPTP?
protest voting would decrease and labour and conservative would decrease - how the true impact is unknown.
2015 - J Curtice about who the FPTP system favours?
it now favours the conservatives and the labour bias has been minimised
what are the proposals the conservatives have made?
want change from 650 seats to 600
what is the purpose of the propsals of the conservative?
to reinstate the winners bonus
what does Curtice argue about the conservative propsals?
it won’t be enough to negate the impact of the SNP
what was the level of disproportionality between 1950-70? why?
it was relatively proportional due to the 2 party system.
which index says that 2015 was most unpropotional yet?
Loosemore-Hanby index and the Sainte-Lague index
which index said that 2015 was no more disproportional than 1992?
Gallgher index
what was the Loosemore- Hanby index for 1979 and 2015?
1979- 15.2
2015 - 24
what was the Gallgher Index for 1979 and 2015?
1979 - 11.6
2015 - 15
What were the 2 ways Duverger thinks that simple plurality reinforces the 2 party system?
psychological - not a wasted vote mechanics - more difficult for smaller parties to win seats
advantages of simple plurality? (5)
- easy to understand
- produces a clear outcome
- produces a strong stable government
- voters can directly eject unpopular governments
- link between MPs and constituencies
Disadvantages of simple plurality? (3)
- disproportionate
- wasted votes
- limited choice
under simple pluraliry who would have won the 2015 election?
conservatives
under AV who would have won the 2015 election?
conservatives would have increased their majority
under list PR who would have won 2015?
massie decrease in conservative and massive increase in UKIP and Lib Dem (ukip-80 seats and libdem -47 seats)
who would have won under STV in 2015?
conservatives majority massively decreased and no change for labour and 54 for UKIP, 26 for lib dem and decrease for SNP
How does AMS work?
elector has 2 votes constituency and regional list - regional is selected through list PR and constituency is elected through simple plurality
problems with AMS?
it has to balance 2 types of representative and more complicated
How does STV work?
voter list their preferences and canditiadate must achieve a quota
what is the STV quota called?
droop quota
how does AV work?
single member constituencies which require 50%+1, and voters list preferences until this is achieved.
problem with AV?
not proportional
benefit of AV?
maintains the constituency link
outcome of AV referendum?
68% voted no!
