Exam 1 Flashcards
What is presidential systems?
seperation of executive & legislative powers controlled by different offices.
Executive= president
legislative= house of representatives
What is parliamentary systems?
fusion of execuitve & legislative power.
What is Mixture of both powers?
It is a semi presidental system (france)
What makes a Presidental system?
Direct elections
executive is president
head of govt and state
constitutional difference in legislature & executive (seperation of power)
Can president name cabinet members?
Yes but need approval by senate
Is a election required for cabinet members in presidential system?
no election is required as long as they have senate experience
can president dismiss legislative or executive? (Presidential system)
No unless impeached
What are the advantages of having a presidential system?
less corruption
bring long term stability
wait 4 yrs for another election
cabinet members do not necessarily elected officials
what are the disadvantages of presidential system?
lots of instructions of power happening behind closed doors
appointing cabinet members (could be a buddy to increase vote in favor of them)
who are the executives of parliamentary systems?
prime ministers/ chancellor
What do the Prime minister do?
they run the govt (head of govt) and leader of the largest party (normally)
what is a chancellor?
they are cabinet minister & Prime ministers
Is their a seperation of power in parliamentary system?
No seperation of power
What are key things in parliamentary systems?
legislative can bring down govt
no direct elections for executive (indirect voting)
vote for party not leader
no formal vote- vote for approval PM
Can PM dissolve legislature?
Yes prime minister can dissolve legislature and can call early election (snap elections)
Does PM have a term?
no term limit and vote for cabinet members
Advantages of parliamentary systems?
able to disassemble congress & reassemble it to a more functioning body
solve problems more effectively
easier to replace if not doing well (PM)
qualified officials
more proportional system
Disadvantages of Parliamentary systems?
seems to be chaotic
no stability
no direct elections
some corruption
What is the prime ministers job?
resolve legislature
agenda setting power
Can the prime minister be replaced?
Yes they can replaced through an election (easier than presidential system)
What is no confidence motion?
lack of confidence in the govt or PM. forward by opposition to bring down the govt (NEED majority)
Why does no confidence motion happen?
target specific ministers & public opinion
Intra party might not be happy w/govt of Prime MInister they can replace
What do cabinet members do?
work for the govt but not the representing party
Do cabinet members need seats?
Some have seats like UK or Ireland
others resign seat once Prime minister like in belguim netherlands france.
what is a collective responsibility?
everybody responsible once policy passed. final decision/ final govt decision
what is individual responsibility?
responsible for Jr ministry head of deartment. which policies put forward- responsibility to cabinet
(minister responsible to parliament for action)
what is tacit rule of no intervention?
discouraged from intervening, not compulsive, not directly relevent for their own ministry and are discouraged from interviewing
Who is the head of state in parliamentary system?
king, queen, or president
What is head of state job in parliamentary system?
a symbolic figure (go w/culture no over steeping no disrespect)
upper senate- diplomatic functions (state visits)
What is direct elected?
people vote.
independence can run each party nominates.
What are some examples of directly elected?
Austria, finland, ireland, iceland, portugal, france
What is indirectly elected?
vote happens w/in the cabinet
What is a problem with indirectly elected
you might not be working in party you want & start clashing
If we vote for the parliament why not the president?
voter fatigue can occur
costly
can end up in a hitler situation
what are examples of indirectly elected?
Germany
(peace time, minister of defense, no command, can not declare war)
Italy
(president is commander, right to declare war, executive power in PM)
What is monarchs?
King, queen
last point of contact to pass bill
What are some examples of monarchies?
Belgium britian denmark luxemburg netherlands norway spain sweden
Advantages of monarchs?
represent legacy
symbol of country
in uk its costly but tourist bring money in
spend everyday knowing they are going to rule unlike PM
unites people
Disadvantages of monarchs?
doesn’t represent the people
can over step their boundaries depending on the country
doesnt go w/ western idea of democracy
very costly (uses tax payer money= spain)
Not prepared
some monarchies not populor so no money coming in
What problems come w/ monarchies?
not democratically elected, creates democratic deficit issues, democratic legitmimacy issues, and too much power even if not directly elected
What is the role of the king/ queen?
admitting bishops, ministers, head of bureaucracy, they are commander in chief (go to war, sign treaties, appoint PM or candidate for pm, share work load w/ govt)
what is semi presidential system?
directly elect president separation of power
What is the job of president in semi presidental system?
has power over foreign policy
can dissolve legislature & call for election (nominate PM but can’t stack)
Who is head of government in semi presidential system?
Prime minister
who is responsible for govt policy in semi presidential system?
cabinet have full responsibility of govt policy
Can parliament end govt term?
Yes parliament can end govt term w/ a no confidence motion
who appoints the govt in semi presidential system?
President appoint the govt on advice of Prime Minister
Example of semi presidential system
France
What is cohabitation in France?
President and Prime Minister are from different parties, the cohibit, and it creates problems & disagreement
(france goes w/ PM)
disadvantages of semi presidential system?
placing blame who is responsible (ex: protest of increasing age of retirement)
prioritizes efficiency in policy making
not representing the people
cohabiation issue can lead to gridlock (decrease in passing bill)
what is vote seeking?
trying to be largest party & for smaller party to get seats in threshold
what is threshold?
% of votes needed to win a seat
why do vote seeking?
increase votes share & become largest party
what is policy seeker?
they dont care about votes. they want to change policy, blackmailing, or influence the party. (win votes= change)
why do policy seeker?
to become governing party
What is office seeker?
dont want to form govt, they want to stay out of it
Why do office seeker?
if in govt you get punished in next election so small parties stay out
What is the 4 types of majority govt?
Minimal winning govt, minimal connected winning govt, surplus/ oversize govt, minority govt
What is minimal winning govt? (coalition or single party)
more than 50% of seats, dont include/ add parties to get majority (less parties+ less sharing= more power)
what is minimal connected winning govt? (Coalition)
office and policy seekers, similar party, share ideology
Ex: germany, 5 parties, CDU FDP coalition govt
What is a surplus govt/ oversize govt? (Coalition)
include parties not needed, institutional limitations may force you to form class govt, agreed if 1 party needs to be limitied & formed in crisis to show unity
what are factors in surplus govt?
constitutional requirement to pass policy in parliament
prevent collapse due to 1 small party (secret vote)
prevent strong extreme party from gaining power
Ex: italy
What is minority govt?
doesn’t control majority of seats
strong & inclusive committee system
not sharing burden of responsibility
support outside
constitutional investure requirement limits the possibility
what is investure?
investing govt into power
must get approval from office
majority wont support
Ex: sweden norway dont need formal vote
what is investure vote?
formal vote that happens in parliament once they reach an agreement to put person in office
(needs to pass to get majority but not required in most scandinavian countries)
What is vote of confidence?
govt itself to gain confidence of the parliament
(if they lose govt resign)
what is Constructive vote of confidence?
allows parliament to w/draw confidence from head of govt only if positive majority
required in some constitution
1st need a coalition govt to take place in current govt
what is allocation of portfolios?
based on % of seats they bring into the govt
What is gamson law (theory= law)?
will be distributed in proportion to the seats every parliament brings into the govt.
how do they decide in the allocation of portfolios?
depends on relevant power
who gets what in allocation of portfolios?
based on bargianing stregnth (walkway value)
In surplus has a additional parties they dont need and lead to less walkway value
what is the question time?
Regularly schedule event were pres is asked about the things being passed
what is interpellation?
Same thing as QT but each party get to submit a question and answer is required
what is oversight committtee?
Reflect structure of the govt
Each MP (majority parliaments i think) belongs to 1 committee
Committee chairs positions are distributed proportionally among the parliamentary party groups
Members in a committee can elect their chair from among the members of the party whose right it is to chair that committee
Ex: uk but is rare
Have power to summon individuals including ministers
Have right to all info in the possession of the govt that they deem relevant
what is the role of parliaments?
appointing and dismissing govt
lawmaking
what is the floor chamber?
The floor of the chamber is the arena for work in majoritarian; most
important work is done in committees in consensus
what is bicameralism?
Legilature divided into 2 seperate assemblies, chambers, houses
Three features determine the strength or weakness of
bicameralism:
* Formal constitutional powers (US, Switzerland, Italy
strongest)
* Method of selection (direct versus indirect versus appointed)
* Difference in compositions– incongruence
* Example: German Bundesrat (vs. Bundestag)
what is strong bicameralism?
Strong bicameralism– symmetrical, incongruent, directly
elected
* Germany, Switzerland
What is a medium bircameralism?
Medium-strength bicameralism- indirectly elected, equal powers, same party controls
* Netherlands, Italy
what is a weak bicameralism?
Weak bicameralism- asymmetric, congruent, and/or not
elected
* Austria, Ireland, Sweden
what advantages of bicameralism?
Veto: Constraints majority tyranny– importance for
representation
* Provides the opportunity for careful review of legislation
by fresh eyes
* Yields better policy by providing more information to policy
makers and by ensuring that popular preferences do not
drive policy
* Leads to structuring party organization in order to
ameliorate (make something bad better) the effects of disagreements across chambers
what disadvantages of bicameralism?
Slows down the process
* May overrepresent minority interest in the expense of
majority interest
* May not have any legitimacy yet may still use its power
what is formature?
leader of the party who gets the role to form the govt
(if successful they become chancellor or PM)
what party becomes formature?
Largest party leader becomes formateur (in constitution or because of custom)
what is informature?
information gatherer
A politician that is respected to get info and once role is done they don’t get anything
what is a caretaker govt?
stays in office until new govt forms. They dont make outrageous bills just day to day politics
what is single member districts? (SMD)
have 1 seat. They permit only 1 winner
Tx: one district gets 1 seat to represent the area same for the house
Only the highest vote not the majority
Strategic voting
what is strategic voting and when is it used?
when a voter makes his vote different from what his actual preference ranking would be, in an attempt to obtain an outcome that’s closer to his actual preferences than would have happened had he voted sincerely
used in SMD
What is multi member district? (MMD)
have more than 1 seat. PR systems
Spain: 2 to 36 people selected to the parliament (based on pop)
Netherlands: is 1 district only and all parliament members are elected
what is electoral threshold?
Minimum % of votes needed to win a seat, varies depending on electoral system inclusiveness
Highest vote set is the threshold
Most European countries have PR threshold
why have a seat threshold?
Political reason to prevent small parties and extreme party out
Ex:germany- keep smaller parties out and keep nazi party out
what is ballot structure?
Determined the kind of vote citizens can cast. Distinguish between 2 types
categorical & ordinal
what is categorical?
itz vote 1 party neglecting all others. Requires a narrow either /or choice
what is ordinal?
vote for all parties ranking them. Shows a nuanced preferential
what is plurality?
Winner takes all
Single member plurality (SMP)
Most simple of systems
Party with most votes with the seat
Electoral threshold- single plurality (most votes win)
Ballot structure- categorial (select only 1)
District member- single member
what are the steps to SMP?
Vote select 1 candidate for District MP
Votes tabulates for all candidates in district
Seat goes to candidates w/ most vote
Doesnt need to be majority
EX: Britain, canada, US
what are the advantages of SMP?
Emphasizes constituency representation
Serve to your district/ party
simple
stronger and longer sinlge party govt due to small # of parties
what are disadvantages of SMP?
Can end up with a candidate that doesnt represent the majority
Can only show 2 parties. (stratigic voting as people vote for 1 or the other to make them win)
Redistrict the states
Plurality winners can be very low making mockery of winner
Wasted votes winter takes all elads to large share of unrepresented voters
Strategic voters required to vote for their second best preference
what is runoff voting RV?
Seeking to remedy the weak plurality disadv of SMP RV requires a majority o votes to win seat
Electoral threshold- overall majority
Ballot structure- categorial select only 1 party
District member- single member
what are the steps for RV?
Select 1 candidate
Vote tabulated for all candidates in district
Candidate has majority they win seat. If not 2nd round election is held on different day
Voters select 1 candidate from 1st round top 2
(b/c only 2 candidates in 2nr round winning candidate is guarantied majority vote share)
Ex: france
what advantages in RV?
Easy to use & improves on SMP
what is disadvantages in RV?
Costly
Turnout can lower (your top candidate lost so you dont go)
Doesn’t solve the disporotional aspect
Wasted votes- unrepresented voters
Orphaned electorate- 2 round choice set that excludes the 1st preference
what is alternative vote system AVS?
Requires a majoirtity of votes to win seat, but utilizes preferential voting
Electoral threhosld- overall majority
Ballot structure- ordinal (rank all parties)
District magnitude- single member
what are the steps to AVS?
Vote rank the candidates for district
1st preference is counted first
If candidate has majority they win seat. If not an instant runoff occurs using rankings
Last place candidate is eliminated, and the voters 1st preference voters for them are redistributed to their 2nd preference
Repeat step3 until majority occurs
Ex: australia
what are advantages in AV?
Allows for nuanced voting
Instant runoff improves
3rd parties prefer this
what are disadvantages of AV?
Requires a lot from voters (they need to educate themselves about the candidates)
Forced preferences (having to rank all candidates where they may not have existed)
Wasted votes (winner takes all leads to larger share of unrepresented voters who backed a loser)
Non majority winners (sue to spoiled ballots (doing something wrong on the ballot so not counted
what is proportional voting system? PR
Multiwinner system
Using multi member districts PR takes aim at the wasted votes & disproportionality of SMP RV and AV
Electoral threshold- low but varies
Ballot structure- categorial (select 1 party)
District magnitude- mulit member (many people being selected)
what are the steps to PR?
Voters select party they want to run parliament (NOT CANDIDATE)
Votes are tabulated, yielding party vote shares
Seats are allocated to each party in proportion to its share of the vote; multiple parties thus win seats
A threshold exists to deter hyper fractionalization thus not every party qualifies for share of seats
Parties fill their seats via predetermined party lists
what is non preferentail systems/ closed list?
may know them but on ballot all you see is the party symbol
Competition to please party organization and the leader Ex: Italy, Portugal, Spain
what is Preferential syste, w/ open lists (unblocked) ?
write the candidate name
Competition for personal votes Ex: FInland luxemburg switzerland
what is Flexible list system?
give candidates in rank order and have the option to go with it or change the order
Ex: in Scandinavia countries and denmark
what is Hare (LR)?
Uses the formula V/ M to produce its quota, dividing the total votes (V)by total seats in district (M)
Never round up when doing the seats
To find votes used multiply seats and quota together than subtract to find remainder
Seat given to the highest votes left
what is D’Hondt (HA)?
Uses ascending divisors to generate averages
Its vote to seat formula is V/ D= A
EX: 2230 / d1 = 2230 2230/ d2= 1115 etc
Look for the highest # on the whole chart
Continue until 10 seats
how does the appointment of a govt happen?
election-informatuer or formatuer- if informautuer-formatuer- formatuer (forms the cabinet & together go to parliament for approval- formal investure vote or tacit approval- if fails goes back to informateur- if pass - govt formed day to day politics
what can happen between appointment of govt & next schedule election?
day to day politics-vote of confidence- if lose- govt resigns- new govt forms or call early election- if pass (govt wins)-next scheduled election
day to day politics- vote of no confidence- if fails (govt win/ survives)-next schedule election- if passes (govt loses)- govt resigns- new govt forms or early election
day to day politics- constructive vote of no confidence- if falis (govt wins/ survives)- next election- if passes (govt loses)- govt resigns- new govt which agreed on before motion forms
What happend in the Austria president election (Article)?
Candidates: Hofer (far right) vs Alexander van Der Bellen (independent)
1st round no one got majority
2nd round someone got majority but reelection occured
Bellen won
Why was the Austria election important (article)? (no confidence motion)
Symbolic reason
Hofer wanted to leave EU
They are considered 1 citizen so having far right (hofer) as leader would be weird.
Hofer had support on immigration but not leaving EU
What was the Belgium 2010 formation crisis? (no confidence motion)
2 regions: Flanders (north) & Wallonia (south)
needed 7 ministries from both sides and PM from either north or south
N-VA was against coalition
no early eleciton since it might cause them to seperate
took 589 days to agree
What is the Irish no confidence in july 2022?
2 major parties: Fine gael (centeralized conservative party) & Fianna Fail
(sinn fein other party (military) but now left) Green another party
Fine gael, Fianna fail, & green were controling govt
Several members of coalitiong govt left
in 2022, members of party w/drew vote in favor of govt on dispute of owners of defective homes
Sinn Fein only had 79 seats and need 80 for majority
Sinn Fein does no confidence motion to bring down govt but loses
those who left coalition decided to support coalition govt
govt had majority
What happend in UK (not a formal no confidence motinon)?
no labor
(main opposition)= Boris Johnson
Stayed as PM & leader
Labor party put together no confidence motion against govt & against Boris Johnson
Never reached parliament
Targeting the PM and that was johnson & not the govt
Convention allows it but he already resigned
what are some strong parliaments?
Netherlands, spain, italy, Germany, Luxemburg, etc
What are some weak parliaments?
France, Uk, greece, ireland
what is unicameralism & ex?
One chamber
Ex: FInland greece portugal
What was the Italian constitutional reform proposal?
Power of Senate and how it was going to be limited
Renzis was leading
Idea that vote not passed he would resign
This can ruin the Italian relationship in EU and country economy
Changing power structure
Each house has = powers veto right in hands of senate
Vote not required from senate and important voting like going to war can have senate vote but veto than can overturn the vote
If govt forms only need vote of lower house not senate
Size will change
If change happen senate can no longer get rid of govt. (used the vote of no confidence)
Why was it proposed in Italian constitutional reform proposal?
all changes would make it stable & have a better economy
what happened & what did the other side argue in the Italian Constitutional reform proposal?
It will cause more gridlock
Reduce confidence
Strong senate is to protect the interest
Power grab
What happened after the referendum in the Italian constitutional reform proposal?
It did not pass
no one really payed attention to it
What happened to Renzis in the Italian constitutional reform proposal?
He resigned
What are advantages of PR?
fewer wasted votes
Increase motivation to vote
encourages candidate quality & diversity
stable diverse views w/ in parties
consistent governance
disadvantages of PR?
Allows them to shift blame to each other
Focuses on achieving national party balance - means less focus on local interest
What are strengths of MP?
Position depens of voters confidence
allows proportional allocation
district representation
What are problems w/ MP?
Dispropotyionality of extreme overhang can affect govt formation & policy
Backdoor MPs- loses district seat they can survive by winning list seats
not necessarily attend to district interest
what is Duvergers Law?
plurality system favors a 2 party system
What is duvergers hypothesis?
runoff voting (majoritarian) Rv in france, tends to produce multipartism w/ alliances
What was article Assessing the mechanical & psycho effect of district magnitude telling us?
Large parties suck the smaller party into themself
strategic voting occurs as they vote for 2nd preference so the party they dont like dont win
elites joining existing parties
dont run their own parties
Tested mechanical & psycho effect in portugal
variation in district magnitudes
no threshold
5 parties winning seats run in all districts
no strategic vote
did simulation
mechanical effects play role
What is mechanical effect?
elect 1 person from that district.
Leads to that one candidate winning.
all other candidates will disappear
What is psychological effect?
At level of voters- strategic voting
At level of politicians- strategic entry
what are the steps for Mixed Member PR?
MMP voters cast 2 votes
District level electorate vote (uses SMP the candidate w/ a plurality wins electorate seat)
party list vote (PR each party recieves in proportion to its vote share a quota of total seats)- threshold to deter hyper fractionalization
electorate SMP seats a party fills as much of its quota as possible
Party quota nt filled then party recieves compensatory seats- if surpasses= overhang occurs and parliament size expands
