GV101 essays Flashcards
Define expressive voting?
Voting based on party attachment, ideology or social group.
Definition of political ideologies (4)?
Liberalism - Social and economic freedom
Conservatism - Social authority and economic freedom
Socialism - Social authority and economic intervention
Environmentalism - Social freedom and economic intervention
Define: Strategic voting
Voting to produce an electoral outcome as close as possible to individual policy preferences.
Define political cleavage?
Societal division that produces alignment between group of voters and a party.
Define dealignmemt?
Erosion of political cleavages, and replacement with individualistic voting.
Define majority and minority government?
Government where party controls (maj) or does not control (min) majority of seats in parliament
4 characteristics of a dictatorship?
1) leaders by non electoral means
2) elected assemblies play a purely consultative role
3) non independent courts and rule of law
4) curtailed individual rights and freedom
Types of dictatorship?
Absolute monarchy - King as supreme leader, succession via family line.
Military - Government comprised of committee or junta, elected institutions often suspended.
Civilian - Non democratic regime with uncompetitive elections.
What is symmetric and asymmetric federalism?
Symmetric - All states are considered equal (USA)
Asymmetric - States are not given equal power (Quebec in Canada has more)
Define presidentialism?
Government is not responsible for the elected legislature, fixed time in office, cannot be removed without cause.
Define parliamentarism?
Government is responsible for the elected legislature and the head of state is not elected for a fixed term, can be removed at any point.
What is a single party government?
Where one party has all the seats in cabinet
What is a coalition government?
Where two or more parties have cabinet seats
What is a minimum winning coalition?
Where there are not any parties that aren’t required to control the legislative majority
What is a surplus winning coalition?
Where at least one party is not required to control the legislative majority.
