Unit 1 AOS 1 Flashcards
What is popular sovereignty?
the principle that the leaders of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political legitimacy.
Benjamin Franklin expressed the concept when he wrote that “In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns“.
What is Parliamentary Sovereignty?
a concept that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. It also holds that the legislative body may change or repeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law (in some cases, not even a constitution) or by precedent.
What is Responsible Government?
a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive branch) in Westminster democracies are responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch, or, in a colonial context, to the imperial government, and in a republican context, to the president, either in full or in part. If the parliament is bicameral, then the government is responsible first to the parliament’s lower house, which is more representative than the upper house, as it usually has more members and they are always directly elected.
What is legitimacy?
‘the belief that an actor has the right to exercise power’
What is power?
the ability to influence the actions of other actors to achieve objectives
What is federalism?
A system of government in which law making powers and responsibilities are constitutionally divided between a central, national government and a series of state or regional governments. Both Australia and the USA operate a federal system of government.
What is separation of powers?
The principle that the three branches of government, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, should be kept independent and act without interference from each other as means of decentralising and preventing abuse of power. In Australia, the separation of powers is blurred as the executive and legislative branches are combined; in the USA, the separation of powers is very clear.
What is sovereignty?
The legitimate or widely accepted ability to exercise power within defined borders.
What is popular sovereignty?
the principle that the leaders of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political legitimacy.
What is parliamentary sovereignty?
a concept that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. It also holds that the legislative body may change or repeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law (in some cases, not even a constitution) or by precedent.
What does the term ‘responsible government’ mean?
a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive branch) in Westminster democracies are responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch, or, in a colonial context, to the imperial government, and in a republican context, to the president, either in full or in part. If the parliament is bicameral, then the government is responsible first to the parliament’s lower house, which is more representative than the upper house, as it usually has more members and they are always directly elected.
What are the 5 criteria that democracies are assessed on?
Electoral process and pluralism
The functioning of government
Political participation
Democratic political culture
Civil liberties
What does the term ‘pluralism’ mean?
a situation in which people of different social classes, religions, races, etc., are together in a society but continue to have their different traditions and interests
What there the key components of Australia’s democracy?
Representative democracy—Australians vote for members of parliament to make laws on their behalf – Federal elections = every 3 years
Constitutional monarchy—The King is Australia’s head of state but does not have absolute power and is required to follow the Australian Constitution. The King gives his powers to the Governor-General.
Federation of states—A Federation is a group of states who have given some of their law-making powers to a national government and kept some law-making powers for local matters.
Separation of powers – how power to make and manage laws is shared between the parliament makes the law, the executive (government) puts law into action and the judiciary (courts) settles disputes about the law
What would the benefit of increasing Australia’s electoral terms be?
- cheaper
- less election fatigue
- politicians could focus more on governing than campaigning
- increased certainty for business = increase investment
- increased certainty for consumers = increase spending
What would the negatives be for increasing Australia’s electoral terms?
- decrease in accountability for politicians
- unpopular governments would be in power for longer
What are the drawbacks of flexible terms for elections
- can be manipulated by the govt. as they can call elections when circumstances (e.g. economy) make them more popular
How does the First-Past-the-Post electoral system work?
Country divided into constituencies
Each constituency has one seat
Voters select first preference only
Candidate with most votes (even if not majority wins)
What are the advantages of first-past-the-post system?
Creates single party governments = more stable
Creates a single large opposition
Tends to lead to 2 ‘broad church’ parties = less divided, encompass lots of different views
Tends to exclude extremist parties
Creates link b/w MP and their constituency
Simplest for people to understand = legitimacy
What are the disadvantages of first past the post
Governments elected w/o support of 50% population t/f do not have popular sovereignty
Excludes minority parties
Can exclude minority groups
Open to manipulation of electoral boundaries (gerrymandering)
How does preferential voting work?
Country divided into constituencies
Each constituency has one seat
Voters rank candidates in order of preference
Votes counted, if no candidate has 50% +, least popular candidate is eliminated and their preferences are redistributed - keeps happening until one candidate reaches 50%+1
What are the advantages of preferential voting?
- more representative of will of people than First-Past-the-Post = greater popular sovereignty
Creates link b/w MP and their constituency
Big political parties have to be more responsive to smaller groups in order to attract preferences - makes partied ‘broader churches’
Allows minor parties to influence political agenda
No wasted votes
Still leads to one party gaining majority of seats which can make government more stable
What are the disadvantages of preferential voting?
It requires a reasonable degree of literacy and numeracy to be used effectively
It is not as proportional as proportional representation - major parties get more seats than they get votes
Leads to a single party government which is not an accurate representation of the will of the people
How does proportional representation electoral systems work?
- state divided into constituencies
- each constituency has multiple seats (more than one person elected)
- more than one candidate from each party can run in each seat
- voters indicate preferences
- quota is set (#votes/#seats+1) - that is what is needed to ‘win’ a seat
- counting occurs, if a candidate reaches their quota then any surplus votes are reallocated to second preference
- if nobody reaches quota then lowest ranked candidate is eliminated and their preferences are redistributed
- continues until all seats are allocated
