Week 21 Flashcards
Party and Electoral Systems
What is the definition of a party system?
A party system consists of several parties that interact in relatively stable ways across one or more political arenas
Simply: things you can say about parties in a country without speaking about any party individually
How do the most frequent types of classifications count parties?
- Absolute number of parties
- Parties by relative weights
According to Mair’s (2009) degree of institutionalisation what type of party system has high or low institutionalisation?
High - Closed party system
Low - Open party system
What is a closed party system?
- Parties: stable numbers, vote shares and polarisation
- Well-known party interactions
- Reach across arenas
What is an open party system?
- Fluctuating parties
- Unpredictable interactions
- Limited and changing reach
How does Duverger (1954) classify party systems?
Two-party vs. multi-party systems
How does Blondel (1968) classify party systems?
- Two-party system
- Two-and-a-half party
system (West Germany)
_ Multi-party with dominant party
(Sweden, Denmark, Italy) - Multi-party without dominant
party (Netherlands, Switzerland)
How does Sartori (1976) add to party system classifications?
- Adds ideological polarisation, e.g. moderate or polarised multi-party system
What are the two major qualities of a two-party system?
- Transparent competition for government
- Implication: strong accountability
How does a two-party system create transparent competition for government?
- Two major parties (other parties might exist though)
- One winner (single party majority governments)
- Confrontational, no coalitions or joint policies
What are the implications that come from strong accountability in a two party system?
- Voters can punish the government
- Regular alterations to the government are common
- But there are limited choices for voters
Example of a country with a two party system?
The USA
What factors shape party systems?
- Social cleavages
- Electoral rules
Who created the idea of social cleavages?
Lipset and Rokkan (1967)
What are social cleavages?
Historical conflicts determine party systems
What proof is there for social cleavage theory?
- Parties do express social divisions
- Historical roots of Western European party systems
What are the four main social cleavages?
- Owner vs worker
- Church vs state
- Centre vs periphery
- Land vs industry
What is Duverger’s law?
Duverger observed that countries which have a voting system with a simple-majority single ballot (first past the post) have a two-party system
What is the mechanical effect of Duverger’s law?
Third parties win few seats because they have to get the most votes to win the seat
What is the psychological effect of Duverger’s law?
Voters are deterred from wasting votes on small parties
What are systems of representation tied to?
The electoral rules in places aka electoral systems
What is the electoral system?
The mechanical or formal elements of translating citizens’ preferences into parliamentary seats or other offices
What should electoral systems achieve?
- Broad representation and choice (representation of constituency interests)
- Effective government
- Accountable government
- Inclusive government
- Transparency of seat allocation
It is impossible to have all of these things in an electoral system. The aim is to get as many as possible in one electoral system
Electoral mechanism and formula
- How do voters choose?
- What do voters choose? (party?, person?, ranked?)
- Precise way of translating votes into seats
Majoritarian formulas
- Oldest and have the simplest rules
- Winner takes it all
Which electoral systems are majoritarian?
- First-past-the-post
- Alternative vote
First-past-the-post
-Majoritarian
- Single member plurality
- One member of parliament per constituency
- Number of constituencies = number of seats
- Plurality = most votes win
- Used in UK, US, Canada, India and Caribbean states
Alternative vote
- Majoritarian
- One member of parliament per constituency
- Number of constituencies = seat
- Candidate must get 50% to win
- There was a referendum in the UK about whether we should use AV in 2011
What is the electoral formula for AV?
- First preference votes counted
- If one is more than 50% then they are declared winner
- If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated
- Votes reallocated based on 2nd preference
- If one gets more than 50% they are declared the winner
- If not, next elimination and reallocation
Positives and negatives of majoritarian systems
- They tend to manufacture majorities
+ Exaggeration of the share of seats for the leading party –> underrepresentation of votes - Yet they emphasise governability
Advantages of single-member plurality (FPTP)
- Easy to understand
- MP constituency link
- Strong and accountable (single-party) government
–> Single-party
–> Clear responsibility for policy - However, are voters more interested in parties?
Disadvantages of single-member plurality (FPTP)
- Often highly disproportional and not “majority rule”
–> Most UK MPs are elected based on a vote share of less than 50% - Limited choice (exacerbated by fear of wasted votes and safe seats)
- Voters cannot separate support for a party from support for a candidate
Proportional systems
- Based on party lists in multi-member constituencies –> vote for parties, not candidates
- Large districts and different methods to calculate the weight of votes and allocate seats
- In all proportional systems the seats are in some way proportional to votes
- Emphasise the inclusion of minority voices
–> Representation of most voters
Which electoral systems are proportional?
- Mixed-member proportional
- Single-transferable vote
- List proportional system
Mixed systems
- Combine single-member and party-list constituencies
- Seek to balance fairness to minorities with government effectiveness
Which countries use mixed electoral systems?
- Italy (majoritarian local, list proportional representation nationally)
- Greece (plurality bonus in legislative)
- German (mixed-member proportional representation)
Mixed-member proportional representation
- Elements of SMP and list PR
- Two votes - constituency (SMP) and regional top-up (list PR)
- Top-up to ensure proportionality
- Greater top-up element –> more proportional
- Two types of members of parliament - a problem?
How does Germany’s mixed-member proportional representation work?
- 299 MPs from single-member districts (1st or personal vote)
- Min. 299 MPs from closed regional party lists (2nd or party vote)
- Country-wide party vote determines seat share
- Total seats can far exceed 598 (in 2024: 735)
Districts and magnitude
- Members of parliament elected per constituency
–> UK: 650 districts
–> Netherlands: one district
How many members of parliament per district do majoritarian systems have?
Single-member plurality and alternative voter = one member of parliament per district
How many members of parliament per district does list proportional representation have?
- Higher number than majoritarian systems
- E.g. 15-20
