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A Year 1 Politics > Politics in Europe > Flashcards

Politics in Europe Flashcards

1
Q

Duverger’s Law

A

First-Past-the-Post leads to two-party systems, whilst proportional representation leads to multi-party systems

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2
Q

Positive Parliamentarism

A

Minority coalition governments have to be approved by MPs through investiture vote
Negative Parliamentarism does not require this

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3
Q

Quorum

A

The minimum number of MPs who need to be present in order for parliamentary business to be conducted

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4
Q

Percentage of Single-party majority governments since WW2: UK and Germany

A

UK: 92%
Germany: 3% (70% were minimal winning coalitions)

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5
Q

Cleavages

A

Cultural or ideological divisions that split voters on different issues

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6
Q

Social Responsibility

A

Media system of Europe - suggests that the media should serve as a political and cultural information service

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7
Q

Examples of public service broadcasters

A

BBC in UK, RAI in Italy, ERT in Greece

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8
Q

Political Parallelism

A

Links between politicians and the media

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9
Q

Dirigiste media

A

Strong state control over media

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10
Q

Tripartite bargaining

A

Form of neocorporatist interest representation

Workers unions, businesses groups and the government make up the three components

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11
Q

Pluralism

A

Form of interest representation where there are a large number of groups competing for different interests

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12
Q

Devolved bodies UK

A

Northern Ireland Assembly 1998

Welsh Assembly & Scottish Parliament 1999

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13
Q

UK General Election turnout 2010, 2015 and 2017

A

2010: 65%
2015: 66%
2017: 69%

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14
Q

UK Combined GE vote share of Labour and Conservatives 2017

A

82.4%

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15
Q

France governance system

A

Semi-presidential with an institutionally weak bicameral parliament

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16
Q

Executive powers of French President

A

Suspensive veto on bills; appoints PM; can dissolve National Assembly; order use of nuclear weapons; refer bills to popular referendum

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17
Q

2008 Reforms to French Presidential Power

A

Two-term presidency; parliamentary veto over presidential appointments; end of collective pardon power

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18
Q

How many French citizens work for the state

A

5.5 million (20% of workforce)

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19
Q

French national assembly election results 2017 (out of 577 seats)

A

En Marche!: 308 seats
Republicans: 112
Socialists: 30

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20
Q

French national assembly election results 2012 (out of 577 seats)

A

Socialist Party: 280 seats
Union for a Popular Movement (Republicans): 194
En Marche! did not exist

21
Q

Germany political system

A 
Federal Republic. Bicameral legislature with a 5% threshold in lower house
Upper house (Bundesrat) represents each of the 16 federal states and can veto Bundestag laws with 2/3 majority
22
Q

German federal election results 2017

A 
CDU: 33%
SPD: 20%
AfD: 12%
FDP: 11%
Left: 9%
Green 9%
23
Q

AfD vote share 2013 election

A

4.7% - did not get into Parliament due to threshold

24
Q

Italy political system

A

Bicameral legislature

President indirectly elected by all MPs and some regional representatives

25
Q

Executive powers of Italian President

A

Soft veto; appoints PM and cabinet; dissolve parliament; negotiates international treaties; can declare war; laws by decree (last 60 days without parliamentary approval)

26
Q

2018 Chamber of Deputies election results (out of 630 seats)

A

Centre-right coalition (Lega and Forza Italia): 265 seats
M5S: 227
Centre-left coalition: 122

27
Q

How many seats did the Centre-left coalition lose in the Chamber of Deputies at the 2018 election?

A

223

28
Q

Example of small party winning seat in country without threshold

A

People-Animals-Nature (PAN) Party of Portugal won one seat with 1.4% of the vote in the 2015 election

29
Q

Sweden political system

A

Unicameral legislature elected via PR with a 4% threshold

30
Q

2017 French Presidential election turnout

A

74%

31
Q

2017 German Federal Election turnout

A

76%

32
Q

2018 Swedish election turnout

A

87%

33
Q

Sweden Democrats vote share 2018

A

17.5% - led to hung parliament as no party will go into coalition with them
Election also saw lowest vote share for Social Democrats since 1911

34
Q

Sweden political party membership (total) 1990 and 2018

A

1990: 1.4 million
2018: 266,000

35
Q

UK political party membership (total) 1990 and 2018

A

1990: 1.5 million
2018: 700,000

36
Q

UKIP vote share 2015 vs 2017 elections

A

2015: 12.9%
2017: 1.8%

37
Q

How many Prime Ministers did Poland have between 1991 and 1997

A

7

38
Q

How many Parties got into Parliament in Poland in 1991 elections

A

29

5% threshold introduced in 1993 led to 6 parties returned

39
Q

What is the populist party in Poland?

A

Law and Justice Party (PiS)

Have 237 of the 460 parliamentary seats

40
Q

How did the EU react to the PiS’ laws curbing the independence of the judiciary?

A

Triggered Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty, suspending certain powers of the government

41
Q

Key EU treaties

A

1952 European Coal and Steel Community; 1958 Treaties of Rome; 1993 Maastricht Treaty; 1999 Treaty of Amsterdam; 2003 Treaty of Nice; 2009 Lisbon Treaty

42
Q

Functions of European Council

A

Comprised of 28 heads of governments, one from each member state
Creates guidelines for EU policy

43
Q

Functions of Council of Ministers

A

Comprised of 28 cabinet ministers, one from each member state
Discuss and vote on specific policy issues

44
Q

Functions of European Commission

A

Comprised of 28 independent commissioners, one from each member state
Propose draft legislation, co-ordinates policy implementation and administers the budget

45
Q

Functions of European Parliament

A

Comprised of 751 directly elected members from member states, using PR
Vote on legislation proposed by Commission

46
Q

Number of MEPs: Germany and Malta

A

Germany: 96
Malta: 6

47
Q

Functions of European Court of Justice

A

One judge from each member state

Rules on intra and inter state issues that fall under EU law

48
Q

Example of EU legislation

A

2014 Climate Change policy

Committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, compared to 1990

49
Q

Example of EU-wide sanctions

A

2008 Iran arms embargo and 2014 Russian assets freeze issued as a bloc

A Year 1 Politics (7 decks)

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