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A Year 1 Politics > Politics in Europe > Flashcards

Politics in Europe Flashcards

(49 cards)

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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)

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A

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

21
Q

Germany political system

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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

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

AfD vote share 2013 election

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A

4.7% - did not get into Parliament due to threshold

24
Q

Italy political system

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A

Bicameral legislature

President indirectly elected by all MPs and some regional representatives

25
Executive powers of Italian President
Soft veto; appoints PM and cabinet; dissolve parliament; negotiates international treaties; can declare war; laws by decree (last 60 days without parliamentary approval)
26
2018 Chamber of Deputies election results (out of 630 seats)
Centre-right coalition (Lega and Forza Italia): 265 seats M5S: 227 Centre-left coalition: 122
27
How many seats did the Centre-left coalition lose in the Chamber of Deputies at the 2018 election?
223
28
Example of small party winning seat in country without threshold
People-Animals-Nature (PAN) Party of Portugal won one seat with 1.4% of the vote in the 2015 election
29
Sweden political system
Unicameral legislature elected via PR with a 4% threshold
30
2017 French Presidential election turnout
74%
31
2017 German Federal Election turnout
76%
32
2018 Swedish election turnout
87%
33
Sweden Democrats vote share 2018
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
Sweden political party membership (total) 1990 and 2018
1990: 1.4 million 2018: 266,000
35
UK political party membership (total) 1990 and 2018
1990: 1.5 million 2018: 700,000
36
UKIP vote share 2015 vs 2017 elections
2015: 12.9% 2017: 1.8%
37
How many Prime Ministers did Poland have between 1991 and 1997
7
38
How many Parties got into Parliament in Poland in 1991 elections
29 | 5% threshold introduced in 1993 led to 6 parties returned
39
What is the populist party in Poland?
Law and Justice Party (PiS) | Have 237 of the 460 parliamentary seats
40
How did the EU react to the PiS' laws curbing the independence of the judiciary?
Triggered Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty, suspending certain powers of the government
41
Key EU treaties
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
Functions of European Council
Comprised of 28 heads of governments, one from each member state Creates guidelines for EU policy
43
Functions of Council of Ministers
Comprised of 28 cabinet ministers, one from each member state Discuss and vote on specific policy issues
44
Functions of European Commission
Comprised of 28 independent commissioners, one from each member state Propose draft legislation, co-ordinates policy implementation and administers the budget
45
Functions of European Parliament
Comprised of 751 directly elected members from member states, using PR Vote on legislation proposed by Commission
46
Number of MEPs: Germany and Malta
Germany: 96 Malta: 6
47
Functions of European Court of Justice
One judge from each member state | Rules on intra and inter state issues that fall under EU law
48
Example of EU legislation
2014 Climate Change policy | Committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, compared to 1990
49
Example of EU-wide sanctions
2008 Iran arms embargo and 2014 Russian assets freeze issued as a bloc

A Year 1 Politics (7 decks)

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