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
