POLI

Lecture 7: Making sense of politics
§ Institutionalism as middle ground
§ Two dimensions:
1. Institutional design: different forms
2. Institutional strength:
a. Durability: how long it lasted
b. Enforcement: how effective?
Hypothetical exercise
§ Rich countries more likely to have democracy è structuralism: economic condition
§ Islamic Culture is reason for persistence of authoritarianism in the Middle East (before 2011) è structuralim: cultural condition
§ Democrats won election due to Obama è voluntarism
§ Financial crisis caused by greedy wall street ibankers è voluntarism
§ Presidential constitutions are not particularly conducive to political stability in South America è Institutionalism à institutional design
§ Universal suffrage is key to Hong Kong’s continued prosperity in 21st Century è institutionalisms à institutional design
Dimension of institutionalist theory (hypothetical)
§ Jasmine flower revolution succeeded in Tunisia because of weak law enforcement à strength
§ Parliamentary system can coordinate representation of diverse social interests in democracy à design
§ Strong civil society is necessary condition for democracy to work (argument controversial, e.g. Germany had strong civil society beofre WWII) èstrength§ Executive-lead government leads to low accountability è design
Political part descriptive features
1. Autonomous political organisation à it has the highest level of political autonomy à whether it can make decision out of own free will è cases of party capture, but not government capture (gov has low autonomy in UK, but Tory party has high autonomy)
2. Voluntary membership: so long as there is coerced membership (e.g. some armies), it is not voluntary, not out of free will
3. Common ideology or platform: may have diverse views on same issue àbut subtle differences under same ideology
4. Purpose: control of governmental power/political power èuse 4 descriptive features to differentiate from civic society à***some small political parties = green parties Typology of party systems
§ By numbers
1. One party dominant = one party that can substantially control government, can take place in democratic OR non-democratic systems, constitutionally other parties can compete, but politically it cannot
a. Democratic one-party system: e.g. Japan (1955 development stage of post-WWII, controlled by liberal democratic party, lasting for 38 years, until broken by democratic party [term=1955-regime]); Singapore: people’s action party, opposition increasing
b. Authoritarian one-party system: China excluded other parties to compete for leadership role; important feature of authoritarian = 1 party, or 0 party (the military serves as party, e.g. Myanmar)
2. Two (or 2.5)
a. Donkey: patriotic donkey; elephant: republican party
b. 2.5 is subtype of two party systems = both parties cannot control parliament, but have to seek help from small parties e.g. UK
3. Multi-party system
a. Moderate= parties number around 10 (sweden)
b. (Extreme) Fragmented=Israel has 100 è but in reality, parties form 2 coalitions, left and right, so scientists use 2 party model to analyse *two party system
Political left = Liberal faction;
Political right = conservative (DAB)
§ use political package to distinguish o liberal: big government in market; higher level of social welfare; high governmental expense, higher income tax and taxation; more liberal standing = equal marriage, diverse lifestyle, support legal rights of abortion (pro choice); more undocumented immigrants o conservative: family value, smaller government, the best government is those who govern the least, minimum (lowest possible) social welfare, encourage competition in market, low market regulation, low government expense and low taxation, fight against illegal/undocumented immigrants, against equal marriage proposals, against abortion rights(pro life) à unless in life-death situations of mother baby should live Why parties matter
1. Help voters choose among politicians and hold them accountable.
2. Lengthen politicians’ time horizons and facilitate collective action
3. Enhance governability
4. Elite Recruitment and socialization = training for future political leaders; avoid outsider politics = avoid those who disagree to become street fighters/street politics e.g. in quasi/genuine authoritarian regimes Election can be manipulated PLEASE VOTE FOR ME: IMPORTANT è longer questions are from him, hku library Elections
1. Primary nomination = those who get most votes from most states gets nominated as party candidate è choices of people gets narrowed down
2. Campaign = to educate the people of their package, or to attack other’s points, so people can make informed decision
§ CASH Bribery = not effective is there is equal financial power à but other forms include free dinners à in swinging states, often offer “pork barrels”
3. Heavy intervention from existiting power
4. Voters: indifferent, not informed, irrational or emotional voters, no democratic values è civic culture important China NATIONAl people’s congree has civic nomination; but still don’t think its democratic = campaign is not allowed Electoral systems determining election results
1. Voter registration e.g. literacy tests
2. Voter eligibility e.g. some automatically become voters
3. Election day as holiday: labour parties want holiday to vote because voters can vote
4. Polling station distribution: e.g. upper class communities more intense Legislative election:
1. Plurality system (first past the post): separate country to different districts, each district may have several seats, once reach number then get seat
2. Proportional representation system: vote for the party, the whole country is one district, party gets number of seats according to proportion
3. Mixed plurality/PR Legislative election theories
1. Duverger’s Law
a. Single-mbmer-district plurality elections encourage two-party system, third parties tend not to have votes (not emperical evidence)
2. Duverger’s Hypothesis
a. PR allows for muliparty system (no emperical evidence) Executive Election
1. Simple plurality
2. Majority run off (MRO)
a. Round 1 voting: mark candidates with priority 1,2,3..N
b. Round 2 voting: the two candidates who won the most votes in the first round è vote for “lesser evil” è more diverse views heard
How electoral systems shape party system
Plurality System à Two Party System
Proportional Representation (PR)àmultiparty systems
Other Electoral Rules that affect the number of parties in a political system:
1) Minimum threshold for PR à lower threshold is more liberal
2) Concurrent Elections (when executive and legislative elections are held together)
3) Majority Runoff System for executive elections à more voices heard, diverse interests allowed