- Competition for political power means one will win
- if too much rests in one, democracy can be weakened.
- separation of powers and checks and balances diffused the branches of power
- s.o.p and c+b slows politics down and limits hasty decision making
- Democracy is possible without checks and balances, but is widely accepted.
- mere existence of separation of power doesn't ensure separate power... each must have separate base of authority, be outlined in the constitution, and respected.
- checks and balances are stronger in the presidential system
How elections are conducted:
- National elections used to choose political party in par. system and specific candidate in pres system
- legislation chosen by voters of electoral district using first past post system or proportional representation
- many democracies have the option of public vote
- government systems that allow national ballot called referendum... allow public to make decisions for itself, gives public issues and allows them to decide
- competitive elections are considered to be requirements for democracy... the more competitive the election the more democratic the regime
- competition cane be reduced in variety of ways....
- 1. in U.S. and U.K: first past post system discourages 3rd party
- 2. in Mexico and other places: elections appear with all party's, but dominate party wins.... dominate party has right to count ballot.
- 3. Russia: legislation passed to have limited number of party's
- 4. in a one party system its obvious who wins...
What type of electoral system?:
proportional representation or single member districts
- if its single member, decided on plurality of majority
- rules decide how votes cast, counted, and translated to legislative seats.
- consequence: effects which political party or individual gain power, and sometimes degree of voting
- all democracies divide population into electoral boundaries
- boundaries have certain number of seats in legislature for representation
- how boundaries are drawn has an effect
- different districts with difference population sizes can cause problems
- how votes are counted...
- in a minority of democratic countries... (U.S. and U.K)
- -first past post: single member district representives compete tobe sole representative... candidate with largest votes wins... not a majority... only plurality..
- -votes cast for others are wasted
- -amplified political power for some while weakening for another
- -profound impact of number of political parties in legislature
- -most unwilling to vote for smaller parites since they are unlikely to win... vote cast=vote wasted
- -result= much more likely to produce legislatures dominated by two parties
- some run variation of f.p.p systems...
- -theres a 2nd ballot/run off ballot. winner has the majority
- -haveing second ballot encourages number of parties
- -majority vote of run off ballot gives winning a greater sense of legitamacy and winning the public
- proportional representation
- -majority of democracys world wide have it
- -reduces 'wasted votes'
- -increases number of parties in legislature seats
- -relies on election boundaries with multi districts
- -voters cast ballot for party, not individual
- -percent of votes party receives in district determines how many party seats gained
- -small percentages can resolve party winning a seatin in legislature
- -based on multi level district
- --each political party runs candidates, draws up list "party list" in advance in rank order, number of percent won is the number of people who go
- -political party decides whose top on the list... lots of power goes with that
- -voters more willing to vote for small parties
- -many more parties in legislature than other countries with f.p.p
- -minorities have better chance in prop.
- -downside: candidates no longer liked in public can still be elected because of parties support
- some countries (Russia and Mexico) tried to combine f.p.p and proportional rep.
- - when voting you get two votes. one for party, one for candidate
- - allows people to stay loyal to party and still pick their favorite candidate.
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