Government

Germany

-effectively a parliamentary system - the president is a figurehead leader elected, but no real authority

I.) equal population II.) continuous

2 rules of congressional districts

super or qualified majority

2/3, 3/4, or some other threshold beyond half

Incorporation of third-party issue positions or platforms by major political parties

The Green Party (GPUS) advocates environmentalism, social justice, and anti-war/anti-racism agendas. Which of the following statements accurately describes a barrier to the Green Party winning congressional seats or the presidency?

Winner-take-all districts

Which of the following is an important structural barrier to third-party and independent candidate success in the United States?

General election

an election that decides which candidate will fill an elective

presidential system - Brazil

- Brazilian presidents have even more power than US president - line-item veto allows them to cross out sections of the legislation, but pass other sections - the president can temporarily decree legislation that becomes law unless Congress veto's it

legislative system

- all democratic system have legislatures - degree power depends on the system, but all vest power with a legislature - size varies, but large country = large legislature, small country = small legislature

the UK system

- labor is on the left of the political spectrum -conservatives are on the right - current govt & PM is from the conservative party(Theresa May)

semi-presidential systems - France

- president handles international policy while the prime minister is internal - it varies depending on who's in charge & how much support they have - the system requires more coordination than ours -cohabitation can result if president and PM are from different parties

presidential system - US

- the "imperial presidency" - president control over an increasing number of bureaucratic agencies - president's increasing power to go war without congressional, even though that is explicitly needed from the constitution - increasing international globalization has meant the president has more international power

Ireland (not true to presidential)

- the president is directly elected but is more than a ceremonial position - no power to veto legislation, only to submit it to courts to test it - nominally in charge of foreign affairs & defense, but power really rests with the head of the majority of congressional

the canadian system

-similar to Great Britain - major: parties are a liberal party (left like the US) & the conservative party

presidential system

-the chief executive of a given territory that its elected - just bc we have a president it doesn't mean we're presidential items

Winner-take-all system

An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the party who received the most votes in an election; this is the most common system in the United States, and it does not benefit minor political parties, since third-party candidates rarely win the majority of votes in an election

They can shift national attention to particular issues and influence the outcome of elections

Which of the following best explains how third parties affect the US political system?​

The Electoral College uses a winner-take-all system

Which of the following statements accurately summarizes why it is virtually impossible for third-party candidates to become president?

independent candidate

a candidate for office who does not have a formal affiliation with a political party

pareto criterion

a decision is efficient if it increases the satisfaction of some voters or at least does not worsen any

multi-seat district

a district with a magnitude larger than one

Caucus

a meeting in a voting precinct at which party members choose nominees for political office after hours of speeches and debates; caucuses tend to promote the views of dedicated party members since participating requires a large time commitment

Party convention

a meeting of delegates from one political party to vote on policy and select party candidates for public office

Closed primary

a primary election limited to registered members of a political party; for example, in a state with closed primaries, only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary to choose candidates for local, state, and national office

Open primary

a primary election that is not limited to registered party members. For example, in a state with open primaries, independent voters or Republicans can vote in the Democratic primary to choose candidates for local, state, and national office

party platform

a set of goals supported by a political party; parties design their platforms to appeal to the concerns of the public and to encourage voters to support the party

Third party

also called a minor party, a third party is a US political party other than the two major parties (the Republican Party and the Democratic Party); third parties rarely win elections in the United States, but frequently influence national politics by drawing attention to issues previously neglected by the major parties

Majoritarian System

an election system where the winner must receive a majority of votes, either in an initial election or in a subsequent - 3rd parties only have to come in 2nd instead of 1st to have an effective chance - be an effective broker prevent the least popular candidate from winning

Primary election

an election that decides which candidate a party will send on to a general election; primary elections pit candidates from the same party against one another

Proportional system

an electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded in proportion to the percentage of votes garnered by a party in an election; this system is common in Europe and benefits minor political parties, who may win a small number of legislative seats even if a mainstream party wins most seats

Two-party system

an electoral system in which two major parties dominate voting at all levels of government

minimum winning coalition

based on the notion of choosing a partner that gets closest to 50% of seats +1 benefits: means more power for a major coalition drawback: mean partnership can occur among non-ideological aligned allies (L-R coalition)

minimum connected coalition

based on the notion of choosing the party closest to you -benefits: means more ideological agreement among partners -drawback: means more power for lesser partners

prime minister

chief executive also called the president of the council of minister, president of government, chancellor

president

chief of state, which in some regimes also implies chief executive

apportionment

distribution of seats among different electoral districts - districts can have one or more representative

single member districts

districts where only one represents a districts ex.) US

Hamilton- Hare method

divide it up to get the # of seats

semi-presidential regime

dual executive between the elected president and the prime minister accountable to the assembly

majority rule

first past the post to the winner takes all

ballot

form of voting to select parties and individual candidates

cohabitation

in a semi-presidential regime, the president and the prime minister belong to different parties

simple majority

just one more than half the voters

deadlock

legislative paralysis and inter institutional conflict

checks and balances

mutual controls among institutions, especially the president the chambers of congress and the judiciary

parliamentary regime

mutual dependence between the prime minister and the parliament

magnitude

number of seats to be elected in a districts

proportional representation

parties seat allocation represent the "proportional" of the vote they receive -allocates seats based on multi-member districts -requires a minimum (usually 5%) -closed list vs open list

Daverger's Law (not actually a law)

plurality + single member districts = 2 political parties

instant runoff

ranked and order them in each round

presidential regime

separate elections and powers between the presidency and the assembly

mixed electoral system

some seats are elected by majority rule and other by proportional representatives

unanimity rule

the agreement of all voters is required

gerrymandering

the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

representation

the election of people to act in the voters' interests

Electoral college

the group of electors chosen by each state to formally vote for the next U.S. president based on the result of voting in the state

plurality or relative majority

the highest number of voters, even short of a majority

divided government

the president's party does not have a majority in the assembly

unified government

the president's party has a major of seats in the assembly

Incumbency advantage

the tendency of incumbents (officials already holding a political office) to win reelection; incumbents have advantages in media exposure, fundraising, and staff

Popular vote

the total or percentage of votes won by each candidate

Jefferson- D'Hondt

the total vote share is divided up by the next number

assembly size

total number of seats in an assembly

Webster-Sainte-Laguë

total share is divided by the odd number

efficiency gap

wasted votes -every 10 years to redraw the district's line -gerrymandering is the root cause of political polarization in the US