POLI 130 Chapter 10

Explain the case study of executive turnover in the UK

-Labour minority government following 1974 election -Margaret Thatcher becomes conservative leader in 1975 -Thatcher calls vote of no confidence in Labour government -Parliament dissolved -conservative party picked up many seats and gained a majority -Thatcher became Prime Minister and creates many new policies

What does the world prominent Westminster model feature?

-ceremonial head of state -executive (prime minister and cabinet) responsible to parliament -single member district with plurality rule in the UK, varies elsewhere

What are some constitutional limits on executive power?

-separation of powers -term limit -impeachment -vote of no confidence

What are the two types of chief executives? What are these?

1) head of state- person with executive functions who is a country's symbolic representative, including elected presidents and unelected monarchs 2) head of government- top executive official responsible for forming governments and formulating and implementing policies

What are the four types of coalitions?

1) minimum winning coalition 2) minimum connected winning coalition 3) minimum size coalition 4) grand coalition

What are the three executive structures?

1) presidential 2) parliamentary 3) semi-presidential

What are three examples of chief executives? What does each do?

1) prime minister- chief executive in a parliamentary system that acts as head of government 2) president- executive leader that typically combines the function of head of state and head of government, and is directly responsible to a legislature 3) monarch- a head of state in a monarchy, who usually inherits a position for life and may have either substantial political powers or very limited ceremonial powers

What is an example of a coalition that took a long time to form?

Belgium in 2010, it took 589 days to form a coalition to support the prime minister

What is a semi presidential system?

a mixed or hybrid system combining aspects of parliamentarism and presidentialism

What is a veto?

act of executive power in which an executive rejects a law passed by a legislature

What are indirect elections?

an electoral system in which most voters never cast a ballot directly for the individual who becomes head of government

What are direct elections?

an electoral system in which voters cast a vote directly for the head of state or head of government

What is a state of emergency?

condition allowed by some constitutions in which guarantees rights, or provisions are temporarily limited, to be justifies by emergencies or exceptional circumstances

What is a decree?

executive made order that has the force of law, despite not being passed through a legislature

Explain informal, formal, and partisan powers briefly.

formal- powers assigned to the office of the president by constitutional authority or law partisan- powers to control decisions and votes of legislators and other politicians through control of political party informal- powers of he president that are not official, but come from informal ability to influence public policy

What is a grand coalition?

governing coalition composed of two or more major parties that hold a supermajority of legislative seats and represent a supermajority of the electorate

What is a minimum winning coalition?

governing coalition that contains no surplus parties beyond those required to form a government

What is a minimum size coalition?

governing coalition that is closest to the threshold needed to govern, typically 50% of the legislative seats plus one seat

What is a cabinet?

group of senior officials in the executive branch, including ministers, who advise the head of government or head of state

What is a coalition?

group of two or more political parties that governs by sharing executive power and responsibilities -there is no party that has an outright majority, involves negotiation, takes more time to implement than majority government

What is a government?

in the context of executives, the set of top executive officials and high level political appointees that shape and orient policy; also refers to the broader administrative apparatus of the state

What is a minimum connected winning coalition?

minimum winning coalition in which all parties in the coalition are "connected" or adjacent to one another on the political spectrum

What is an executive order?

order made by chief executive or top official to the bureaucracy that determines how the bureaucracy should enact of interpret the law

What is the bureaucracy?

organization of unelected officials, often considered part of the executive branch, that implements, executes, and enforces

What is populism?

political approach in which leaders, often heads of government and top executive branch officials, make direct appeals to "the people" and seek to develop direct political ties with the masses (power executives can damage the economy through populism)

What are partisan powers?

powers accruing to a government official, such as a chief executive, by virtue of the official's leverage or power of members of a political party

What are formal powers?

powers possessed by a political actor, such as a chief executive, as a function of their constitutional of legal position

What are informal powers?

powers presented by an office holder that are not "official" but rather based on custom, convention, or other sources of influence

What does dissolving the legislature mean?

practice of a chief executive disbanding the legislature, often accompanied in a democratic regime by the calling for new elections

Whites clientelism?

practice of exchanging political favors, often in the form of government employment or services, for political support

Where are presidential systems common? Parliamentary systems?

presidential- Latin America, Africa parliamentary- Europe

What is impeachment?

process by which a legislature initiates proceedings to determine whether an official, often a top ranking executive official, should be removed from office

Wha is a portfolio?

set of duties and tasks that corresponds to a given ministerial office

What is executive legislative relations?

set of political relationships between the executive branch of government, which executes laws/policies, and the legislative branch, which often has the authority to pass those laws/policies

What is presidentialism?

system of government in which a president serves as chief executive, being independent of the legislature and often combining the functions of head of state and head of government -direct elections

What is parliamentarism?

system of government in which the head of government is elected by and accountable to a parliament/legislature -indirect elections

What is consociational?

systems that use formal mechanisms to coordinate different groups sharing access to power Consociational democracy can be found in countries that are deeply divided into distinct religious, ethnic, racial, or regional segments—conditions usually considered unfavourable for stable democracy. The two central characteristics of consociationalism are government by grand coalition and segmental autonom

What is the executive?

the branch of government, or the individual(s) at the top of that branch, that executes or administers policies and laws in a country

What is an administration?

the bureaucracy of state officials, usually considered part of the executive branch, that executes policy

Who runs the bureaucracy?

the executive

What is patronage?

use of government favors, typically in the form of employment, to get political support

What is a vote of no confidence?

vote taken by legislature that expresses a lack of support for the government or executive, which if successful often results in the dissolution of the government and the calling of new legislative elections

When are new elections held in a parliamentary system?

when... -term expires -parliament votes no confidence in government -prime minister dissolves parliament