POLI 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Direct Democracy, Dealignment
2 Apr 2018
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Everyone is a democracy (everyone that matters) Is end goal of a party to govern: fringe part. What is a political party: organization that serves as a link between voters and representatives by recruiting and nominating candidates for elected office. Delegation (no direct democracy: goal of simplification (i. e. cognitive heuristic) Principal-agent model: principals delegate a task. Example: employers, consumers, voters: agents carry out the task. Examples: employees, contractors, politicians: chains of delegation: agents can also be principals to other agents, seems simple, but there are still problems (i. e. agency loss) But all of these options have associated costs. Aldrich: why parties: shaped by ambitious politicians. Also conditioned by the historical context: useful for solving problems that cannot be solved through other means. Selection: regulate competition over who stands for office (and gets into office) Choices: aggregate interests and promote collective choices. Campaigns: mobilize otherwise indifferent voters and use economies of scales: paradox of voting and collective action problems.
