Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Oligarchy, Single Transferable Vote, Social Inequality
26 Feb 2016
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Liberal democracy: who should be subject to election: parties and policymakers, not bureaucrats, usually not judges, not ceos, doctors, etc. How: universal suffrage, secret ballot, competitive election, a free and independent society. Heywood asks if elections are the best training for writing laws and administering economies: make governments- directly or indirectly, representation- or electoral punishment, influence policy- promises. Top down: strengthen elites- channel popular discontent, sustain democracy governments change, not regime. By how much: how people feel about democracy: Proportional representation: choose parties, perhaps also candidates- rank ordered. In single member districts (smd) elect one person from a particular district. Proportional representation: in multi member districts (mmd) a single district produce many candidates. First past the post system- a plurality of votes wins the seat (doesn"t have to be 50% or more) Allows for the possibility that fewer votes still give people access to the seat. Strong and stable single-party governments (makes things happen)
