POLS 2300 Lecture Notes - Marginal Seat, Federal Accountability Act, Instant-Runoff Voting
6 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
Representative democracy: a form of democracy in which citizens select others to act on their behalf, don"t affect the political process directly. Elections: mechanism by which the expressed preferences of citizens are aggregated into a decisions regarding who will govern , a tool by which we do something, expressed preferences by the citizens. Installation of officials: it gives us people, fills offices, allows for peaceful political election, they allow for stability. Legitimation: approval, respect, the idea that you have a broad base of support, political systems get their legitimacy through elections. Accountability: elections provide a retrospective government, look back and see if the government did a good or bad job. Popular involvement: few opportunities for people to get involved, single best way, socialization. You can"t have democracy unless you have elections. Inclusive: the definition of who is a citizen and who is a voter must be a large enough percentage of the population. Money needed for: research, staff, election campaigning.
