5. #1: Voting Constantly
#2: Voting Held at Regular Intervals
#3: Terms of OfficeVary Widely
#4: State Rules for OfficesVary Widely
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Dominant-Party System
One party controls government
Lack of competition in elections
Subtype: Single-Party System (e.g. Nazis, CCP)
Two-Party System
Two major parties struggle for power
Platforms highlight party differences
Multiparty System
More than two parties
Emphasis on coalitions
11. Dominant-Party System
Degree of dominance by major party
▪ 100% or 51% of vote
Two-Party System
Alternation of power between two parties
One party wins often in certain period
Multiparty System
Fragmentation (large # of small parties)
Concentration (small # of large parties)
12.
13.
14. One candidate is elected from
each legislative district.
Political parties may play a
role in this decision.
15. FIRST-PAST-THE-POST (FPTP)
Candidate w/ most votes wins
Do NOT have to win majority
of vote, just plurality
TWO-ROUND SYSTEM
OR RUNOFFVOTING
Top two candidates after
first round of voting
compete in additional
elections until majority
Case Study: France
16. More than one candidate chosen from area
What would happen if U.S. adopted this?
20. ALTERNATIVEVOTE (AV)
Votes tallied
If NO candidate gets
majority, the last-place
candidate is eliminated
Votes are reallocated to
voters’ preferred candidates
Continues until one
candidate has majority
SINGLETRANSFERABLEVOTE
(STV)
Votes tallied
Votes of winning
candidates reallocated to
voters’ second and third
choices until slate elected
21.
22.
23.
24.
25. Can’t you just count them?
Effective Number of Parties
Calculation:
▪ Proportion of seats held by party squared
▪ Add squares together and divide by 1
▪ Example:Three parties (P1 – 40%, P2 – 40%, P3 – 20%)
▪ 1 / [(0.40*0.40) + (0.40*0.40) + (0.20*0.20)]
▪ .16 + .16 + .04 = .36 1 / .36 = 2.78
26. INSTRUCTIONS:
In your group, calculate the effective
number of parties for each country.
We will discuss your results.
27.
28. Persistence and Electoral Success
How many electoral cycles is party around for?
Stability of Ideologies / Platforms
Leads to degree of party cohesiveness
Emphasis on Institutions, Not Individuals
Significance of party name
29.
30. Duverger argued that two-party systems will emerge
in countries operating with a simple plurality vote.
31.
32.
33.
34. Representation vs. National Issues
Voters get two votes
Individual Candidate
▪ Member with most votes from constituency elected (SMD)
Political Party
▪ Party votes tallied; seats based on party strength (PR)
Can you see U.S. adopting hybrid system?
Editor's Notes
Parties are important, but their overall influence can hinge on the national party system. Is your party strong and popular enough to political difference?
How many major parties can compete in elections to participate in government?
#1: Dominant-Party System
- Occurs in both democratic and authoritarian systems.
- One party dominates politically, controlling main branches of government.
- Leads to lack of competition in elections; clear choices for voters.
Single-Party System
- Subtype of dominant party system.
- Any parties besides dominant party are banned or disallowed
Examples:
Historic: Nazi Germany; Modern: Chinese Communist Party (China)
Why might single-party systems be a good thing?
- Cultural values of deference to authority.
- Multiparty systems are too divisive
#2: Two-Party System
- Struggle for political power and authority between two major parties.
- Persists over multiple election cycles
- Each party has different set of policy positions in a platform.
- Statements highlight economic and social differences
All of these systems can still vary a bit:
Dominant-Party Systems:
- Different degrees of dominance by leading party.
- Single party wins 100% of seats in legislature every time.
- Single party barely wins 51% of vote
Two-Party Systems:
- Frequent alternation of power between two parties
Example: Present Day GOP and Dems
- One party wins more often for a period of time
Example: Early Twentieth Century GOP and Dems
- GOP in power in 1920s (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover)
- Dems in power in 1930s-1950s (FDR, Truman)
Multiparty Systems: Degree of fragmentation or concentration in the system.
Fragmented System: Party system has a large number of smaller parties
Concentrated System: Party system has a small number of larger parties
How do you determine the number of parties in a system?
- Seems easy enough to just count them, but it actually more complicated.
- If minor party wins one seat in legislature in two-party system, does this
make them viable third party?
Example: United Kingdom: Liberal Democrats are prominent partner
in coalition with Conservative Party
Effective Number of Parties
- Measure designed to capture number of meaningful parties in a given party
system that weights number of parties by their size.
- Represents degree of fragmentation or centralization in a system
- Calculated by taking proportion of seats held by each party, squaring each,
then adding squared sums together and dividing by 1
Example: Three parties exist in a system. Party 1 gets 40% of the vote, Party 2 gets 40% of the vote, and Party 3 obtains 20% of the vote. Completing the math that is on the slide above, we arrive at approximately 2.78 effective parties in this system.
You will find a worksheet on Canvas to practice calculating the effective number of parties in a system. I would highly encourage you to complete it on your own time, as questions asking you to identify the effective number of parties may appear on the upcoming Second Exam.
This slide provides you with some other examples of effective party calculations.
Can you arrive at the stated correct answer?
How can we know the stability of a party system over time?
Party System Institutionalization:
Main Aspects:
1) Persistence and Electoral Success of Party
- Do parties endure or only around for 1-2 cycles?
2) Stability of Ideologies, Programs, and Platforms
- Coherent nature and cohesiveness of party
3) Parties as Institutions, Not Individuals
- Party name has significance
- Less associated with someone and ideas
The final section of the political parties section of this lecture concerns how these elements influence the issue of representation in politics.
Duverger’s Law was developed by Maurice Duverger, a French jurist, sociologist, and politician. It suggests a connection between a party system and an electoral systems.
When elections are based on a plurality vote, they marginalize smaller political
- parties resulting in a two-party system.
Example:
- Country X has three viable political parties.
- Party A takes 40% of vote, Parties B and C take 30% each
- Party A will always win unless B and C join forces, eliminating them as
independent entitles.
Be sure and read more about Duverger’s Law on p. 266 of your textbook
The median voter theory represents one consequence of the two-party system.
Says that two major parties will work to attract median voter, or voter / group of voters at center of the political spectrum.
We need to return to the distinction between sincere and strategic voting.
- Very conservative or liberal voters would still strategically vote for a more
moderate version of the party if is prevented other party from winning.
I have placed a video on Canvas on the Median Voter Theorem. Please review it.
