Special TA Office Hours (April 5th-7th)

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Special TA Office Hours (April 5th-7th)

• Jason Hildebrandt
• Monday 100-200
• Wednesday 100-200
• Laszlo Sarkany
• Monday 1000-1200
• Monday 100-300
• Nadir Budhwani
• TBA
• Esmorie Miller
• Tuesday 1100-1200
• Wednesday 1100-1200

• Matt ORourke
• Tuesday 1000-1100
• Tuesday 100-200
• Korhan Yazgan
• Monday 100-200
• Wednesday 100-200
• Nikki Petruniak
• Tuesday, 1000-1100
• Tuesday 100-200
• Herb Shields
• Tuesday 100-300
• Wednesday 100-300

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Electoral Systems (Contd)

• Ensuring Representation, Ensuring Stability
• March 30th, 2004

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Alternative Systems Proportional Representation

• representation ( of seats) directly proportional
  to share of popular vote received ( of votes)

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Hypothetical Results Under Different Electoral
Systems - 2000 Election
Vote Seats SMPS Seats PR
Liberal
CA
BQ
NDP
PC
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Hypothetical Results Under Different Electoral
Systems - 2000 Election
Vote Seats SMPS Seats PR
Liberal 40.8 172 (57)
CA 25.5 66 (22)
BQ 10.7 38 (12.6)
NDP 8.5 13 (4.3)
PC 12.2 12 (4)
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Hypothetical Results Under Different Electoral
Systems - 2000 Election
Vote Seats SMPS Seats PR
Liberal 40.8 172 (57) 127
CA 25.5 66 (22) 77
BQ 10.7 38 (12.6) 30
NDP 8.5 13 (4.3) 27
PC 12.2 12 (4) 37
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Liberal Liberal Canadian Alliance Canadian Alliance Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Bloc Quebecois Bloc Quebecois New Democrats New Democrats
2000 PR 2000 PR 2000 PR 2000 PR 2000 PR
Atlantic 19 13 0 3 9 11 0 0 4 5
QB 36 34 0 5 1 4 38 30 0 1
ON 100 53 2 25 0 15 0 0 1 9
MB/SK 7 8 14 11 1 3 0 0 6 7
AB/BC 7 16 50 33 1 5 0 0 2 5
CDA 172 127 66 77 12 37 38 30 13 27
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Electoral Systems Democracy

• SMPS
• exaggerates political dominance of largest group
  of voters to emphasize leadership, stability and
  accountability
• do all models of democracy value bold leadership
  equally??
• creates false majority rule
• concern with rights of minorities?
• concern with representation?
• proportional representation
• more competition and choice
• better representation of various interests
• more effective and meaningful political
  participation
• higher level of consensus required for government
  to act

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Political Parties

• Interest Aggregation
• Interest Representation
• March 30th, 2004

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Political Parties vs. Interest Groups

• interest groups strive to influence political
  outcomes
• political parties strive to become the governing
  party
• both represent political interests
• political parties also aggregate interests
• in doing so, political parties act to filter
  interests

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Type of Political Parties

• basis of organization
• electoral-professional parties vs. mass parties
• basis of electoral competition
• pragmatic parties (brokerage parties)
• ideological-programmatic parties
• interest parties
• http//www.guinnessvote.ca/register.html

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Ideological/Programmatic Parties

• organized around social cleavages
• class
• religion
• ethnicity
• region
• traditional conceptions of ideology
• left vs. right

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The Ideological Spectrum
The Left -- Socialist
The Right -- Conservative
Less Govt
More Govt

• greater reliance on the market
• fewer government regulations
• no special treatment for special interest groups
• lower taxes

• government regulation of the economy
• policies to help disadvantaged groups
• policies to redistribute income

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General Trends -- Political Parties

• the rise of pragmatism
• increasingly parties try to compete for the
  middle ground
• differences between parties fading

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The Ideological Spectrum The Rise of Pragmatism
The Left -- Socialist
The Right -- Conservative
Tony Blair (Britain) New Labour Bill Clinton (US)
New Democrats
George W. Bush (US) Compassionate Conservatism
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General Trends -- Political Parties

• single member plurality systems encourage
  pragmatic parties PR promotes ideological/interes
  t parties
• the rise of pragmatism
• parties increasingly competing to occupy the
  centre of the political spectrum
• reasons?
• success of pragmatic parties has been
  self-reinforcing
• the fall of communism
• affluence of western industrialized societies

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Political Parties Democracy

• mass parties vs. electoral-professional parties
• mass parties encourage greater participation in
  politics by the public
• majoritarian democrats
• electoral-professional parties
• parties perform minimalist function of
  structuring elections
• elite democrats

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Political Parties Democracy

• ideological/interest parties vs. pragmatic
  parties
• ideological/interest parties
• gives clear electoral choices
• help make elections meaningful
• encourages greater mass participation
• majoritarian democrats
• pragmatic parties
• depend on party elites (to broker deals among
  various interests)
• elections
• differences between parties are limited
• electoral choice is really about best management
  team
• elite democrats

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Political Parties Democracy

• liberal democrats
• crucial point is that individuals remain free to
  form political parties (and contest elections)
  free from state interference

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Interest Groups

• Interest Representation

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Interest Groups

• organizations whose members act together to
  influence govt policy on specific issues,
  without contesting elections (different from
  parties!)
• how do they influence -- lobbying
• play an important role in representing citizen
  demands to govt

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Determinants of Interest Group Influence

• size (membership) and cohesion
• information, expertise
• leadership, level of organization
• financial resources
• high-status (celebrity) membership
• values, goals, tactics, issue -- compatible with
  broader public opinion?
• ability to sway public opinion

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Determinants of Influence -- Institutionalization

• institutionalization -- degree to which a group
  has become an acknowledged actor in/part of the
  political process
• levels of institutionalization
• institutional/associational/anomic
• danger for group -- co-optation
• to become institutionalized, interest groups must
  adopt norms and behaviours inside the broader
  governing consensus
• must be more concerned with preserving priveleged
  position in the long-term than winning on certain
  issues
• danger for government capture
• government relies on group to the point that it
  loses it ability to act autonomously in that
  issue area

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What Interest Groups Do -- Lobbying

• tactics
• quiet consultations
• lobbying elected officials
• lobbying bureaucratic officials
• mobilizing public opinion
• media campaigns
• public demonstrations
• the paradox of interest group influence
• the most powerful interest groups are often the
  most quiet!

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Interest Groups and Democracy

• majoritarian democratic critique of interest
  group pluralism
• interest group politics is grossly uneven
• well-financed, privileged interests hold the
  advantage
• the paradox of interest group influence
• the strongest interest groups (e.g. economic
  interests) do not have to lobby in order to have
  influence
• interest group influence displaces the influence
  of the general public
• special interest groups

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Interest Groups and Democracy

• elite democracy
• interest group competition and lobbying (even if
  grossly uneven) is fine so long as...
• political elites retain the power to make overall
  decisions in the general welfare
• the summation of all interest group demands does
  not equal the general welfare

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Interest Groups and Democracy

• liberal democracy
• pluralism
• as long as individuals are free to form interest
  groups, interest group competition represents
  interests in society
• groups do not have to be equal groups have to
  have equal opportunity to compete

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