Representation, Parties, and Elections

1. Representation, Parties, and Elections

2. 2 main types of democracy • 1. Direct • 2. Representative

3. Direct (historically earlier form): citizens themselves govern • Example: Switzerland • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5W45Va0cPE&feature=pyv

4. Representative • Government by citizens’ representatives • The main principles: • The state is distinct from society, has authority over it • The state derives its authority from citizen consent • State officials have an autonomy from society, but are accountable to it • State officials are bound by rule of law

5. The concept of representation • 1. Rulers are elected, granted authority to govern - but may not necessarily do what citizens want: • unfulfilled promises • elites may claim they know better • “painful but necessary” reforms • 2. Rulers are not elected, but govern in such a way that citizens do feel that their interests are taken into account • kindly kings, benevolent dictators seeking citizen support • Obviously, electoral democracy is a better form of representation • But major problems remain

6. 1. Electoral mechanisms: how well do they communicate society’s demands to the state • 2. Channels of citizen influence on the government between elections – in the policy-making process • 3. The contents of policy • Some of these problems can be solved through improvements in the mechanisms of representation • But there are strong arguments in favour of reinforcing representation with robust institutions of direct democracy

7. The political process The political process can be described as the flow of political power This flow never stops It has its own patterns, reproduced over and over again in a systematic way It moves through institutions, links, channels which connect society with the state

8. The Political Process Government Elections Interest Groups Executive Demands INTERESTS Political Parties Assembly LAWS AND POLICIES Supports Judiciary Media Social impact of laws and policies SOCIETY THE STATE

9. Some interests have more weight than others Such disparities of power are reflected in every part of the political process Some interests need the state more than others Different interests need the state for different things The flow of power has a dual nature Power flows in two directions: from society to the state from the state to society

10. Overall, the dominance of the society-to-state flow should be a sign of democracy: the government heeds societal demands But if one looks at the unequal distribution of power, the picture looks different Dominant classes exert dominant control over both flows of power The rise of economic inequality in society is a sign that the political process works primarily for those at the top, creating a DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

11. Interest Groups and Interest Articulation The basic actor in the political process is the individual citizen The range of individual political impact - From letters to MPs and newspapers To being a Bill Gates – or a Prime Minister’s close friend But most individuals can have any impact only by acting through interest groups – created to articulate (formulate and express) group interests In modern societies, they are numerous They vary in structure, goals, style, financing, support base

12. Channels used to transmit citizen demands Legal access channels: Personal connections Mass media Political parties Legislatures Government bureaucracies Protest demonstrations, strikes Coercive methods: Protest demonstrations, strikes Boycotts Riots Terrorism Coup d’etat

13. Interest Aggregation The process through which demands are translated into policy proposals The key pre-modern (feudal) mechanism for IA is the patron-client network (the crony system): who knows whom, who is obliged to whom, who serves whom – personal, informal, and flexible tools of power In modern democracies, generally considered ineffective. Rule of law, active citizenry, media freedom, competitive elections limit the usability of cronyism.

14. The main modern interest aggregation mechanism is the political party. Some interest groups (institutional and associational) also perform interest aggregation tasks. But patron-client networks have not disappeared from modern democracies They continue to serve as unofficial - but not necessarily illegal - mechanisms interlocking with official institutions When a patron-client network is used in violation of the law, this is called corruption. But the lines between the legal and the illegal are often blurred

15. Political Party An interest group seeks to influence the state A political party seeks to capture control of the state Functions of political parties: provide links between the rulers and the ruled formulate programs to govern society help organize the process of policy-making recruit and train citizens for political leadership roles How are political parties created?

16. 1. BY COMPETING ELITES The first parties, usually created in early parliaments, were elite factions with narrow popular bases, divided by ideology and interest, fighting each other for power With the rise of democracy, they are forced to reach out into broader society to seek voter support Example of an elite party which successfully adapted to mass politics – the British Conservative Party

17. 2. BY CIVIL SOCIETY Organized by citizen activists, interest groups seeking to reduce the power of elites - or overthrow the elites altogether The influence of these mass parties comes from the numbers of their supporters. They are interested in mass participation, and their programs are built around popular demands NOT ALL MASS PARTIES ARE DEMOCRATIC - TOTALITARIANISM IS A FORM OF MASS POLITICS

18. 2 basic types of party systems: Competitive (in democracies) Non-competitive (in authoritarian states) In non-competitive systems, one party rules, allowing no challenges to its control of the state Competitive systems: One-and-a-half party systems (Japan until recently) 2-party systems (USA) Multiparty systems (most European states, Canada)

19. Parties in government In one-party authoritarian systems, the party, organized as a military-type command structure, controls both state and society In two-party systems, the majority party has a high degree of control over government In multiparty systems, government is often formed on the basis of several parties (bloc, coalition). Differences between parties in a coalition may undermine the government

20. Elections

21. Democracy is much more than elections • But it is impossible without elections • Electoral (formal, procedural, representative) democracy is the foundation of all democratic systems • An election is an act through which citizens create public power which they accept as legitimate, to which they submit • Historical sequence: • Primitive democracy – the state – the democratic state • We started with democracy, then deviated from it for about 5,000 years, and now, for the past couple of centuries, have been trying to return to it – because the other methods have been found wanting

22. What are the other methods? • A person may inherit the post of ruler, or: • A person may conquer, seize by force the power to rule • Problems with the quality of the result: how good a ruler? • Quality of the person? • Issue of legitimacy? • The first issue is addressed more effectively through choice. • The second, through wide participation in the act of choosing

23. The hereditary method • Through the millennia of monarchic rule - considered the normal, legitimate option. • The few elements of choice: • choosing an heir • marrying another royal (or non-royal) • A wider group, representing some diverse interests, is always involved in the decision-making (kingmakers) • Still, the role of choice is severely limited • And the circle of participants is extremely narrow

24. The method of conquest • No choice • Huge problems of legitimacy • Who would be the conquerors? • Foreigners (no legitimacy) • Members of the ruling family – through a coup (some legitimacy) • “The people” – through a revolution (new legitimacy) • After a revolution, a new state is organized, and the issues of choice and legitimacy arise again

25. Enabling citizens (all or at least some of them) to choose the rulers through a peaceful, rule-bound process of elections looks like the simplest and most natural way of creating a government, which will have legitimate authority immediately after the election – provided the election was free and fair • This assumption holds only if the true purpose of an election is to create a representative government… • In a stable democracy, citizens take it for granted

26. Even though 2/3 of the governments in the world today are created through an electoral process, • Electoral democracy as a political institution is facing massive challenges: • A large part of humanity still doesn’t have it (China, many Muslim states) • Imitations of democracy (Russia) • Rollbacks of democracy (Pakistan under military dictatorship) • Impositions of democracy (Iraq) • Erosion of democracy (USA under G.W.Bush) • The issue: can democracy be limited to elections only? • If the egalitarian mechanism keeps producing results which are deeply unsatisfactory for the majority, what does this contradiction do to the mechanism itself?

27. So, the main purpose of an election is to choose a ruler or a group of rulers • Other purposes? • Recruitment and training of elites • Policy-making: • Leaders run policy proposals through the electoral process to test (and also manipulate) public opinion • Referendums and plebiscites (voting for policy proposals, not candidates) • A means to confirm and strengthen the legitimacy of the state* ---------------------------- Phillips Shively, Power and Choice, McGraw-Hill, 2003, pp.223-226

28. Key requirements of an effective electoral democracy: • Participation • Contestation • Can one work without the other? • Civil and political rights and liberties, rule of law as essential tools to assure both requirements - to enable the citizens to collectively create a new government

29. Electoral systems • 1. Constituency: who will be represented? • Entire country • A part of the country • Balance between national and local • 2. Apportionment: how to organize representation? • Geography (where you live) • Equal representation of individual citizens • 3. Franchise: • Who may vote? • Who may run for office?

30. Electoral formulas A. Electing a single executive officer – President, Governor, Mayor, dogcatcher, etc.). Options: • Elected by citizens themselves • Elected by members of the legislature • If elected by citizens, the options are: • Simple majority rule (the winner is the candidate receiving the highest percentage of votes cast) • Absolute majority rule (the winner is the candidate who got more than 50% of the votes cast) • Level of participation (in some countries, an election is valid only if more than half of the registered voters took part)

31. B. Electing a group of officials – a legislature • 2 basic systems • 1. Majoritarian • 2. Proportional representation (PR) • Mixed systems (combinations of 1 and 2) • Majoritarian (UK, US, Canada, India, France, Japan, Australia – over 40 countries) • Every electoral district elects one representative • Simple (absolute) majority rule - need to get 50% + (more than all the rest) – or, more often: • Plurality (relative majority) rule (first-past-the post) - need to get more than any other candidate

32. Proportional representation (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and others): • Competition between parties, not individual candidates • Distribution of seats in the legislature according to the %% of the votes cast for each party For example…

33. A country has a parliament with 100 seats • 5 parties are competing in elections • Under a majoritarian system: • The country s divided into 100 districts (ridings) • In each, it is a race between individual candidates from different parties • Results in Riding No.1: • Candidate from Party No.1 got 10% of votes • No.2 – 15% • No. 3 - 25% • No. 4 – 20% • No. 5 – 30% • The winner is No.5, with 30% support • He/she represents a minority of voters in the riding

34. Imagine that the same results came up in each of the 100 ridings… • It would mean that 1 of the 5 parties, • having received 30% of the total vote, • would capture 100% of the seats in the parliament • It would: • obtain monopoly control of the legislature • easily form a government • and have a lot of freedom to govern as it wants • In real life: • majoritarian systems do favour large, established, better-funded parties and make it easier for elites to govern a country

35. Imagine that the same country switched to the PR system. • In each of the 100 ridings, voters choose between the same 5 parties • But each party is represented not by an individual candidate, but by a nationwide party list of candidates Imagine that the distribution of votes in Riding No.1 is the same: • Party No.1 got 10% of votes • No.2 – 15% • No. 3 - 25% • No. 4 – 20% • No. 5 – 30%

36. After the election, the votes cast for each party in all 100 ridings are added up to determine each party’s nationwide share of parliamentary seats • The individual candidates to fill the seats are then selected from the party lists • Imagine that across the country, the popular vote was distributed in the same proportion as in Riding No.1: • Party No.5 gets only 30% of the seats • It’ll have a hard time forming a government • And an even harder time governing • The parliament is split into 5 factions • Need for coalitions

37. Makes it harder to govern – but is more democratic • More fairly reflects society’s political preferences (though usually involves limits on smaller parties) • Fosters multiparty systems • More diverse voices are heard in debates • But: Ties between citizens and representatives are more distant – no individual link, like in majoritarian systems Mixed systems

38. Participation • The paradox: • Individually, voting doesn’t seem to make sense: 1 person can’t change the course of a country, my vote doesn’t count • Makes sense only as a collective act • But a collective act can only take place thrugh individual acts • Through the act of voting, political power is created in society from individual political wills • The long struggle for voting rights

39. Still, some people who do have voting rights refuse to vote • when thelink between their individual and collective interests is broken • Some are alienated from society, lack sense of civic responsibility • Others don’t vote when they don’t believe that anything can be changed through elections • Right or duty? • 20th century debate: Is mass participation desirable? • Resolved in favour of mass participation: it does lead to a better government and a better society

40. An election as a challenge to the powers that be • Ways to defeat the challenge: • Don’t hold an election – but if you have to: • Limit participation • Arrange the voting rules to favour your side • Limit the opposition’s access to the public (control of media is key) • Eliminate the opposition physically • Intimidate voters • Limit public access to the voting places, where necessary • Stuff ballot boxes with your ballots • Make sure who counts (be inventive with computers) • Be well prepared for court challenges • Make sure the police and troops will obey your orders to disperse the crowds of protesters • Declare a state of emergency • Keep a helicopter ready for your rapid evacuation if everything else goes wrong

41. Equality of voting rights vs. social inequality • The power of concentrated wealth • Big corporations go to great lengths to control the political process • It is a major cause of public cynicism about electoral democracy • Attempts at reform • Struggles for true representation