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IPOL Exam 21.ELECTIONS
Representation: relationship through which an individual or group stands for, or acts on behalf of, a
larger body of people
How can one person represent another?
Should elected politicians be bound by policies and positions outlined during an election,
or is it their job to lead public opinion and thereby help to define the public interest?
PRINCIPLE MODELS:
Trustee model
- trustee: person who is vested with formal (and usually legal) responsibilities for another´s
property or affairs
- Edmund Burke:
o Representation is a moral duty
o Educated people should act in the interest of those who are less fortunate
o Once elected representatives should think for themselves and exercise independent
judgement
- John Stuart Mill
o Even though all individuals have right to be represented, not all political opinions are
of equal value
o Proposed system of plural voting in which 4 or 5 votes would be allocated (educated,
skilled workers, ordinary workers)
Criticism: anti- democratic (if public is stupid and ignorant why should vote
in first place), questionable link between representation and education (how
does education help politicians to make moral judgments)
Delegate model
- Delegate: person who is chosen to act for another on the basis of clear guidance and
instruction; delegates do not think for themselves
- Politicians are bound as closely as possible to the views of the represented
- Paine: "frequent interchange" between representatives and their constituents in form of
regular elections and short terms in office
- Initiatives: type of referendum through which the public is able to raise legislative proposals
- Offers broader opportunities for popular participation and serves to check the self-serving
inclinations of professional politicians
Criticism: tends to breed narrowness and foster conflict; delegation limits the
scop for leadership and statesmanship, politicians are forced to reflect the
views of their constituents and not able to mobilize the people by providing
vision and inspiration
Mandate model
- Doctrine of the mandate
- Based on the idea that, in winning an election, a party gains a popular mandate that authorizes
it to carry out whatever policies or programs it outlined during the election campaign
- Party- not individual politicians- is agent of representation
- Politicians serve their constituents by being loyal to party and its policies
- Strength: imposing meaning on election results and keeping politicians to their word
Critique: suggests that voters select parties on the grounds of policies and
issues; voters not always rational and well- informed; limits government
policies to those positions and proposals the party took up during the
election; can only be applied to majoritarian electoral systems
,Resemblance model
- Miccrocosm with members drawn from all groups of society
Critique: can only a member of a minority represent it ?
Descriptive representation: model of representation that takes account of poiticians´ social and other
characteristics, sometimes based on the idea that they should be a representative sample of larger
society
Recall: process whereby the electorate can call unsatisfactory public officials to account and
ultimately remove them
Mandate: an instruction or command from a higher body the demands compliance, party in power can
only act within the mandate it has received
Popular sovereignty: the principle that there is no higher authority than the will of the people
Election analysis
1. Which offices or posts are subject to the elective principle?
2. Who is entitled to vote, how widely is the franchise drawn (espcially informal restrictions i.e.
most US states leaving electoral registration in hands of citizens - high number of non-
registration= non-voting)
3. How are votes cast- mostly the secret ballot= fair election because keeps dangers od corruption
and intimidation low; also voters´ access to information; circumstances under which campaigning
is carried out; how scrupulously vote is counted
4. Are elections competitive or non- competitive
Functions of elections
The conventional view: election is a mechanism where politicians can be called
to account and forced to introduce policies that somehow reflect public opinion-
bottom-up function: political recruitment, representation, making government,
influencing policy
The radical view: elections mean through which governments and political elites
can exercise control over their populations- top-down functions: building
legitimacy, shaping public opinion and strengthening elites
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Majoritarian system : larger parties gian higher proportion of seats than the proportion of votes
they gain in the elction- single-party government can prevail by parliamentary majority
USA (p. 406)
Critique: discrepancies between popular support that parties/ candidates receive in an election
and their level of representation (i.e. candidates wins larger proportion of the popular vote but
sill looses EC votes + only 2 seats in senate per state no matter the size + money in campaigns
Plurality: largest number out of a collection of numbers, not necessarily an absolute majority
Single-member plurality/ first past the post (USA, Canada, India)
- Country divided into single member constituencies, usually of equal size
- Voters select single candidate
, - Winning candidate needs only to achieve a plurality
Second ballot system (Austria, Chile, Russia)
- Single- candidate constituencies and single- choice voting
- Candidates need an overall majority to win
Alternative Vote system
Proportional representation: parties should be represented in an assembly or parliament in direct
proportion to their overall electoral strength, their percentage of seats equalling their percentage
of votes, best known PR system: the party- list system, the single- transferable- vote system and
the additional member system
Mixed- member proportional system/ additional member system
- Portion of seats is filled with single- member plurality
- Remaining seats filles using party- list system
ingle transferable vote system
Party list system
Majoritarian Proportional
"better" government function/ stronger Seem to be more representative
government ?
But lack of proportionality But make coalition government more likely -
harder to push through policies+ smaller parties
can dictate bigger ones
Governemtn usually able to survive for a Weaker and unstable - endless discussions of
full term in office opposing views- liable to collapse (i.e. Italy post
ww2 to 2017 had 65 governments)
In single party governments more sweeping "strong" government in sense of popular support
changes in personnel and consistent development og fovernmetn
policies over number of govenrments
Difficult to make generalizations- depend on
country and circumstances
clear government mandate- more good for representation of voter preferences and
accountable their backgrounds- more diversity in candidates
- better reflection of population
popularity can decrease because vulnerable better for individualist postindustrial societies -
bridge differences and find a common ground
Who is responsible for policy outcomes?
What do elections mean?
About results: about who wins and who looses- encouraged by media- only a
manifestation of the public interest (the public has spoken)
problem: there is not one electorate- only collection with particular interests …
Elections reflect preferences of a majority or plurality
Economic theory of democracy: voting is act of self- interest
Voting influences
Economy
Party leaders
Electoral campaigning
The media
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