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College 10 GPSP Notes - grade 9/10
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Lecture notes of 6 pages for the course The Governance and Politics of Social Problems at VU (college notes)
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GPSP week 5 lecture 10 - 30 november - André KrouwelRepresentation Deficit? Democracy, Political Parties and
Voting in European democracies
Election systems → exam question
Representation and voting
Elite-Mass relationship:
- How do people who are sovereign get represented at the decision making level?
- you cannot sustain a democracy when the preferences of the people are not
rightly taken on board by the elite. → the elite never rightly represent the
people because they have a social distance from the normal people.
- in democracy we use elections for this
- Usually people choose someone from the elite with a lot of experience like a
trustee, but they can have a lot of offices for the people to go to and voice
their opinions which makes them more like a delegate. (british MP)
Random selection
- the easiest way to fix the representation would be through a random selection
Models of representation
- what you do is that you make elites not just represent but also accountable to
representation. Not just elites, but also groups.
This is often the critique of elites: they are too much alike and they do not
represent the varieties well.
- trusteeship, delegation, mandate and resemblance
Trustees: people think they are high quality.
- high level of education, knowledge and experience.
- chosen by the people because they make the best decisions.
- wide range of autonomy to decide on issues
Delegates:
- delegates make decisions for you
- not a lot of leeway in their decisions because they have to represent their people
(they mirror their views)
- they negotiate decisions with their people through meetings, questions etc
Mandate:
- very dominant in the NL
- parties write extensive platforms and promises and then adhere to the
prescriptions which got them elected.
- they don't go back and forth between themselves and their constituents
, Resemblance: (look-a-like)
- representatives that typify characteristics of the larger group to which they belong.
and represent the interests of that group.
- they need to look/be like their constituents → women representing women etc.
Democracy
→ representative democracy demands elections, but just because there are elections
doesn’t mean it is a democracy
- most authoritarian regimes hold elections (north korea)
- those in power can use democratic procedures (elections and referendums)
to legitimise abuses of power
- Within democratic institutions too it is possible for actors to behave in an
undemocratic way.
- They undermine the constitution without tearing up the document.
- Democratic backsliding: parties that came into power on the long term try to
reduce/eradicate their competition/enemies (zoals Putin).
Prerequisite: rule of law → democracy requires a constitution that also limits actions and
the rule of the powerful. (checks and balances)
Constitution: a set of historically developed institutional and cultural guaranties that prevent
the abuse of power.
- There should be a time frame for the elections so the presidents have to ask for
mandate again from the people to be able to rule over them and to limit them from
coming back into power.
- the constitutions arrange the relationship between the legislative and executive
power
- the constitutions arrange how the change of power is regulated
- the constitutions guarantee free fair and competitive elections
- the constitutions guarantee government to be accountable to the people (the
parliament) and can be voted out with a no confidence vote.
Opposition is crucial
- You need parties that are an alternative government from the parties in power, else
there is no democracy. Opposition vs the (incumbent) elite.
- You need a countervailing power that can take over the reels of power to do things
differently if they are elected.
Types of electoral systems
- electoral formula: how are the votes counted to allocate seats
- district magnitude: the number of seats per district
- the ballot structure: how voters can express their choices for a list or candidate
- the electoral threshold: the minimum votes needed to secure representation.
- plurality vote:
- majoritarian:
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