Reading | Lecture 3: Voters (Chapter 17), p. 296-298
VOTER TURNOUT
Voter turnout: The number of voters who take part in an election, expressed as a
percentage of the total number of eligible voters
Rates vary by time and place, ranging from high (+90%) to low (20-30%), with an
average of 50-70% in most democracies
There is little correlation between turnout levels and the quality of democracy
Turnout rates have fallen since the 1950s in most of the democratic world, what
has caused this drop?
It might be a reflection of limited engagement based on a lack of faith in
government
It could be a sign of contentement
Low turnout could be a reflection of the diversification of participation:
Citizens may still be engaged, but through different means
High turnout could be a sign of healthy civic engagement, but it might also
be a result of over-intense party competition or concern about the direction
being taken by government
Franklin linked the decline of turnout to the diminishing significance of elections
With class conflict on the decrease, citizens had fewer incentives to vote
Declining satisfaction with the performance of democratic governments has also
played a part
Trust in government has fallen in many democracies — this encouraged
people not to vote
Support for democratic principles remains strong
Turnout tends to be higher in those countries where the costs or effort of
voting are low and the perceived benefits are high
Turnout is reduced when voters are required to take the initiative in registering (US
vs Europe)
Turnout is also lower when citizens must vote in person and during a weekday; the
ability to vote in advance is helpful
The greater the impact of a single vote, the more willing voters are to vote
The closer the contest, the higher the turnout
The likelihood of voting is shaped by an individual’s political resources and political
interest
,Reading | Lecture 6: Political parties (Chapter 16)
Political parties: An overview
Political party: A group identified by name and ideology that fields candidates at
elections to win public office and control government
Political cleavage: Practice by which voters are divided into like-minded voting
groups based on national ethnic, religious, linguistic, or social differences
Origins and roles
Two types of parties (in looking at the origins of parties):
Cadre (or elite) parties
Formed by members within a legislature joining together around common
concerns and fighting campaigns in an enlarged electorate
Sometimes known as ‘cactus’ parties, denoting a closed meeting of party
members in a legislature
They remain committed to their leader’s authority, with ordinary members
playing a supporting role
Earliest 19th century parties, e.g. Conservative party of Britain
Mass parties
Formed around political cleavages and designed to help social groups
achieve representation as a way of achieving their policy objectives
Emerged later; originated outside legislatures, e.g. Working-class socialist
parties in Western Europe
Acquired an enormous membership organized in local branches; tried to
keep their representatives on a tight rein (unlike cadre parties)
Played an important role in education and political socialization, funding
education, organizing workshops and running party newspapers, all
designed to tie their members closer to their party
As cadre and mass parties matured, they tended to evolve into catch-all parties
Catch-all parties (big-tent parties)
Work to attract voters with a wide variety of political views and ideologies
Seek electoral support wherever they can find it; their purpose being to
govern rather than to represent
Seek to govern in the national interest, rather than as representatives of a
social group, e.g. Christian Democratic parties in Europe: From religious
deference organizations to broader parties of the center-right
Six roles of political parties
Government: Providing a foundation for the exercise of power by governments,
offering them direction; formation of governments
Guidance: Giving voters coherent and contrasting sets of policies from which to
choose; helping voters make choices among different sets of policies
, Aggregation: Aggregating interests, filtering many specific demands into
manageable and prioritized packages of proposals; helping voters making
themselves heard by pulling together like-minded segments of the electorate and
filtering their demands
Mobilization: Encouraging citizens to take part in politics by campaigning, raising
funds, or voting
Recruitment: Recruiting and preparing candidates for public office; feeding
government
Control: In authoritarian regimes, parties are designed less to offer alternatives than
to limit those alternatives
Party systems
Party system: The overall configuration of political parties, based on their number,
variety, relative importance, interactions, and the laws that regulate them
Single-party systems have become unusual, dominant and two-party systems are
in decline in democracies, multi-party systems have become more common
No-party and dominant party systems tend to be common in authoritarian states
Comparing party systems
No-party systems: No political parties are allowed to compete with the ruler’s
authority, e.g. Saudi Arabia: There is no legislature, formation of parties is banned
Single-party systems: Only one party matters; any minor ‘parties’ are strictly
subordinate
Found only in the world’s few remaining communist systems, e.g. China,
North Korea
Dominant party: One party is almost always in government, whether alone or in
coalition, e.g. South Africa
Factions tend to develop internally, leading to introspection, careerism and
corruption
Two-party: Two major parties (of comparable size) compete to form single-party
governments, e.g. Australia, US
Multi-party: The assembly is composed of several minority parties, leading to
government by coalition or a minority party, e.g. most of Europe
The rise of niche parties
Niche party: One that appeals to a narrow section of the electorate, usually
highlighting non-economic issues
Parties that cut across traditional social cleavages and partisan alignments
Rarely prosper by moderating their position; achieve more success from exploiting
their natural but limited support group
In Europe, niche is often ideological, producing parties with far right, nationalist,
and/or populist agendas
, Party organization
Large parties are multi-level organizations: Party leadership, major funders,
research departments, volunteers; any large party is decentralized
Iron law of oligarchy: States the organization of political parties, even those
formally committed to democracy, becomes dominated by a ruling elite
Law is corroding as parties seek to retain members by giving them a greater
voice in party affairs
Party leaders: How are party leaders selected?
Major party leaders in most parliamentary systems stand a good chance of
becoming prime minister
Traditional method of selecting party leaders is through election by members of the
party in the legislature
Narrow constituency; ability to instil confidence in parliamentary peers may
say little about their capacity to win a general election
Expert constituency; Colleagues in legislature have close knowledge of a
candidate’s abilities; good at judging capacity to lead
Some parties give voice to members of parliament and ordinary members, either
through a special congress or a two-stage ballot
Can lead to problems when membership is out of step with the national
party; triumph of local over national interests
Candidates: How are legislative candidates selected?
Selecting legislative candidates — 1) Inclusive: An open vote of the entire
electorate, 2) Exclusive: Selection by the party leader
Nomination process is generally decentralized
A few parties give control to national leadership, leaders usually choose from
a list generated at lower levels
More often, local parties are the active force, either acting autonomously or
putting forward nominations to be ratified at national level
Nomination task is limited by wider features of the political system:
Electoral system: Choosing candidates for individual constituencies in a
plurality system is a more decentralized task than preparing a single national
list in a party list system
Incumbents: Sitting members of a legislature have an advantage almost
everywhere, usually winning re-selection without much fuss; often,
candidates for office are only truly ‘chosen’ when the incumbent stands
down
Rules: Nearly all countries impose conditions such as citizenship on
members of the legislature while many parties have adopted gender quotas
for candidates
Who selects candidates for legislative elections?
Entire electorate (open primary) — most inclusive selectorate
Registered supporters (closed primary)
Party members
