Democracy

What will this seminar be about? Part One: Minorities Part Two: Interest Groups Part Three: Political Capital

How this will be useful to debating These concepts can form the core of the content of your argumentation These concepts can inform our characterisation of how we expect the state to behave

Traps It is not black and white Just because it is democratic doesn’t mean it is good

Why do we like democracy? Mandate Alignment of incentives Wide deliberative input

Minority Groups

Not all voters are equal Minorities are excluded from institutions that give them access to the political process This makes them less likely to politically organise and vote

Electoral Behaviour of Minorities Majority can outvote the minority in a democratic system Electorate system Minorities block vote Alternating of power of rival coalitions Minority voter loyalty

Interest Groups

Why do they matter Deliberative theory of democracy: policy outcomes will reflect the best compromise between competing interests But there are asymmetries Asymmetries of impact Asymmetries of information Asymmetries of resources Asymmetries of status Regulatory Capture

How do Interest Groups harm policy? They direct policy to favouring the most powerful They create political inertia

Political Capital

What is political capital? The ability to enact some kind of political change This can be thought of a little bit like a currency

Where do we get political capital from? How likely are different groups to agree with the policy? The machinery of the political party? The legislature? Relevant interest groups? The voting public?

More on the voting public Perceptions = Outcomes Information concerns

What are some things that this tells us? All sorts of different groups can achieve disproportionate amounts of power There are important dynamic considerations in politics Because political capital is finite, political actions are substitutes