INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS UNIT I CH. 1 Electoral Systems, Citizens, Society, & State

When classifying governments, you can ask five questions to help you classify them: Who can participate? How is power distributed? How are the legislative, executive, and judicial branches structured? What is the relationship between the legislative and executive branch? What type of electoral systems do they have?

III. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 5 III. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 5.) What type of electoral systems do they have? Types of Electoral Districts Single Member Districts. AKA “winner take all”, “first past the post” Follow plurality election rules Single Member systems tend to favor two-party rule. Proportional representation is where the nation is divided into a few, large districts and competing parties offer a list of candidates rather than a single candidate. The number of representatives in the legislature is proportional to the percentage of votes it gets Most proportional systems have a minimum threshold for a party to win seats – ie. 7% of the vote in Russia.

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION An electoral system in which political parties compete in multi-member districts Voters choose b/t parties and the seats are awarded proportionally

FIRST PAST THE POST Single member district Winner take all Candidate with the largest share of the vote wins the seat

Supranational Organizations Supranational Organizations are those who have been given some sovereignty because nations have shifted their powers upwards to them. This shift took place after WWII. *Even though these organizations are important, the state is still the most important political system in the world!*

IV. CITIZENS, SOCIETY & THE STATE Civil society: Formal and informal organizations that are NOT part of the state but operate in public The web of membership in social and political groups that some analysts believe is needed to sustain democracy A society in which people are involved in social and political interactions free of state control or regulation Social, charitable, religious, community – advance own cause

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION The process by which individuals acquire their political attitudes and behaviors Family, school, media

POLITICAL CULTURE History, culture, values, beliefs, traditions that influence political behavior Defines the public’s expectations toward the political process and its role within the process

POLITICAL IDEOLOGY A set of political values about what the goals of government should be

LIBERALISM An ideology that favors a limited state role in society and the economy and places a high value on individual freedom SUPPORTS limited government individual freedom social toleration the redistribution of resources

LIBERTARIAN Prefers little government interference in the economy or personal freedoms

CONSERVATISM A political attitude that questions the need for change and supports the current order

RADICALISM Favors dramatic and revolutionary change

REACTIONARY Someone who seeks to restore the institutions of a real or imagined earlier political or societal order

CLEAVAGES Factors that separate groups

CROSS CUTTING CLEAVAGE Divisions that cut across differences. Crosscutting cleavages bring groups together in a society that might not otherwise have much in common The PRI in Mexico united rural peasants and urban dwellers for much of the 20th century Religion in some societies – like Iran and Mexico – can be a crosscutting cleavage

COINCIDING (CUMULATIVE) CLEAVAGES Divisions that strengthen feelings of difference and discrepancy Coinciding cleavages create tension in a political system Religion in Nigeria Class in most countries

POST MATERIALIST The theory that younger voters tend to favor issues such as the environment and feminism