1. Interest Group Democracy
Pluralism or Interest Group Democracy:
Definition: theoretical understanding of a political system. It puts forth the belief that democratic values can be preserved in a system where multiple, competing democratic representatives (elites) determine public policy through bargaining and compromise. Interest groups are instrumental linkage institutions that continuously connect the demands (interests) of the people to government. In this framework, interest groups are assumed to enhance democracy.

2. Central assumptions of pluralism or interest group democracy:
assumes many centers of power
voters exercise meaningful choices and new elites can gain access to power
multiple access points to government as power is dispersed on many levels and branches of government
method of government: bargaining and compromise
electoral majorities rarely rule; all active and legitimate groups can make themselves heard at some stage in the policy process, manifested in the rise of interest group activity

3. Political Party Relations
Conflictual party relations: volatile, weak coalitions; fundamental economic and political differences
ex. Italy, Israel characteristic of multiparty outcomes
Consensual party relations: usually institutionalized two-party systems in which both political parties adhere to similar ideological beliefs; ex. Great Britain; U.S.
characteristic of majoritarian outcomes in Legislature
Consociational party relations: parties differ fundamentally on issues but possess established routines of bargaining and compromise; characteristic of multiparty outcomes
Consociational democracy: Institutionalized Power sharing democracy: Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium
characteristic of multiparty outcomes

4. German Bundestag (Lower Legislative House)
Members 612
Political groups Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union of Bavaria Bloc (223) Social Democratic Party of Germany (222) Free Democratic Party (61) The Left. (53) Alliance '90/The Greens (51)

5. Voting Behavior Conventional political participation
Political participation that attempts to influence the political process through well-accepted, often moderate forms of persuasion
Unconventional political participation
Political participation that attempts to influence the political process through unusual or extreme measures, such as protests, boycotts, and picketing

6. Elections of Legislatures
Single-member plurality (SMP): winner- take-all system governed by plurality not majority rule
example: Congressional elections in U.S.
Single-transferable vote (STV): voters rank candidates in order of preference. Any candidate needs to achieve a set number of votes (the quota) to be elected. Surplus votes (votes exceeding quota) are redistributed to runner-up until all seats are filled example: Republic of Ireland, Malta

7. Proportional Representation
Seats obtained by quota in multimember constituency
Proportional representation (PR), sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of election aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive—normally in legislature
Examples: Israel, Scandinavia, most of continental Europe, including Eastern Europe, most of Latin America

8. Corporatism
State corporatism: Interest groups are subsumed under state control by incorporating them into government; these groups are not partners but subordinate to government itself.
Rationale: purpose of interest group activity is to promote gov’t agenda; interest groups constituents are asked to defer their interests to the interest group leaders (Egypt, Mexico)

9. Patterns in Voter Turnout
Turnout: the proportion of the voting-age public that votes
40% of the eligible adult population votes
25% are occasional voters
35% rarely vote
Education: Voters tend to be more educated
Income: More voters have higher incomes
Age: Younger people vote less
Gender: Women vote at the same rate or slightly higher rate than men
Race and Ethnicity:
Whites vote more regularly than African Americans – related to income and educational differences in the two groups
Hispanics vote less than African Americans
Have potential to wield much influence given their increasing size
Interest in politics: Those interested in politics vote more

11. Why Is Voter Turnout So Low?
Too Busy
Difficulty of Registration
Difficulty of Absentee Voting
Number of Elections
Voter Attitudes
Weakened Influence of Political Parties

14. Efforts to Improve Voter Turnout
Easier Registration and Absentee Voting
Make Election Day a Holiday
Strengthen Parties
Other suggestions
Holding fewer elections
Proportional representation system for congressional elections
Saturday or Sunday election day
Making voting mandatory
Tax credits
Election weeks rather than election days
Internet voting

15. Patterns in Vote Choice
Party Identification
Most powerful predictor voter behavior
Ticket-splitting: voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election
Race and Ethnicity
Whites increased tendency to vote Republican
African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats
Hispanics also tend to identify with and vote for Democrats
Kerry 53 percent; Bush 44 percent
Asian Americans less monolithic
Women today more likely to support Democratic candidates
Gender gap varies by election
Poor vote more often for Democrats; wealthier for Republicans
Ideology related closely to vote choice
Conservatives for Republicans
Liberals for Democrats
Issues
Retrospective judgment: focused on present or past
Prospective judgment: focused on future possibilities
Retrospective judgment
A voter’s evaluation of the performance of the party in power
Prospective judgment
A voter’s evaluation of a candidate based on what he or she pledges to do about an issue if elected
Three requirements for prospective voting:
Voters must have an opinion on an issue
Voters must have an idea of what action, if any, the government is taking on the issue
Voters must see a difference between the two parties on the issue.

16. Purposes of Elections Regular free elections
guarantee mass political action
enable citizens to influence the actions of their government
Popular election confers on a government the legitimacy that it can achieve no other way
Regular elections also ensure that government is accountable to the people it serves

17. Purposes of Elections Electorate Mandate: Citizens eligible to vote
A command, indicated by an electorate’s voters, for the elected officials to carry out their platforms
Sometimes the claim of a mandate is suspect because voters are not so much endorsing one candidate as rejecting the other

18. General Elections
General elections are those in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices
Held at many levels.
Contests between the candidates of opposing parties

19. Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
An election that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote
Referendum
An election whereby the state legislature submits proposed legislation to the state’s voters for approval
Recall
Voters can remove an incumbent from office by popular vote
Are very rare

20. Presidential Elections
Primary elections or caucuses are used to elect national convention delegates which choose the nominee
Winner-take-all primary
Proportional representation primary
Caucus

22. Primaries v. Caucuses
Over years, trend has been to use primaries rather than caucuses to choose delegates
Caucus is the oldest, most party-oriented method of choosing delegates to the national conventions
Arguments for primaries
More democratic
More representative
A rigorous test for the candidate
Arguments for caucuses
Caucus participants more informed; more interactive and informative
Unfair scheduling affects outcomes
Frontloading (being first in the primary calendar) gives some primary states an advantage
Frontloading is the tendency to choose an early date on the primary schedule

23. The Party Conventions
Out-of-power party holds its convention first, in late July, followed in mid-August by party holding the presidency
Conventions were decision-making body in the 19th century
Today the convention is fundamentally different
Nominations settled well in advance of the convention

24. The Electoral College
Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a president
Total number of electors for each state equal to the number of senators and representatives that a state has in the U.S. Congress
District of Columbia is given 3 electoral votes

25. The Electoral College Result of compromise between:
Selection by Congress versus direct popular election
Three essentials to understanding the design of the Electoral College:
Constructed to work without political parties
Constructed to cover both the nominating and electing phases of presidential selection
Constructed to produce a nonpartisan president

26. The Electoral College in the 19th Century
12th Amendment (1804)
Attempt to remedy the confusion between the selection of vice presidents and presidents that emerged in the election 1800
Provided for separate elections for each office, with each elector having only one vote to cast for each
In event of a tie, the election still went to the House
Top three candidates go to House
Each state House delegation casts one vote