Élections et Démocratie

Accountability of Kings

• If kings are no longer ruled by divine right, they must be accountable to the people.
• The king's role is to rule for the people's good, marking a shift in the relationship between rulers and the governed.
• The idea of the king being accountable to the people and justifying their choices became central to democratic thought.

19th Century Struggles for Democracy

• By the 19th century, many republics and constitutional monarchies had emerged, although democracy was not universally accepted.
• Rediscovering Athenian democracy, through works like George Grote's History of Greece, inspired a revival of democratic ideals.
• Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy ("government of the people, by the people, for the people") encompassed three key concepts:
  • Government officials originate from the people.
  • The people elect their representatives.
  • The government acts for the common good.
• This definition made democracy politically acceptable and desirable.
• The classic view of democracy emphasized it as a decision-making process: either the people make direct decisions or they elect representatives to do so on their behalf.

Democracy in the 20th Century

• Contemporary views, such as Joseph Schumpeter's (1942) perspective, viewed democracy as an institutional arrangement where individuals gain power through competitive elections.
• Key elements include political competition (candidates vying for votes) and balancing majority rule with the common good.
• A minimal or procedural view of democracy (as stated by Schumpeter) defines democracy primarily in terms of free and fair elections.
• Problems include the electoralism fallacy: simply having elections does not guarantee a true democracy, as highlighted by Karl and Schmitter (1991).

Pluralist Approach to Democracy

• Robert Dahl (1971) defined democracy with two main dimensions:
  • Contesting: The ability of candidates to compete in free and fair elections, and for citizens to criticize and replace the government.
  • Participation: All adult citizens must have the right to vote and engage in political life.

Types of Democracy and Historical Context

• By 1974, less than one-third of independent states were democratic (27.5%).
• By the early 2000s, most countries claimed to be democratic, but this group had become heterogeneous.
• Lijphart's typologies (1984/1999) categorized democracies into majoritarian and consensus types.
• Majoritarian: Executive power concentrated in a single party.
• Consensus: Power-sharing among multiple parties in a coalition.
• Gerring (2005) classified democracies as decentralized (power dispersed across levels of governance) or centripetal (power concentrated at a centralized level).

Global Trends and Types of Regimes

• The rise of electoral autocracies in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
• An increase in regimes employing limited multi-party systems while maintaining authoritarian control.
• Types of regimes include liberal democracy, electoral democracy, electoral autocracy, and closed autocracy.
  • Liberal: High contestation, participation, and executive limitations.
  • Electoral: Participation and contestation, but weaker individual rights.
  • Electoral Autocracy: Limited pluralism; elections are not free or fair.
  • Closed Autocracy: Absence of meaningful participation or contestation.

Democratization and Autocratization

• Democratization: Movement toward a democratic regime.
• Autocratization: Movement away from a democratic regime.
• Waves include the First Wave (1828–1926), Second Wave (1943–1962), and Third Wave (1974–1996) of democratization. First and Second Waves of autocratization.
• Autocracies vary in their legitimacy strategies, from repression and co-optation to claims of legitimacy.

Modernization Theory

• Economic development drives democracy.
• Mechanisms include higher education, reducing inequality and distributing wealth, and these factors lessens elite resistance to democracy.

Social Class Theory

• Democratization depends on interactions between the peasantry, bourgeoisie, and aristocracy.
• Outcomes include bourgeois revolutions (France and US), revolutions from above (e.g. Germany), and revolutions from below (e.g. Russia and China).

Strategic Approaches to Democratization

• Transition models (O'Donnell & Schmitter, 1986) highlight the strategic interactions between elites and the masses throughout phases.
• Modes of transition (Karl & Schmitter, 1991) include from above (elites imposing democratization), from below (masses demanding reforms), and pacted transitions (compromises between elites and opposition).
• Democratic consolidation (Linz & Stepan, 1996) defines democracy as entrenched in behavior, attitudes, and institutions.

Comparative Analysis of Approaches

• Structural approaches focus on long-term factors (economic development).
• Strategic approaches prioritize short and medium-term actor interactions, but underestimate structural constraints.

Introduction to Executives

• 'Government' often refers to the central executive branch of a country.
• The executive branch is responsible for enforcing laws and creating policies.
• Key questions include types of government, internal structure, executive autonomy in relation to parties/bureaucracies and the capacity to act.

Types of Governments

• Executives emerged through the separation of judicial and legislative powers.
• Types include Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Semi-presidentialism and Directorial government.
• Democratic governments are often shaped by constitutional constraints on power.

Internal Workings of Governments

• Constitutions often provide little detail about the internal decision-making methods of governments, allowing political actors to develop conventions.
• Different systems have various structures in how executive authority is exercised.

Political Capacity of Governments

• Defined by how efficiently and effectively the government responds to issues and policies.
• A government can be categorized as unified or divided, a majority or minority government and single or coalition government.

Bureaucracy Capacity and Problems

• Weberian model of bureaucracy outlines personnel, organization, and procedure to ensure professionalism, efficiency, and consistency.
• Problems with bureaucracy include Parkinson's Law (bureaucratic growth), potentially conflicting interests and motives (bureaucrat's interest vs. government objectives), leisure shirking (doing less work than expected), dissent-shirking (refusing to implement policies), and political sabotage (actively opposing government policies).

Introduction to Legislatures

• Legislatures are assemblies with a political purpose for creating and enacting laws.
• Types include parliaments and congresses.

Roles of Legislatures

• Legislatures play the role of a liaison between citizens and government.
• Provide representation for societal views and interests.
• The debating and legislative processes in parliaments provide a public forum for discussing issues.

Internal Organization of Legislatures

• Legislatures can be unicameral or bicameral (single or two chamber).
• The roles of upper and lower houses differ in their functions, responsibilities, and powers.

Assessing Legislative Power

• Legislatures can be assessed by their autonomy which is dependent on institutional structures, partisan independence, and interactions with political parties/electoral systems.

Types of Electoral Systems

• This encompasses a categorization of electoral systems encompassing mechanisms for converting votes into legislative seats. Examples: majoritarian, proportional representation (PR) and mixed systems.
• The systems can include single-member plurality, two-round system, block vote, single transferable vote, and party block vote.

Evaluation of Electoral Systems

• Majoritarian systems support stable governments with one party achieving majority power, but can disadvantage minority parties.
• Proportional representation systems improve minority representations but can lead to coalition governments and political instability.
• The evaluation considers whether the system is disproportionate to the voters' will.

Introduction to Elections

• Elections are a mechanism for citizens to participate directly in decision-making
• They provide a link between people and representatives, confer legitimacy on governments, and shape how governments are formed.
• Elections significantly impact party systems, intra-party dynamics, and representation.

Impact on Election Results

• Duverger's three laws analyze the effects of electoral systems on party competition.
• Lavau's perspective emphasizes the correlation of electoral rules with social and political factors, arguing that electoral rules are shaped by pre-existing social/political factors rather than the reverse.

Factors Determining Electoral Systems

• Mechanical factors like electoral formulas and district magnitude directly impact proportionality and the number of parties represented.
• Psychological factors influence party/candidate behavior and voter choices, and thresholds in systems can contribute to proportionality.

The Ballot and its Effects

• Ballot structure impacts candidates' strategies.
• Candidate-centered versus party-centered systems influencing party discipline.

Quality of Democracy and Electoral Systems

• Voting systems affect government formation, political stability, voter participation, and representation (e.g., women and minorities).

Case Studies (France, Netherlands, Germany, etc.)

• Case studies illustrate the interplay of electoral systems, forms of government, legislative structures, and results.

Political Parties and Party Systems

• Parties are fundamental organizations in democracies that act as intermediaries between governing institutions and the electorate.
• Models include cadre parties, mass parties, and catch-all parties.

Party Systems

• Party systems are categorized by their type and size of parties, and by competitive and cooperative interactions.

Découvrez les concepts clés entourant les élections dans les systèmes démocratiques à travers ce quiz. Examinez des termes comme 'first past the post' et la représentation dans la gouvernance. Testez vos connaissances sur les différentes structures électorales et leur impact sur la démocratie.