MMPR Systems: Mixed Member Proportional Representation

Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR) Systems

• A two-vote hybrid system combining party-list proportional representation (PR) with single-member district (SMD) representation.

MMPR: Two Votes Cast

• Electorate Vote: For a candidate to serve as the district Member of Parliament (MP), which is an SMD tier.
• Party List Vote: For the party to form a government, which is a PR tier.

MMPR: Voting Steps

• Voters cast two votes.
• The district-level electorate vote uses the SMD system, where the candidate with a plurality wins the seat.
• The party-list vote uses PR; not every party qualifies for seats.
• Parties use their SMD seats to fill as much of their quota as possible.
• Compensatory seats are allocated if a party's quota remains unfilled and are filled through a closed party list.
• Overhang seats occur if a party's number of SMD seats exceeds its quota, expanding the parliament.

MMPR: Criticisms

• Extreme overhang can cause disproportionality, affecting government formation and policy.
• Electorate MPs who lose their district seat can get in through the list, becoming "backdoor MPs".
• District MPs may not necessarily attend to district interests, unlike in true SMD systems.

Advisory Referenda

• Non-binding votes where citizens express their opinion.
• The government or legislature considers the results but is not legally obligated to act on them.

Mandatory Referenda

• Legally required votes for certain constitutional or legislative changes.
• The outcome is binding, meaning the proposed measure cannot be enacted or rejected without public approval.

Pros of Referenda

• Serve as a democratic improvement using popular sovereignty.
• Discipline elected representatives.
• Encourage political participation.

Cons of Referenda

• Representative democracy is superior to direct democracy.
• Representatives are more informed and make better decisions.
• Referendums may cause voter fatigue.
• Extremists may exploit referendums to sway uneducated voters.

Sartori's Criteria of Relevance

• Used to determine whether a political party is relevant in a party system based on its impact on coalition formation and competition.

Coalition Potential

• A party is relevant if it has the potential to participate in a governing coalition, influencing government formation.

Blackmail Potential

• A party is relevant if it influences the behavior of other parties, even without entering the government, by shaping policies or blocking coalitions.

Approaches to Counting Parties

• Counting the number of relevant parties without considering their relative sizes.
• Considering the relative sizes of parties, offering a more accurate picture of political power distribution.

Raw vs. Effective Number of Parties

• Raw Number: A simple count of parties that matter based on Sartori's criteria, not taking into account the relative size of each party.
• Effective Number: A weighted measure that considers both the number of parties and their relative sizes in terms of vote share or seat share.

Left Scale of EU Parties

• Includes public ownership of means of production.
• Importance of the society as a whole.
• Higher taxes.
• Welfare state.
• Progressive politics.

Right Scale of EU Parties

• Emphasizes privatization.
• Importance of the individual.
• Lower taxes.
• Less welfare state.
• Tradition and status quo.
• Law and order.

Centripetal Competition

• Less polarized/more convergent political competition.

Centrifugal Competition

• More polarized political competition.

Party Families

• Grouped by their main ideological standings and subcategories.

Communist/Left Parties

• Caters to dissatisfied social democratic voters seeking more welfare state and labor market protection.
• Focus on "new politics" issues such as the environment and anti-globalization.
• Example: Podemos in Spain.

Green Parties

• Focus on the environment, anti-militarism, anti-discrimination, and social justice.
• Commitment to participatory democracy and tolerance of alternative lifestyles.
• Example: Greens in Germany.

Social Democrats

• Use public initiative to protect the less fortunate and promote equality of opportunity.
• Favor the EU to increase trade.
• Adhere to secular liberal traditions on issues of morality and sexuality.
• Example: Labour in the UK.

Liberals

• Neoliberals: Commitment to the free market and opposition to state interference, with a harder line on immigration. Example: Forza Italia in Italy.
• Social Liberals: Tolerance and promotion of civil liberties, more sympathetic to state intervention and the welfare state. Example: D66 in the Netherlands.

Center Parties

• Originally defended the interests of farmers but evolved into centrist parties.
• Target middle-class, small-town voters who care about private enterprise and traditional morality.
• Example: Swedish Centre Party.

Christian Democrats

• Positive toward state and trade union involvement, instrumental in developing corporatist states.
• Focus on traditionalism, family, and church.
• Example: Austrian OVP.

Conservatives

• Emphasize the importance of the private sector, individualism, and self-help.
• Focus on law and order and secularism.
• Example: UK Conservatives.

Far-Right Parties

• Anti-immigration, xenophobic, with a free-market economy and anti-EU stance.
• Often populist and anti-establishment.
• Example: Italian Brothers of Italy.

Regional/Ethnic Parties

• Vary from left to right on economic and social issues, with richer ones typically on the right and poorer ones on the left.
• Example: Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC).

UK Political System

• Was a 2-party system until 2010.
• Dominated by the Labour Party (left) and Conservatives (right).

German Political System

• Was a 2.5 party system until 1987.
• Notable differences persist between East and West Germany.
• Includes SPD (left), FDP (right), and CDU/CSU (far-right).

Dutch Political System

• Features an evenly divided and crowded party system due to the high district magnitude and low electoral threshold.

Cadre Party

• Predominantly present in the 19th century, with only landowners and the bourgeois having the right to vote.
• Small in membership and composed of a closed circle of elites.

Mass Party

• Emerged in the 20th century when the working class gained the right to vote.
• Emphasized having many members and regular meetings between elections.
• Socialist invention following universal suffrage, with social democratic parties representing the interests of the working class.

Cadre to Mass Party Transition

• Transition happened when voting was based on property qualification (cadre), but socialist parties made the mass party happen with universal suffrage.
• Cadre and mass parties coexisted on the right and left, respectively.

1960s Political Atmosphere

• Civil rights movement, Vietnam War, human rights issues, peace, and the environment.
• Post-materialism theory: People had more free time to think about other social issues instead of just economic crises.

Catch-All Party Strategy

• Talking about new issues, being more ambiguous on traditional issues, and appealing to people's emotions.

Characteristics of Catch-All Parties

• Less ideological.
• Strengthening of top leadership and more centralized bureaucracy.
• Membership is less important.
• Attempts to access a variety of interest groups to secure electoral support.

Campaign Strategies of Catch-All Parties

• Centrist parties, ambiguity, negative campaigning, and increasing pressure to receive more info about public preferences.

Down's Median Voter Theorem

• Political parties need to be at the dead center where the voters are to win the election.

Assumptions for Down's Voter Theorem

• Everyone votes for the party closest to their ideology.
• The median voter decides the election.

Why Down's Theorem Doesn't Work

• People have party ID.
• Parties' competence, approval ratings, and leaders' charisma also make a difference.
• Parties have policy preferences.
• It is difficult to know where the median voters are.

Roles of Political Parties

• Efficient for decision-making.
• Help people in gathering political information.
• Structure the political world.
• Recruit and socialize the political elite.
• Provide a linkage between rulers and the ruled.
• Aggregate interests.

Roles of Party Organizations

• Preparing and assisting in running election campaigns.
• Sustaining party organization, membership, and resources.
• Devising new public policies and strategies for elected representatives.

Levels of Party Organization

• Branches (district): gather info on district preferences.
• Delegates and annual conferences.
• Party's national executive.
• Party's head office, including the president and staff.
• Parliamentary party or caucus.

Party Members in the EU

• Members carry a card and pay a fee.

Scarrow: Why Party Members Are Important

• Membership dues as a source of finance.
• Legitimacy benefits for party executives.
• Members act as 'ambassadors to the community'.
• Members provide a recruitment pool.

Why Party Membership Is Declining

• Other ways to influence policies.

May's Law of Curvilinear Disparity

• Party activists/due-paying members and party elites are usually more extreme than regular party voters
• Fee-paying members are more activist, extreme in their preferences compared to party leadership/voters (who are more centrist)

Party Responses to Membership Decline

• Less costly and more beneficial memberships.
• Primaries to include members.

Why Parties Need Election Manifestos

• To be taken seriously.
• To hope that media will pick up some of the issues.
• To build their campaigns on solid ground.
• To send messages to key groups.

Danger of Manifesto Positions

• Other parties may attack.
• Difficult for parties to address if they have stated different things previously.

Party Adherence to Manifesto Promises

• Parties use manifestos to present clear policy commitments and strategic ambiguity during campaigns.
• Majority governments are more likely to fulfill manifesto pledges.
• Coalition politics may lead to compromises and dropped promises.

Internal Sources of Party Finance

• Membership dues, contributions by parliamentary deputies and ministers, fundraising activities, and newspapers.

External Sources of Party Finance

• Private donations and state funding.

Pros of State Funding

• More independent from interest groups and donors.
• Reduces corruption.
• Parties without wealthy organizations can still survive.

Cons of State Funding

• Less dependence on membership, leading to less accountability.
• Rise of party within the state, serving to control the state to benefit themselves.
• Potential inequality in funding distribution.

Candidate Selection Process

• Varies across Europe, from US-like primaries to selections within parties.

Importance of Party Members Selecting Candidates

• Member involvement fosters engagement and strengthens party democracy.
• Members may elect more extreme candidates, making it harder to form coalitions.

Importance of Party Leaders

• Becoming more presidentialized/personalized in parliamentary systems.
• Leaders determine policies and hold the most prestigious government post available.

Reasons for Replacing Leaders

• Election loss, office loss, death in office, loss during leadership election, or scandal.
• Resignation.

Selection Methods for Party Leaders

• Previous leader selection, executive committee decision, parliamentary faction, delegates in party conference, party members, or a combination of groups.

Labour Party (UK) Leader Election

• 2010: Nominees required support from 12.5% of Labour MPs, with three electorates: MPs and MEPs, individual party members, and affiliated trade unions.
• Starmer: Used a one-member, one-vote system with ranked-choice voting.

UK Conservative Party Voting Process

• Nominations require support from at least 10 MPs.
• MP voting rounds narrow the field.
• Party members vote to elect the leader from the remaining candidates.

O'Brien: Women Becoming Party Leaders (Supply Side)

• No supply-side shortages; female politicians appear to be just as interested in leadership positions as their male counterparts.

O'Brien: Glass Cliff Theory

• A woman is elected when the party is not doing well.
• Women are seen as placeholders or scapegoats.

O'Brien: Women's Tenure in Office

• Female leaders may be more likely to leave the post if the party shows signs of electoral weakness.
• Women who succeed in leadership may enjoy longer tenures.

O'Brien: Quicksand Theory

• Women's leadership is fragile; any evidence of poor performance leads to quicker removal from office compared to men.

Extremism vs. Radicalism

• Extremism: Directly opposed to democracy.
• Radicalism: Calls for fundamental reform of the political and economic system without explicitly seeking the elimination of democracy.

Left-Wing Variants

• Opposed to the capitalist system due to its inequality.
• Advocate for redistribution of power, collective economic and social rights, and an egalitarian universalist agenda.

Right-Wing Variants

• View inequality as part of the natural order.
• Support neoliberal economic policies and an authoritarian system based on 'natural differences' in society.

Populism

• Divides society into "the pure people" and "the corrupt elite," arguing that politics should reflect the will of the people.

Inclusionary vs. Exclusionary Populism

• Inclusionary (left): Extends material benefits and political rights to disadvantaged groups.
• Exclusionary (right): Excludes groups from "the people" and limits their access to benefits and rights.

Civic Nationalism vs. Ethnic Nationalism

• Civic Nationalism: Demands congruence between state and nation.
• Ethnic Nationalism: Ethnic nation is the primary unit, with citizenship in the state gained through membership in the nation.

Ethnopluralist View on Nationalism

• Considers different cultures to be equal but distinct and incompatible.

Nativism

• Combines nationalism with xenophobia, demanding that states comprise only members of a native group.

Populist Radical Right

• Anti-liberal but democratic.
• Example: Austrian FPO (Freedom Party).

Neo-Liberal Right

• Favors market allocation of economic resources.
• Example: Forza Italia.

Radical Left

• Anti-liberal but democratic.
• Example: German Left Party.

Demand Explanations for Rise of Far-Right

• Modernization grievances: Those unable to cope with rapid social change.
• Economic grievances: Ingroup blames outgroup for unemployment.
• Cultural grievances: Social identity theory causing ingroup preference.

Supply Side for Rise of Far-Right

• Political opportunity structure.
• Issue ownership and salience.
• Media.
• Political cleavage structure.
• Dealignment.

Importance of Party Organization

• Strong organizations provide staying power.

Winning Formula (Kitschelt)

• Pro-market (capitalist) and authoritarian on cultural dimensions.

Rydgreen Formula

• Economic aspect is less relevant; supports a big welfare state but only for natives.

Niche Parties

• Reject traditional class-based orientation and politicize new issues.
• Appeal to voters that cross-cut traditional partisan alignments.
• Limited issue appeals.

Mainstream Party Strategies

• Accommodative: Expressing similar views as the niche party.
• Adversarial: Taking the opposite view.
• Dismissive: Ignoring the issue.

Expectations for Niche vs. Mainstream Party Success

• Accommodative: Decreases electoral support for Niche parties.
• Adversarial: Helps Niche parties that voters can support.
• Dismissive: Hurts Niche parties as it decreases issue salience.

Missing Factors (Meguid)

• More parties exist in the system than just two mainstream parties.
• Niche party strategies.
• Time since niche party formation.
• Issue salience at the public level.