...parties and the Electoral College creates the environment for subversion within the political arena undermining national security. The current American political system is no longer working! Corporations and millionaires now own the political parties resulting in political candidates representing the needs and desires of those entities instead of their constituents - the American people. “Six major corporations donated anywhere from five to seven figures to political organizations during the 2010 election cycle” (Wilson 2010). These companies include News Corp., General Electric, National Amusements, Comcast Corp., Time Warner, and Walt Disney Co. An election is impossible to win without the...
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...2014 Govt 2305 American Government Today’s democratic societies practice representative democracy but the ideal of a true representative democracy, where those elected to power mirror the population of a given society is inconsistent with reality. The reality is that, there is an underrepresentation of different minority groups both in terms of their presence in the political assemblies and in terms of their substantive representation. History has shown that minority groups have been continuously underrepresented in most of the world’s democratic societies, and while there have been small improvements in some countries, for the most part minorities in general have yet to make any impressive gain towards more effective political representation. In the existing literature, the under-representation of minorities in countries across the world and the potential impact of the Single Member Plurality and “pure” Proportional Representation systems on that representation have been studied extensively by authors and social scientists such as Norris (2004), Lijphart (1994), Blais (2008), Pitkin (1997), Reynolds and Reilly (2005) and Diamond (2008). While those studies have shown that minorities are better represented under “pure” proportional representation than under Single Member Plurality systems, little is known about the propensity of Mixed Member Proportional systems to provide minority groups with access to power and or better representation. If a pure PR system is conducive to...
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...Make-up Position Paper - Wk4, Ch7 - Political Participation ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION - SUBMIT AS MAKEUP ONLY - READ FOR AIC. Dear class, Welcome to this week's Makeup Position Paper on Public Opinion and Participation. This make-up assignment is reserved for students who have failed to submit at least one, required position paper. Students must submit two makeup position papers in order to makeup for the credit lost on one required paper. If you wish to submit this assignment, please be sure to disable the TFE and topic text links before doing so. Furthermore, be sure to submit it in the proper folder. ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND - IMPORTANT POINTS As usual, before I direct you to the week's assignment questions, there are a few remarks I would like to make regarding important, related issues and/or background material. Please consider the comments below, which touch upon a number of topics addressed in our text and which include a number of related observations taken from my own research. Purposes of Elections Firstly, one key point to remember is that elections, originally designed in order to allow citizens to select their own leaders, are also used by governments in order to build support for their policies. This is particularly true of parliamentary governments, which generally require simple plurality votes in order to pass sweeping legislation. In parliamentary governments, political parties are represented in direct proportion to the percentage of votes that they...
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...Введение в Политологию Программа учебного курса Российская экономическая школа, совместный бакалавриат РЭШ-ВШЭ, весенний семестр 2014 года (64 часа в аудитории) Преподаватель – Балалаева Дина Яновна, Ph.D. Занятия: лекция - среда, 15:10-16:30, семинар- 13:40-15:00 Консультации – TBA Компетенции, формируемые в результате освоения дисциплины: В результате освоения дисциплины студент должен обладать следующими общекультурными (ОК) и профессиональными компетенциями (ПК): ОК-4, ПК-8, ПК-9 Общий объем аудиторных часов – 64 в том числе: лекции – 32 часа. практические занятия - 32 часа. Промежуточный контроль – статья. Краткая аннотация Данный курс по «Сравнительной политологии» охватывает наиболее важные темы дисциплины и прослеживает развитие методологии от сравнительных кейс-стади до крупномасштабных межвременных исследований и экспериментов на местах. Почему, в среднем, самые богатые страны – демократии? Или, заимствуя вопрос Л. Даймонда (2010), почему мир не знает ни одной арабской демократии? Почему авторитаризм не помешал (помог?) «азиатским тиграм»? Насколько устойчивы гибриды? В чем «секрет эффективности» парламентской формы правления? Почему страны с пропорциональной системой выборов больше тратят на социальные расходы, чем страны с мажоритарной формулой? Производят ли федерации больше технологических инноваций, чем унитарные государства? Каково оптимальное...
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...In this paper, I am going to be going over what it takes to elect the president. The next thing I am going to go over is the Electoral College. Third are the ballot outline, and the factors that affect the elections. The final thing that I am going over is about the multiple roles of American citizens. The steps of that have to be taken to become a president begin with the constitution where it was modified by the twenty-third, twenty-second, and the 12th amendment. There have been many steps that were added over many years, by the state law, or by custom. The process voters chose electors to represent their state to gather and chose the president. The Constitution says that in order to be president, the candidate must receive the majority of...
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...Elector | The Electoral College | Should it be done away with? | Presidential election seasons tend to be an exciting and volatile time within the United States. This is made ever more true by the existence of the Electoral College. When brought up in everyday conversation, the phrase Electoral College gets danced around and avoided. That is because it is such a difficult concept to get a grasp on. Not many people exactly know how our election system works due to the cryptic language that it normally is defined with. It is safe to assume that the uneducated voter believes that whichever candidate wins the most votes nationwide is the winner, and that is sound logic. However in the case of the Electoral College, that sound logic doesn’t hold true; one of the commonly disputed deficiencies of the electoral system. Are these criticisms justified or are they merely just complaints? Another important question to ask is why this system was put into place by our Founding Fathers; there must be a logical explanation, right? In order to begin to understand the system that is currently in place, it is best to look at why it was seen as a necessary measure and some of the history surrounding it. Our Founding Fathers thought it was important that the States and the citizens residing in them should have a say in the appointment of our nation’s leader. The last thing they wanted was to have Congress deciding who would become president. They feared this for several...
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...(1998), XLVI, 572±588 Parties, Party Systems, and Satisfaction with Democratic Performance in The New Europe CHRISTOPHER J. ANDERSON1 Introduction Political parties and the party systems they form constitute the major channels of interest aggregation and citizen input in contemporary democracies. They are the vehicles through which political elites supply policy alternatives, and they constitute the major route for citizens to organize the demand for such alternatives.2 Parties also play a crucial role in the nature of democratic governance because they help legitimize the state. After all, free and fair elections in which parties compete for oce are a prime criterion for whether a system should be considered a democracy in the ®rst place. Outside of elections, political parties also have long been the most important mediating institutions between citizens and the state, in particular as parties have taken on the roles as simultaneous agents both of the state and its citizens.3 While virtually all democracies have political parties that compete for oce, political systems dier in a number of important ways with regard to how they go about channeling inputs or providing policy alternatives, and with regard to the roles they assign parties in this process. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the ways in which political institutions condition the formation, functioning, and development of political parties and party systems varies as well. While there is an...
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...Political Parties and the Electoral Process Dr. Michael Keith Smith U.S Government- POL 110 Strayer University March 7, 2015 Political Parties and the Electoral Process The relationship between political parties and the electoral system has always been a significant one. Federalists and Anti-Federalists formed political parties, each seeking control over the destiny of the new nation that was emerging from the Revolution. It was not long into the foundation of the United States that the protection of the people became a divergent issue among the country's first political parties. Federalists and Anti-Federalists clashed over how to best represent the needs of American citizens in the one document that would become the highest law in the nation — the Constitution. The issue of particular controversy was a component that has since become the mainstay of protecting the interests of the people: the Bill of Rights (Auerbach, 2015). This paper will take an in-depth look at the nature of political parties, as well as the two-party system that has evolved in the United States since its creation in 1776. An ideological difference between political parties is the contrasting visions that constitute their distinct mission and actions as well as the electorial program. While other democracies have numerous active political parties, in the United States there are but two major parties taking part in national elections—the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. ...
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...same document at it’s core as when it was originally ratified. Sanford Levinson, in his book “Our Undemocratic Constitution”, pushes for the idea of another constitutional convention to revolutionize what he calls “hardwired” defects in the Constitution. These “hardwired” defects are whittled in the constitution’s grain and cannot be solved through even the most farfetched interpretation. A main theme of his book is based on the almost impossible but more than improbable process of amending the Constitution let alone holding his envied convention. Levinson’s defects are about but not limited to; Operation of the Electoral College and other disputed problems regarding the presidency, power being allocated in the Senate, bicameralism and resulting opportunity for the political minorities to block popular legislation. In America, we vote for electors in the Electoral College, who then...
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...Essay Popular participation is a key aspect of good governance in both the United States of America (USA) and Australia, it derives from the freedom to speak out, assemble and associate, take part in public affairs, as well as having the ability to register as a candidate and campaign for election; by allowing these elements to occur. It is established on the credence that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decision making process. However in both countries there are significant, almost insurmountable challenges that interdict a citizen’s ability to engage in and be represented in their respective political system. Popular participation in Australia is countenanced in a multitude of ways [Uphold] * Increase opportunities to vote, on and before, Election Day. In 2013 Election the Australian Electoral Commission undertook extensive remote area mobile polling services. Voting facilities were widely available. There were polling booths at airports (eg. For ‘fly in fly out’ workers to vote early and with convenience), postal votes and early voting at shopping centres and local government offices * Variety of political parties. In the 2013 Federal Election 54 different parties contested the available seats in the Federal Parliament. Individuals can join a political party and they can also form a political party and contest seats at the next election eg 2013 Clive Palmer and the formation of a new political (just before the election) being...
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...“Integrated marketing: advertising and politics” Massey University Masters of Business Administration Marketing Unit Presented July 2013 Mike Richards Student ID 13154066 CONTENTS CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................ 2 1. OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................ 3 2. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS AND THE APPLICATION OF ADVERTISING THEORY TO POLITICS .............................................................................................................................. 5 A. B. C. D. E. 3. 4. Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications (Shrimp & Andrews) 2013 .............................................................. 5 Advertising Theory (edited by Shelly Rodgers & Esther Thorson) 2012 .................. 6 Advertising and Society – Controversies and Consequences (edited by Carol J. Pardun) 2009............................................................................................................... 7 Advertising and the Market Orientation of Political Parties Contesting the 1999 and 2002 New Zealand Election Campaigns. ..................................................................... 7 Political Campaign Communication Principles & Practises (Trent and Friedenberg 2008) ..................................................................
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...How Campaign Finance Affects Electoral Outcomes (Name) (Subject) (Nature of Work) I. Introduction An electoral candidate can win an election if he has plenty of campaign finances. This seems to be the common wisdom that people believe in when it comes to the electoral success of candidates. However, such a statement is not easily verifiable. In fact, there are several factors involved in the determination of whether or not there is a correlation between the campaign finances used by candidates and the probability of winning due to these funds. It has been the contention of majority that for a candidate to get a seat or win the presidency, it is important that he spend lavishly. If this is the case, then incumbents, who are generally the ones equipped with the biggest campaign funds, have edge over challengers. It is also an assurance to potential challengers that if they manage to put up campaign funds, whether from contributors or from their own pockets, they are already assured of a win in the elections. With the government structure the United States have, generalizing for all sectors of the government, particularly during the electoral races, will be quite complex. Moreover, though it is very easy to make assumptions, such arguments could start crumbling once empirical studies of various experts on the subject of political science come to light. Factors such as policy decisions, party affiliations, popularity, etc. play a role in the...
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...can also be obtained. There are many types of electronic voting systems: paper based electronic voting system; which provides a paper ballot to be marked by hand but counted electronically. Pressing buttons or using a touch screen can operate a direct recording electronic voting machine either mechanically or electrically. This machine stores the voting data in a memory bank as a printed copy, and can transmit results to a central location. A public network voting machine uses electronic ballots, which can be transmitted from the polling place to a central location as they are cast or as a batch throughout the election process. Electronic voting machines can be made fully accessible for persons with disabilities, allowing them the freedom to vote without experiencing any hardships. Because ballot tallies are done at the close of polling stations, many of the men and women are tired leaving much room for error. According to United States General Accounting Office (2004), testimony provided to various government agencies with a research report on electronic voting systems performance attributes. The report provides a summary on security, accuracy, and ease of use, efficiency and cost. Testimony was prepared for the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, Committee on Government Reform and House of Representatives to analyze direct electronic voting systems (DRE) performance and attributes. “Based on it’s testing, the...
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...April 9, 2014 Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens Martin Gilens Princeton University mgilens@princeton.edu Benjamin I. Page Northwestern University b-page@northwestern.edu forthcoming Fall 2014 in Perspectives on Politics For helpful comments the authors are indebted to Larry Bartels and Jeff Isaacs, to three anonymous reviewers, and to seminar participants at Harvard and Rochester Universities. Gilens and Page Testing Theories of American Politics 2 Abstract Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics – which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, and two types of interest group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented. A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues. Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent...
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...idea of democracy is widely accepted to have originated from Athens in the 5th century BC. The Webster New Encyclopedic Dictionary (1995) defines democracy as a government in which supreme power is invested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through representation. According to Lindel, and Scott (1999), the term originates from the Greek word (demokratia) which simply means “rule of the people” and it was coined from (demos) “people” and (kratos) “power” or “rule” in the 5th century B.C. It is important to note that the political system postulated by the Athenians was such that democratic citizenship was exclusive to an elite class of free men only. Slaves and women were excluded from participation. Furthermore, in a lecture titled “What is Democracy”? Diamond (2004) gave an overview of what in his opinion is democracy. He describes democracy as a system of government with four key elements: a system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life; protection of the human rights of all citizens; and a rule of law in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. Popper as cited in Javie (2006) defines democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny. He places emphasis on the availability of opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to them without recourse to a revolution. Popper’s view must have hinged on the fact that...
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