APPROACHES or COMPARATIVE POIITICS

Structural Functional Analysis

INPUTS 0 OUTPUTS
L
Functions Structures I Functions Structures
T , . Rule Making
1. Political Socialization
Recruitment I
C 2 Rule Application
2 Interest Articulation A
L 1 Rule Adjudication
1. Interest Aggregation s
y
4Political s
Communication
T Activate \o
E
Environment Environment
M
 MAJOR TYPES OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Majoritarian system Proportional Representation(PR) System Mixed Representation System
Also called Plurality System Seats allotted to parties in proportion of votes Total seats divided in 2 parts
obtained using complex formula
Seats allotted on getting more than Direct relationship between the seats won by a One part allotted as per single
50% votes or more votes than any party and the votes obtained by them. Pure PR: member plurality(SMP) another
other candidate 45% vote= 45 % seats part Party List PR system
Seats won by parties are not in But proportionality also depends upon seats in a Voters cast 2 votes- one for
proportion of votes obtained by constituency, voting threshold, Formula used for candidate for their constituency
them seat conversion, variants of PR system, etc and 2nd for party
Generally single member district Multi-member districts/constituency Mixed- single and multiple
member districts
Variants Variants: Disproportionality of SMP are
• Single member Simple Plurality Party List PR : balanced by party list PR
system( FPTP) Single-Transferable-Vote( STV) system
• Alternate Vote(AV) Ex: about 9 nations: Germany,
• Supplementary Vote( SV) Ex: more than 90 countries- Most of the Italy, New Zealand, Scotland and
• 2nd Ballot system European nations except UK, France, Germany, Wale
Ex: about 4 7 countries- USA, UK, Italy, Latin American nations: Argentina, Brazil, , tt
Canada, India, Pakistan and other and others -South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka
Commonwealth nations
Types of Majoritarian System
• Single member Simple Plurality system( FPTP)
• Absolute majority system
• Seats allotted to candidate getting more than 50% votes
• Variants:
• Alternate Vote(AV) : preferential voting: voters ranking candidates as Pt, 2 nd, 3 rd ;
• candidate getting more than 50% pt preference wins; if no one gets 50% of pt
preference the bottom candidate is eliminated and his or her votes are redistributed
according to the second (or subsequent) preferences. This continues until one
candidate has a majority.

• Supplementary Vote( SV) : all others except top 2 candidates are eliminated and their
preferences are distributed to the top 2 candidate; either of them getting more than
50% wins

• 2 nd Ballot system: twice voting; pt round normal single member district voting;
candidate getting more than 50% wins; if no one gets majority, second voting
between top two candidates
Types of PR systetn
• Party List PR :
• Voters vote for party who declares list of party candidates who are allotted party seats
• Generally entire nation in one constituency
• Open party list vs Closed Party list: open list: Party declares list of candidates in order of
preference; closed: voters choose party and then give their choice of candidate
• Ex: Israel, most of European nations
• Single-Transferable-Vote( STV) system
• Multi member constituency; 3-8 seats ; for winning fixed quota of votes must be obtained
• Only single vote with preference; Preferences of bottom most candidates transferred to others till
all seats are filled
• EX: Republic of Ireland and Malta
• mixed-member proportional (MMP) system
• A proportion of seats (50 per cent in Germany, but more in Italy, Scotland and Wales) are filled by
the Single Member Plurality (SMP) system and reaming by Party List PR system
• Voters cast two votes: one for a candidate in the constituency election, and the other for a party
• Ex: Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales
Pros and Cons of FPTP Minuses
• Unfairness: highly disproportionate: no correlation
between votes obtained and seats won
Pluses
• Punishes smaller issue based parties
• Simple, straight-forward, easy to
understand • Favours large parties and strong regional parties
and Punishes small parties and ones with
• Quick vote counts and result declaration
geographically evenly distributed support (the
• clear link between voter and 'third-party effect').
representatives
• offers the electorate a clear choice of • Wastage of votes
potential parties of government • Encourage Strategic voting
• Stability/strength: Generally, strong stable
Govt having clear decisive mandate • It offers only limited choice because of its
duopolistic (two-major-parties) tendencies.
• Encourages broad based centrist parties
• It undermines the legitimacy of government, in that
• keeps extremism at bay by making it
more difficult for smalr raclical parties to governments often enjoy only minority support
gain seats • It creates instability because a change in
• Directly Responsible & Accountable government can lead to a radical shift of policies
govt. and direction.
• It discourages the selection of a socially broad
spread of candidates in favour of those who are
attractive to a large body of voters.
Pros and Cons of PR System Minuses
• Complex formula, tough for masses
Pluses to understand, time consuming
counting
• Fairness: Seats are proportional to
votes obtained • Strong and stable single-party
government is unlikely
• more diverse, representation-
mirroring society • Encourages extremism- smaller, single
issue based party may dictate
• Smaller parties and parties having
widely spread votes are not • Proportionality depends on other
punished factors (DM, mixed, voting
threshold, etc)
• Votes are not wasted
• In many of its variant{ party list
• More inter-pal'.'tY co-ordination and system) no clear link between voter
co-operation- less confrontationist and representatives
politics
• In multi member Districts and open
• Offer more choices to voters- cutting party list system, intra-party
across party line competition- less unified and
• Balance of inter and intra-party disciplined party structure
competition • Fragmentation of Party system
Political Effects of Electoral Systetn
• Voter- representative relation
• SMD simple majority: direct voter-representative connect
• Open party list system: No direct link between voter and their representatives
• Govt formation
• Multi-party coalition govt in PR system
• Strong single party govt in majoritarian(FPTP) system
• Party System format
• Duverger's Law: Majoritarian system- two party system and PR system: multi-party system
• Ideological effects : FPTP: less polarization ; PR : multi-polar party system
• More political and societal consensus in PR system
• Under representation of marginalized communities( minorities, women,
indigenous people) in majoritarian(FPTP) system