First-past-the-post elections Th

UNIT 3 Key terms

You must know these terms for this Unit

First-past-the-post elections
The first-past-the-post electoral system is used in the UK to elect MPs to Westminster. A more accurate label could be ‘single member, single plurality’. The system is made up of 659 geographical regions (constituencies), each returning one MP. To win the seat all that is needed is a plurality or margin of one vote from the nearest rival. So, the system is not proportional. MPs and governments can and are elected on a minority of the vote.

Majority voting systems
Majority systems include mechanisms to ensure that the winning candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote in a constituency. Majority voting systems do not ensure that, overall, the results of elections reflect the number of votes cast for each party.

Proportional representation
Under a system of proportional representation (PR), the proportion of seats won in an election is the same – or nearly the same – as the proportion of votes cast. There are two main systems of PR – the List system and the Single Transferable Vote system (STV).

Single-party system
In a single-party system, only one party puts up candidates for election. Other parties are banned. A
single-party system is usually, therefore undemocratic and authoritarian.

Two-party system
In a two-party system, two parties compete for power on an equal or near equal basis. Other parties may stand against the two dominant parties, but they win few seats and exercise little power.

Dominant-party system
A dominant-party system is a system where many parties may exist and fight elections, but only one party tends to win power. The party winning power may change (for example, the Conservative Partywas the dominant party in the UK between 1979 and 1997, whilst Labour was dominant between 1997 and 2005).

Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which more than two parties compete on an equal or near equal basis. In such a system, power may alternate between the various parties or it may be shared in coalitions

Power
Power is the ability to force people to do things which they do not want or intend to do. The basis of this power could be physical force, economic might or, as suggested by Stephen Lukes, it can be psychological in origin.

Authority
Authority is the rightful or legitimate use of power. This legitimacy, as Max Weber noted, could be legal-rational (it depends on a set of rules), charismatic (it depends on the special qualities of a leader) or traditional (it depends on the belief in established customs and traditions).

Adversarial politics
Adversarial politics exists when the proposals put forward by government are routinely criticised by opposition parties. Any stance taken by government is automatically opposed, whatever its merits.

Legitimacy
So long as people accept the authority of the law, the law-makers and the law enforcers, then Parliament, the government, the police, the army and the political system as whole have legitimacy.

Consensus politics
Consensus politics exists when there is a broad and general agreement in society on a wide number of key issues. There is no wide ideological gulf. Rather, there is a commitment to shared goals. Broadly, the political parties agree on ideas. The difference that remains is perhaps over how these ideas can be delivered.

Executive, legislature and judiciary
The executive, legislature and judiciary are the three branches of government. The executive is the branch which makes and implements policy. The legislature is the branch which approves laws. The judiciary is the branch which interprets and applies the law

Constitution
A constitution is a set of rules which describes the structure and powers of government, the relationship between different parts of government and the relationship between government and citizen.

The separation of the powers
The separation of the powers is the principle that power in a state should not be concentrated in the hands of one person or institution, but should be distributed in a way which minimises the risk of tyranny. Ideally, positions in the executive, legislature and judiciary should be held by different people. If someone is a member of all three branches of government, for example, there is a danger that power might become concentrated and be abused.

Parliamentary sovereignty
According to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament is the only body that can make law
in the UK. No other authority can overrule or change the laws which Parliament has made. Parliament
is legally supreme.

Rule of law
The rule of law has three main elements:
nobody can be punished unless convicted of an offence by a court of law
the law applies equally to everyone
people’s rights do not stem from decisions made in Parliament – rather, they arise out of decisions made in individual cases by an independent judiciary. In short, the law is supreme and nobody – not an individual nor the government – is above the law.

Constitutional reform
Changing the principles which underlie the constitution or the way in which the constitution works. Parliamentary reform
Changing the composition of Parliament or to the way in which Parliament functions.

Pluralism
According to the pluralist model, power is exercised by the mass of the population rather than by a small elite. Pluralists point out that, although general elections are usually held only every four or five years, people are able to exercise power between elections by joining pressure groups. Group activity, pluralists argue, is vital to the health of a democracy. Groups constantly compete to gain the attention of decision-makers. It is then the job of the decision-maker to decide between the competing claims made by the groups. Pluralists also point out that, if the majority of people do not like what their
representatives are doing, they can vote them out of office at the next election.

Devolution
Devolution means the transfer of power from central government to regional or local government. It involves the transfer of power on a geographical basis and it involves the transfer of functions which, until then, were performed by central government.

Federalism
A system in which states or autonomous regions within states regions voluntarily pool their sovereignty creating at least two tiers of government (the federal government in charge of matters which concern all of the federated parts as a whole and regional and/pr local government in charge of regional or local matters)

A federal state
A federal state differs from a unitary state in that its constitution guarantees certain powers to regional or local governments. Central government cannot remove these powers without changing the constitution (which is usually a very difficult procedure).

A unitary state
A unitary state is a state whose powers are held by a central authority. Local or regional authorities may exist, but any powers they possess have been granted by the central authority and could, in theory at least, be taken away by that central authority.

Nationalism
Nationalism is another term for patriotism or attachment to the nation. A Nationalist believes that the nation is the key political unit and is only satisfied if the nation is free and independent.

Regionalism
The desire and support for regional government.

National sovereignty
National sovereignty is the principle that the nation is sovereign. No other state or authority can overrule or change the laws which, in the case of the UK, Parliament has made.

European federalism
European federalism would mean that member states pool sovereignty, creating a system of federal government for the whole of the EU. This federal government would be responsible for making decisions which affect the EU as a whole. Members would retain their own governments, but nationalsovereignty would be limited.