Questions And Topics We Can Help You To Answer

Format:
§§ Typed, Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins
§§ No cover page
§§ At the top of the first page, please list the following information in order:
Instructions: Please answer the below questions (in order). Your answers should be based on
the reading and lectures None of the questions is intended for you to write a full essay. Please
write anywhere from a few words of explanation to a few sentences. Also, please write the
question number and letter (e.g., 1a) prior to each answer.
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I. How rules work (really, really short answer!) (20 points)
In the following questions, assume that there are four parties that receive the following shares of
the vote in a district in an election:
Everyone Gets an A Party: 40%
No 8am Class Party: 10%
No Midterm Party: 30%
Just Leave Me Alone Party: 20%
1. What percentage of the seats would each of the parties win in:
a. One single member district (plurality)? (This question of course assumes that each
“party” above is actually just a single candidate.) (5 points)
b. A perfectly proportional PR system? (5 points)
2. If the above votes were cast in the first round of a two-round majority SMD, how do we
determine a victor? (This question also assumes that each “party” above is actually just a
single candidate.) (5 points)
3. Now the parties are competing in a linked mixed-member electoral system (like the
Germany example we went over in class) with 10 total seats, divided into 5
PR/compensation seats and 5 SMDs. Everyone Gets an A Party wins 2 SMDs and the
other parties win 1 SMD each. How many total seats does each party win? (5 points)
II. How the divisor method of PR allocation works (5 points)
IMAGINE the following scenario: A PR electoral system that uses d’Hondt to allocate seats,
with M=7 and a 10% threshold of representation. The parties have the following vote
breakdown: Party A (20%), Party B (19%), Party C (18%), Party D (15%), Party E (9.5%),
Party F (9%), Party G (8%), Party H (1.5%).
How many seats does each individual party win? To get full credit, you must show your
work (i.e., how you allocate seats). (5 points)
III. Duverger’s Law (short answer!) (26 points total – point breakdowns per question are
listed below)
1. What is strategic voting? (3 points)
2. What is Duverger’s Law? (Be very specific about what the “Law” is and be clear about
at what level it works.) (7 points)
3. Why does Duverger’s Law work? Discuss mechanical and psychological effects. (Be
sure to discuss all key actors involved in the psychological side of Duverger’s Law.) (10
points)
4. Explain Cox’s analysis of bicameral legislatures? What does his study and its findings
suggest about the impact of electoral rules? Why can we reach that conclusion? (6
points)
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IV. Arrow’s Theorem (please write only a few sentences for each of these questions) (13
points total)
1. What is Arrow’s Theorem? (Please limit your answer to 1-2 sentences.) (4 points)
2. Explain individual transitivity and group intransitivity. Can the two co-exist? (2 points)
3. Group intransitivity seems like a pretty unlikely scenario, doesn’t it? Why should we
worry about it? (1 point)
4. Why is Arrow’s Theorem important? What kinds of concerns about democracy does it
raise? In your answer, be sure to discuss how the possibility of group intransitivity
contributes to these concerns. (6 points)
V. Effects of Electoral Rules and Mixed-Member Systems (short answer!) (12 points total)
Imagine that you have been asked to design a mixed-member electoral system that is highly
proportional. What sorts of rules should you implement with respect to the following? Please
justify your answers! (12 points broken down as below – 3 points each for a-d)
1. Tier linkage – linked or unlinked? (3 points)
2. Ratio of SMD to PR seats – high (many more SMDs than PR) or low (many more PR
than SMDs)? (3 points)
3. List Tier district magnitude – high or low? (3 points)
4. Legal thresholds of representation – high or low? (3 points)
VI. Conditions necessary for Duverger’s Law? (21 points total)
1. List and explain each of the 4 conditions (which I present in lecture) that are necessary
for Duverger’s Law to hold. (3 points each for 12 points total)
2. Number of parties in established and new democracies
a. In legislative elections under SMD rules, which type of democracy tends to have
more parties – established or new democracies? (1 point)
b. What is the principal reason given in the course for differences that exist between
the number of parties in SMDs in established and new democracies? (3 points)
c. What evidence is provided to support the explanation given in 2b above? (Please
discuss differences in SF-ratios between new and established democracies and (1)
changes over time and (2) differences between competitive and uncompetitive
races. In your answers, please be sure to explain what different types of SF-ratios
can tell us.) (5 points)