...Political Parties and Electoral Process Strayer University POL 110 December 8, 2014 Political Parties and Electoral Process Democrats and Republicans have shaped the political landscape in the U.S. throughout history. Both parties intend to do what is best for the American people but vastly differ in philosophy and ideals. Democrats have been generally viewed as supporters of social services while Republicans encourage a limited government influence and a robust foreign policy. Furthermore, Democrats tend to lean towards an active government with the belief of improving the opportunity and equality. Meanwhile, Republicans tend to be more adamant about being pro-business and more self-reliant. The recovery of the economy has been a very divisive issue between Democrats and Republicans and has been well documented in recent years. A prime example is the dispute over the stimulus package released few years ago. One major dispute between the Republicans and Democrats regarding the growth of the economy is the proportion of tax cuts. Democrats heavily favored tax cuts for the lower and middle class and conceded to the idea of raising taxes for the 1 percent to stay economically balanced. While Republicans were opposed to the idea, they were in favor of tax cuts across the board. In addition, Democrats were in favor of impermanent exceptions for businesses creating additional employment opportunities. Another issue where Democrats and Republicans differ ideally...
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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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...to the study Structured election process is one of the indicators of stability in Nigeria’s democracy. Elections in Nigeria continue to elicit more than casual interest by Nigerian scholars due to the fact that despite the appreciation that only credible election can consolidate and sustain the country’s nascent democracy, over the years, Nigeria continues to witness with growing disappointments and apprehension inability to conduct peaceful, free and fair, open elections whose results are widely accepted and respected across the country (Ekweremadu, 2011). All the elections that have ever been conducted in Nigeria since independence have generated increasingly bitter controversies and grievances on a national scale because of the twin problems of mass violence and fraud that have become central elements of the history of elections and of the electoral process in the country (Gberie, 2011). Despite the marked improvement in the conduct of the 2011 elections, the process was not free from malpractices and violence (National Democratic Institute, 2012). Thus over the years, electoral processes in the history of Nigeria’s democratic governance have continued to be marred by extraordinary display of rigging, dodgy, “do or die” affair, ballot snatching at gun points, violence and acrimony, thuggery, boycotts, threats and criminal manipulations of voters' list, brazen falsification of election results, the use of security agencies against political opponents and the intimidation of...
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...TO WHICH EXTENT DOES PARTY-LIST PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION PROVIDE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF MINORITIES IN BENIN, GUINEA-BISSAU AND NAMIBIA? Pavel Pylypcuk, Alexandra Sidorova Aalborg University 2014 Table of contents 1. Introduction 3 I. PART 5 2. Electoral system 5 2.1. Types of electoral system 6 2.2. Proportional representation 6 2.3. Party-list proportional representation 7 II. PART 8 3. Structure of case studies 8 4. Benin 9 4.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 9 4.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1991-2007 10 4.3. Political parties in Benin: profile, electorate and interactions 11 4.4. Conclusion 12 5. Guinea-Bissau 13 5.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 13 5.2. Elections to National People's Assembly in years 1994-2008 14 5.3. Political parties in Guinea-Bissau: profile, electorate and interactions 15 5.4. The electoral process in Guinea-Bissau 16 5.5. Conclusion 17 6. Namibia 18 6.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 18 6.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1989-2009 19 6.3. Political parties in Namibia: profile, electorate and interactions 20 6.4. The electoral process in Namibia 21 6.5. Conclusion 23 7. Final conclusion 24 8. Bibliography 26 1. Introduction Electoral systems are considered as an instrument, which can relatively quickly and effectively...
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...The existence of defined and disparate political 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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...Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-runoff voting, Instant Round Robin Voting called Condorcet Voting, approval voting, citizen initiatives and referendums and recall elections. * Vote-counting procedures * Rules about political parties, typically changes to election laws * Eligibility to vote * How candidates and political parties are able to stand (nomination rules) and how they are able to get their names onto ballots (ballot access) * Electoral constituencies and election district borders * Ballot design and voting equipment * Scrutineering (election monitoring by candidates, political parties, etc.) * Safety of voters and election workers * Measures against bribery, coercion, and conflicts of interest * Financing of candidates' and referendum campaigns * Factors which affect the rate of voter participation (voter turnout) Electoral Reforms in India: Issues and Challenges before theElection Commission INTRODUCTION “An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.” - George Bernard Shaw Electoral reform means introducing fair electoral systems for conducting fair elections. It alsoincludes recuperation of the existing systems to enhance and increase...
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...our choices and select our next president. We hope that as they vote, they are truly representing the vote that we just completed in that booth. We can all agree that while the process created with 13 states in 1787 was fair and...
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...Political Parties and the Electoral Process Clara O Ebulu U.S. Government - POL 110 December 13, 2014 Ideological differences between America’s Political Parties Political ideology is known to be a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, myths, doctrines, or symbols of a social movement, institution, and class that explains how society should work and offers their political and cultural blueprint for a certain order. In America, we have various parties including two major political parties known as Democrat and Republican. One ideological difference between the Democrat and Republican parties is their view on personal security. The Democrat party believe that governments should not only secure the U.S. borders but to also advance on personal security. This belief has been translated into policies that extend health care access to as many citizens as possible, raising the minimum wage and expanding unemployment insurance as a result. Republicans on the other hand, vigorously opposes this use of government, insisting that we should not be compelled to our brothers’ keeper. A second ideological difference between the two parties is personal liberty. Democrats believe that governments should not only secure our borders but also advance our personal security. As reflected in recently enacted state laws, that belief translates into policies extending health care access to as many as possible, raising the minimum wage and expanding unemployment insurance (Finkleman...
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...Political Studies (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 ...
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...The Electoral College: The Fear of Mobocracy Katherine Kinert Olympic College, Bremerton Abstract The Electoral College is a very important part of the United States Electoral System. However, very few Americans actually understand how it works. The lack of political efficacy in this country is a large reason of why some people do not think the Electoral College should be abolished. However, as Eric Black (2012) stated in an article on PBS News Hour, “Polls for many years have reliably shown that a majority of Americans would prefer a straightforward popular vote for the presidency.” Originally the Electoral College was established to prevent majority factions from having too much power causing mobocracy to occur. However, this system is outdated and the conditions that prompted the founding fathers to institute this precaution no longer exist today. Also, the fact that almost all the states use a winner-take-all system to determine which candidate gets all of the electoral votes for the state. Will abolishing the Electoral College rid the United States from mobocracy? Introduction The Electoral College is outdated and does not follow the true spirit of American Democracy. David Stewart (2013), a lawyer in Washington, D.C., states that, “Because most people knew little about public events or leaders from distant states, the convention delegates reasoned, they would not make a wise choice between presidential candidates.” Today, people have access to information through TV...
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...ELECTIONS, ELECTORAL REFORMS AND POST- ELECTION VIOLENCE: PROBLEMS AND WAY FORWARD BY IRABOR PETER ODION DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, IGUEBEN, EDO STATE 07037830536. p24real2000@yahoo.com ABSTRACT In the contemporary world of today, elections have become the most accepted means of changing the government. Although history has shown that it is usually difficult to hold elections that are free and fair. But the importance of a good electoral act cannot be underestimated especially in a developing country like Nigeria where elections were reported to be marred by irregularities by foreign and local observers. It is on this basis that this paper critically observed, even with the electoral reforms carried out, the reasons why there were violence after the 2011 general election and recommended that adopting the basic part of the reforms, devolvement of power at the centre are other plausible way forward to true and sustainable democratic system in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION The electoral system of any given country plays a fundamental role in sustaining and moulding the political behaviour of its citizens (Okolo,2000). The way and manner election is conducted in a country goes a long way to determine the level of poltical culture, political participation and good governance in...
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...Plot 496 Abogo Largema Street, CBD, Abuja Email: alliwo@yahoo.co.uk; Mobile: 08035991377 ABSTRACT Elections are essential in a democracy and are fundamental features of representative democracy.. When free, fair and transparent, they confer credibility and legitimacy on the outcome. However, Nigeria's electoral history has always been marred by various levels of violence with grave implications for the polity. Since return of democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria, has conducted elections in 2003, 2007, 2011 but with an ever increasing rise in electoral violence. The April 2011 elections, which benefitted from the electoral reform efforts of President Yar ‗Adua, and was considered the most credible since the return to democracy also turned out to be the most violent as the country witnessed an orgy of bloodshed after the elections. The 2015 elections were to be held against the background of a prediction about the disintegration of Nigeria against the background of several socio-economic, political and security challenges, including insurgency in the nation‘s North East. The emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a formidable opposition to the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) fifteen year rule also added more tension to the charged atmosphere of the elections. The Peace Initiatives which started immediately after the 2011 elections attracted the attention of stakeholders including development partners, non-governmental organisations and eventually the government with...
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...the most crucial stages in the election process. Failure to complete the count and transmit results in a quick, transparent and accurate manner can jeopardize public confidence in the elections and will directly affect whether candidates and political parties accept the final results.” (The ACE Encyclopedia) Block Voting (BV) belongs to the “family” of plurality / majority Electoral Systems (The other two big “families” being proportional, or mixed Electoral Systems) and is in fact a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system with the difference that it occurs in multi-member districts with voters having as many votes as there are positions to be filled. In a five-member constituency for example, the five candidates with the largest number of votes are elected, regardless of the actual percentage level of votes they receive. In BV systems, voters are usually free to vote for individual candidates regardless of party affiliation, but they are not entitled to cast the same vote more than once. Voters are also most often free to not use all the votes they are entitled to if they like. (In other words, in the above case of five seats, the voter could choose to only vote for three candidates for example and leaving the remaining two votes empty). The rationale for using BV is generally known to be the possibility to provide a good opportunity to retain voters' ability to vote for individuals while at the same time increasing the role of political parties...
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...If college and the Electoral College have anything in common, it is that they both throw away the importance of what was once important. Grades have less value in college; popular votes, as in the public’s votes, have less value in the Electoral College. Nonetheless, both have a plethora of differences, a major one being that no one wants to terminate college whereas the fate of the Electoral College is hotly debated. Should the Electoral College be abolished? To conclude an answer, one should understand the functionalities of it. The Electoral College is a process, penned by the Founding Fathers hundreds of years ago, that is used to determine the United States’ President and vice-president indirectly. Each state will receive a certain amount...
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...Relevancy of the Electoral College The President is defined as the elected head, or leader, of a republican state. A republic a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives. The United States of America has proficiently based their processes on electing these officials, known as a President, on this basis. Their process included the voting of citizens in the United States for their [the people's] preferred delegate. The Founding Fathers of the United States developed a system where for the votes of the people to be counted for at a higher rate. This system is known as the Electoral College. The United States’ electoral college system throughout the years have been seen to work exceptionally well but many perceive the Electoral College to be both unfair and controversial. The Electoral College's role throughout the years of elections was ultimately against the true morals of the election process. To identify the controversial issue brought upon by the...
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