If you'd like to print out this page, click the Print button above. Alternatively, you may click the printer icon on your browser's toolbar, or choose File>Print from the menu.     Industrialized Democracies 2 Let’s continue our examination of industrialized democracies by evaluating the electoral systems of Germany and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom relies on a first-past-the-post system. As you might recall from our earlier exercise, this type of system involves candidates running for election in districts, with the candidate receiving a plurality of votes (i.e., the "most") receiving the seat. One of the tendencies of first-past-the-post electoral systems is that they are more likely than many other systems, such as proportional representation systems, to result in a single party winning a majority of the seats in an election. They also often result in "two-party" systems within government, a development where two parties win most of the seats and rotate in and out of power. CLICK DATA FILE: INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACIES CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: UKELECT% CLICK: [Continue] 1. Identify the voting percentage received by each of the following political parties. Party Voting Percentage Answers Conservative 32.7% Labour 42.1% Liberal-Democrats 18.8% Others 6.4% 2. True or False: No party received a majority of the votes cast in the election, overall. (Correct Answer: True) CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: UKPARSEAT CLICK: [Continue] 3. Which party won the largest number of seats in the House of Commons? (Correct Answer: Labour Party) 4. True or False: The party that won the most seats in the House of Commons won more seats than all the other parties combined. (Correct Answer: True) Now let’s examine Germany. Germany uses a complicated hybrid electoral system, wherein voters have two ballots. On the first ballot they vote for a person to represent them within districts and half the representatives in the Bundestag are chosen this way. However, their second ballot is cast for a party (i.e., proportional representative). The percentage of the vote earned by each party on the second ballot then determines the percentage of seats each party has in the German Bundestag, overall. For example, in a 598-member Bundestag, 299 seats are determined by first-past-the-post elections. Let’s say that, hypothetically, the Social Democrats won 200 seats on the first ballot. If their second ballot result was 50 percent, they would be entitled to 50 percent of the 598 seats in the Bundestag, or 299 overall. In other words, the party is entitled to a percentage of seats proportionate to the percentage of the vote they receive on the second ballot. Let’s explore this system in more detail. CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: GERELECT% CLICK: [Continue] 5. Identify the voting percentage received by each of the following political parties. Party Voting Percentage Answers CDU/CSU 38.5% FDP 7.4% Greens 8.6% PDS 4.0% SPD 38.5% Others 3.0% 6. True or False: The CDU/CSU received a higher percentage of the vote, overall, than any other party. (Correct Answer: False) CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: GERPARSEAT CLICK: [Continue] 7. Which party won the largest number of seats in the Bundestag? (Correct Answer: SPD) 8. True or False: The party that won the most seats in the Bundestag won more seats than all the other parties combined. (Correct Answer: False) 9. How many seats were awarded to the Party of Democratic Socialism, PDS? (Correct Answer: 2) You probably noticed that the PDS did not receive a percentage of the seats roughly equivalent to the percentage of the vote it won. This is because Germany initiated a special rule to limit the number of parties that would be represented in its Bundestag, called the five-percent rule. The five-percent rule was designed to provide relatively more stability to the system and increase the chances that the elected parties could fashion working majorities. Thus, if a party receives less than five percent of the vote on its second ballot, it is entitled only to the seats it won on the first ballot (i.e., the first-past-the-post ballot). 10. Based on the election results you’ve examined, what is the minimum number of parties necessary to form a working majority government in Germany? (Correct Answer: two) Another important issue confronting democracies and elections is the degree of confidence voters have in political parties. Let’s examine party confidence in the United States and Germany. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: WVS97-USA CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: CONF:PARTY CLICK: [Continue] 11. What percentage of Americans has either a "great deal" or "a lot" of confidence in political parties? (Correct Answer: 21.8 percent) 12. True or False: When asked to indicate their level of confidence in political parties, a majority of Americans answered, "not much." (Correct Answer: True) Now let’s examine German attitudes. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: WVS97-GERMANY CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: CONF:PARTY CLICK: [Continue] 13. True or False: In contrast to Americans, more Germans have either a "great deal" or "a lot" of confidence in political parties. (Correct Answer: False) 14. What percentage of Germans responded that their level of confidence in political parties was either "not much" or "none?" (Correct Answer: 87.9 percent) Another key phenomenon that affects the electoral prospects of parties, in particular, and politics in industrial democracies, in general, is ideological orientation. Analysts typically place voters on a Left-Right Continuum. Those on the Left are classified as liberals (e.g., supporting pro-choice, a greater emphasis on social programs, stronger environmental policies, and so on), while those on the right are classified as conservatives (e.g., supporting pro-life, a greater emphasis on military spending, and so on). Those with very strong views, either conservative or liberal, will be placed closer to the ends of the spectrum, while those with more moderate views will be placed more towards the center. Let’s examine political orientation in both Germany and the United States. CLICK: DATA FILES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: LFT-RGHT CLICK: [Continue] 15. True or False: Most Germans classify themselves as relatively moderate, i.e., neither extremely liberal nor extremely conservative. (Correct Answer: True) 16. Would you classify most Germans as being relatively more liberal than conservative, or relatively more conservative than liberal? (Correct Answer: relatively more liberal than conservative) Now let’s examine how strongly Germans feel about the willingness of political parties to adhere to their ideological positions. CLICK: DATA FILES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: PARTY-LDR CLICK: [Continue] 17. What percentage of Germans believes party leaders should "cooperate with other groups, even if it means compromising some important beliefs." (Correct Answer: 88.8 percent) Now let’s examine the United States. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: WVS97-USA CLICK TASK: Univariate SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: LFT-RGHT CLICK: [Continue] 18. True or False: Most Americans classify themselves as relatively moderate, i.e., neither extremely liberal nor extremely conservative. (Correct Answer: True) 19. Would you classify most Americans as being relatively more liberal than conservative, or relatively more conservative than liberal? (Correct Answer: relatively more conservative than liberal) CLICK: VARIABLES SELECT PRIMARY VARIABLE: PARTY LEDR CLICK: [Continue] 20. What percentage of Americans believes party leaders should "cooperate with other groups, even if it means compromising some important beliefs." (Correct Answer: 55.0 percent) 21. What might explain the differences between Americans and Germans in terms of their overall willingness to have political leaders cooperate "even if it means compromising some important beliefs?" Many parties in industrial democracies have tried to change their ideological orientations and election strategies to maximize their electoral prospects by moving towards the ideological "center" to capture the maximum number of voters possible. Such parties are often called "catch-all parties." One criticism of this strategy has been that it has helped to create disillusionment within democratic populations because the movement of the major parties towards the "center" results in fewer substantive differences between them and, subsequently, discourages citizens from voting. Let’s examine this issue by focusing on voter turnout patterns in the United States. CLICK: DATA FILES CLICK DATA FILE: ELECTIONS CLICK TASK: Historical Trends SELECT VARIABLES 1: %T/O-PRES CLICK: [Continue] 22. What percentage of the voting age population voted in the 1960 presidential election? (Correct Answer: 63 percent) 23. What percentage of the voting age population voted in the 2000 presidential election? (Correct Answer: 51 percent) CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Historical Trends SELECT VARIABLES 1: %T/O-CONGR CLICK: [Continue] 24. True or False: Since 1960 voter turnout in non-presidential election years has declined, overall. (Correct Answer: True) Now let’s identify the trends in voter turnout for some of the world’s other industrial democracies and compare them to the United States. CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Historical Trends SELECT VARIABLE 1: UKTURNOUT CLICK: [Continue] 25. Identify the voter turnout percentage for the United Kingdom in 1964. (Correct Answer: 75 percent) 26. Identify the voter turnout percentage for the United Kingdom in 2001. (Correct Answer: 58 percent) CLICK: VARIABLES CLICK TASK: Historical Trends SELECT VARIABLE 1: GERTURNOUT CLICK: [Continue] 27. True or False: Since 1960 voter turnout in German parliamentary elections has increased, overall. (Correct Answer: false) 28. Some scholars argue that relatively low voter turnout rates indicate that the industrial democracies are functioning rather well and that people are relatively satisfied with the policies enacted by their governments. What logic might support this claim? (Correct Answer: something to the effect that voters must be relatively satisfied because if they weren’t they would become involved in greater numbers and we’d see higher turnout levels during elections because voters would demand substantive change in their governments.)