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VOTES
Ware CH 11 and Mueller and Strom 112140
Guiding Questions
Downs 1957
Models party competition spatially.
1) Voters hold preferences over the types of policy they
want government to enact.
Downs 1957
1) Parties seek to maximize their vote share.
2) Parties position themselves along the left/right
spectrum adapting their policy positions based on their
perceptions of voter interests.
Parties are loosely bound by past history.
Prevents parties from leap-frogging other parties.
3) Parties use ideology as a tool to mobilize mass
electorates.
That is, policy is viewed instrumentally (i.e. it wins
votes).
4) Number of political
parties is dependent upon
the shape of distribution
of voters.
Single peaked: two
party system is likely.
Multi-peaked:
multiparty system is
likely.
Two party systems create
incentives for parties to
converge at the position
of the median voter.
Multiparty systems do
not.
Downs 1957
Important contributions
regarding:
1) Spatial modeling of
party competition
2) Identification of issue
dimensions which frame
politics.
3) Linkages between
campaign promises and
governmental performance
explained as a function of
re-election prospects.
WEAKNESSES
Dunleavy 1991
Questions assumption
that voter preferences
are exogenous to
parties.
Government parties can
shape preferences via:
1) social engineering
2) social relativities
3) context management.
1) exploiting social
tensions
2) strategic agenda setting
Examine:
Dutch Labor Party (PvdA)
Why were policy goals so dominant for so
long within the party?
What did an emphasis on policy goals do for
the PvdAs vote winning abilities?
What did it take for office seeking goals to
be privileged over policy goals?
How did the push for votes shape the partys
behavior?
Schedule
Game: Elections
Unit Theme: Parties and Ideology
Readings:
Ware
CH 1
Mueller and Strom pgs. 89-111
Game: Coalections.