Read the summary and the most important questions on Comparative European Politics Distinctive Democracies, Common Challenges | 9780198811404 | Rory Costello

• 0 Introduction

• 0.3.1 Distinctive democracies

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• What is the difference between majoritarian and consensual-style democracies according to Lijphart (2012)?

  Majoritarian democracies are characterized by a concentration of power and a confrontational relationship between government and opposition, while consensual democracies are characterized by the dispersal of political power among multiple parties and political institutions, and politics is a process of negotiation and compromise between them

• What is the meaning of a liberal democracy that most European countries are?

  The power of the government is constrained by constitutional rules which are upheld by an independent judicial system

• What are, next to liberal democracy, characteristics of European countries?

  A strong welfare state and multiparty competition

• 0.3.2 Common challenges

• What is the meaning of a 'party cartel' according to Katz and Mair (1995)?

  Genuine competition between opposing parties was replaced with consensus and cooperation among the main parties and the silencing of opposing viewpoints

• 0.4 Why compare?

• What is comparative politics?

  A field of study that is primarily focused on explaining differences and similarities between countries

• What is the scope of the 'most similar systems' design?

  The 'most similar systems' design means that the researcher compares countries that are similar in many respects, but differ with regards to the causal factor under investigation.

• What does the 'most different systems' design mean?

  Cases that are very different in many respects but share some common outcomes are studied

• 1 Electoral systems

• 1.1 Introduction

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• What are the key dimensions of electoral systems according to Farrell 2011?

  The electoral formula (how votes are translated into seats)
  Districts and district magnitude (the division of a country in districts and how many seats per district)
  Ballot structure (the nature of the choice and how votes are cast)

• What is the personalized effect on electoral systems?

  Voters have more to say than they used to over not just how many seats each party wins but also which individual candidates fill these seats

• 1.2 Electoral formula

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• What is an electoral formula?

  The mechanism through which votes are counted and then translated into seats