How does people came to a collectiv decision? To understand how a choosen policy can effect the economic one have to know the mechanism of making decision.
3.2 How much Political Detail?
Is not easy to say how much political detail we have to know to understand it.
3.3 Choosing Decisionmaking Mechanisms
Constitution, is same kind of basic laws. Even an unwritten convention can have constitutional nature. But what makes a set of laws beeing a constitution ?
First the use of authorty or power by goverment is restricted by this laws.
Second a constitution determins how collective choices should be made, i.e. how to make a "normal" law.
Third, constitutions contains basic rights.
Fourth it's easier to change a normal law instead of the constitution. The Creation of Govermnent and Majority Rule?
What kind of majority rule should be used? With unanimity the cost of a decision will rise. A majority which is smaller then n/2 + 1, with n voters, is not stable. So the smallest possible stable majority rule is the simple majority. They choice which majority rule is useed depends on the potential loss or gain from the outcome of the collective decision , and the cost of making this decision.
Checks and Balances
By separation of powers, the power of the goverment would be restricted. If the goverment is divided it is weaker in realtion to a goverment which is united. If parts of the authority are overlapping the parts self controll each other.
3.4 Direct Democracy
Franchise Rules, who is alloud to vote.
Rules of agenda setting, who the law making works, what things should an idea
hve to be allowed be a proposal, and which is the first issuse to vote for,
and so on.
Adoption Rules, the decide with proposal is adopted.
Information Transmission, when and where to vote. And which information are know to voter at the time of chossen an option. If we want to compare two kinds of making decisions, we have to be sure that they have the same information background.
The Median Voter Theorem
There are two assumtion ,
first voters preferences are defined along a single dimsion, i.e. we are talking about the case that there is only one problem or issue to solve or to decide, and second voter's preferences are single peaked in that one dimension, there is a point which is really greater then an other point.
At the point of the median voter, there are an equal number of voters above and bellow or left and right of this point. But the whole concept is only usefull for the one issue case.
3.5 Representative Democracy
There are two stages of making a decision, first vote the representative, and second which policy choose the representative.
The median voter theorem and policy convergence in a representative democracy.
In a system with two parties, the parties will change their politcs as long as both will reach the median voter point (if the party's are only opportunistig). In Germany it is called the fight about the new center (neue Mitte). But there were two reasons against this concept, voter's could be indifferent between the parties, and voter's could be alienated i.e. the opinion of each party is to far away from there own, so that they decided not to vote.
A party's platform is determined by opportunism or ideology (or a combination of both).
3.6 Multiparty Systems
They were very common in Europe. In multiparty systems often a coalitions
is in power. But this doesn't mean that the goverments were instable.
The goverment could be build by the second and third greatest party, mainly
there are two big parties and they have little parties as coaltion partners.
Within a coaltion goverment they smaller parties gets a
disproportionate number of department in realtion to their voting number.
3.7 Interest Groups and Lobbying
Interest groups choose their contribute, and parties their platforms.
Electoral Endorsements, a positive statement from a interest group for a party or canidate, could influence less informed voters.
Sascha Frank
Last modified: Wed Nov 16 19:03:18 MET 2005