Deel 1

• Politics as an arena • Politics as a process • Politics as conflict and compromise • Politics as power

• Institutions (institutional approach) • Individuals (behavioural approach) • Interrelations (structural approach) • Interests (rational-choice approach) • Ideas (interpretive approach)

the capacity to bring about intended effects; ability to achieve goals

forceful mode of influence; focuses on relationships. ‘the ability to influence or force others to do something that they would not have done otherwise’

• Power • Authority. The right to exercise power and influence of a particular position that comes with that position. • Legitimacy. Citizen’s belief that the power-holders have the right to exercise power and authority. ! Different from legality (being lawful) • Jurisdiction (sovereignty). The territory or sphere of activity over which the legal authority of (political) power extends.

• Natural Rights - General Will

power and authority is passed on to one who is a member of (royal) family

power and authority is passed among members of a group/party

• Effective participation: before a policy is adopted, all the citizens must have equal and effective opportunities for making their views known to other citizens. • Equality in voting: when decisions about policy are made, every citizen must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote and all votes must be counted as equal. • Enlightened understanding: within reasonable limits, each citizen must have equal and effective opportunities to learn about the relevant alternative policies and their likely consequences. • Control of the agenda: citizens must have the opportunity to decide how and what matters are to be placed on the agenda. • Inclusion of adults: with minimal exceptions, all permanent adult residents should have the full rights of citizens that are implied by the first four criteria.

• Elected officials: decisions are check and legitimated by elected representatives. • Free, fair, and frequent elections: elected officials are chosen in frequent, free and fair election • Alternative sources of information: citizens have the right and the possibility to gather information from alternative and independent sources. • Freedom of expression: citizens have the right to express themselves, also in a critical sense, on all possible political and administrative matters • Freedom of assembly and association: citizens are free to organize themselves in associations and groups, including independent interest groups and political parties taking part in elections • Inclusive citizenship: with minimal exceptions, no citizens are excluded from the abovementioned rights and opportunities, including the right to elect or be elected

• Subversion/ liberalisation of authoritarian regime • Transition to democracy • Consolidation of democracy • Deepening democracy

• Level of democracy: presence and substantiality. To what extent we have democracy. • Model of democracy: institutional settings. Not all democracies are the same. • Quality/ performance of democracy: effectiveness and legitimacy. Is the democracy developed or still developing.

• Contestation (competition). Right to compete. Rate of contestation/cooperation. • Participation (inclusiveness). Right to participate. Rate of participation

• Absolute monarchy: ruling sovereign from royal family (Saudi Arabia) • Ruling party: rule by a single party (China, Cuba) • Ruling president: a president dominates government and media (Zimbabwe) • Military rule: the military ruling through a junta (regering, commissie, comité, bestuur, regime of raadsvergadering) (Myanmar) • Theocracy: religious leaders rule (Iran, only theocracy) • Competitive authoritarian regimes: ‘democracy without turnover, completion without alteration’ Huntington (Russia)

• Suffrage: right of voting. • Frequent: elections must be held regularly and periodically. • Integrity: truthful vote counting, pre-established rules, independent observations, independent organisation to solve disputes. • Free: freedom of expression, information, assembly, candidacy, voting. • Fair: fair competition, fair access of all candidates/parties to the public facilities (funding, media) and voters. • Effective: elected officials should be those who are the final decisionmakers, they are the main/real decision makers.

number of elected posts • National • Regional/local • Judiciary

Who can vote, The voting age - 18 in 86% of nations - 16 in Argentina, Austria - 17 in Indonesia, Korea - 20 in Japan - Voting right for - Prisoners. (allowed to vote, denied based on length and type of crimes, banned to vote or banned to vote and might be restricted after release) - Non-citizen residents - Citizens living overseas

• Providing representation - Geographic, ideological, party, and descriptive (mirror of nation) • Making elections accessible and meaningful • Providing incentives (aansporing) for conciliation • Facilitating stable and efficient government • Holding the government accountable • Holding individual representatives accountable • Encouraging political party competition • Promoting legislative opposition and oversight • Making electoral processes sustainable • Meeting international standards

District magnitude (M): the number of seats per constituency. Average M=size of assembly / number of constituencies

• Plurality and majority systems: winner-takes-all system, the winner is the one receiving the greatest number of votes in a constituency. • Proportional representation (PR) systems: proportionality between share of votes and seats of parties for each constituency. • Mixed systems: combining plurality (for geographical representation) and PR (for party representation).

how votes are translated to seats

how voters can express their choices (open vs. closed lists)

the minimum votes needed by a party to secure representation; lower is more proportional

the weakening bonds between electors and parties