Realigning Election and Retrospective Voting - Essay Example

Final Exam Introduction  Part Question 2 Realigning election also commonly known as critical election or political realignment refers to a dramatic change in the political system of a country that might be sudden (take between 1 and 4 years), or gradual (take 5-20years). The term is commonly applied by scholars to refer mostly to the American elections especially when a new coalition or governance has come to power thus replacing the old and dominant regime. One of the good and recent examples of realigning election is the 1932 and the 2008 United States presidential elections whereby Franklin Roosevelt and President Barack Obama won respectively. President Obama won with a landslide because of the extreme challenges that the country was facing due to poor Republican Party leadership under former president Bush administration. Question 3 Retrospective voting is a type of voting whereby people vote for officials when times are good and against them when times are bad. In this case, parties vying for the various seats compete by emphasizing on competence, the way they reflect on public goals and not by taking particular policy stands. Under retrospective voting, voters do not bother in forming preferences on complex issues, but rather vote depending on their evaluation of the past performance. This means that voters focus only on the most essential issues and it demands very little of the voters. Moreover, politicians have a strong incentive in solving problems that the public wants them solved. Retrospective voting also gives room for deliberation and experimentation of unpopular policies provided the results are pleasing to the citizens before the next elections. Its main disadvantage is the fact that it is not easy to get rid of bad political leaders unless extremely bad disasters happen. Prospective voting on the other hand refers to the type of voting that involves considering the future wellbeing of the citizens or country at large been in the voters mind. Both these two types of voting are very common in the USA. Question 6 There are many complaints about the US bureaucracies though some of the most common complaints include the issue of duplication of duties as some bureaucracies are said to be too large. Some other people complain about them being too expensive to run with other arguing that they are extremely powerful. The issue of speed is also often raised whenever discussing bureaucracies whereby some people claim that they act very slowly since federal employees seem to have so much job security thus have little fear of losing their jobs because of incompetence. Question 7 The most fundamental objectives of any state that is under good governance include ensuring the basic human rights and freedoms are observed, that the country’s economy is well stabilized as well as ensuring that the state together with its citizens are well safeguarded from any attack (maintaining national security). Any state government has a role in ensuring that the rights and freedoms of the citizens and non-citizens living in their country are protected. These include rights and freedoms like freedoms of expression and movement, right to access to quality health, quality education, and security among others. Creation of a good climate that would foster economic growth is another major goal of any state in order to create employment to its citizens and compete accordingly with the other international economies. Part 2 Question 1 Some issues gain national or even global attention depending on the magnitude and impact the problem is creating both locally and internationally. Some problems are much smaller and their effects are not felt by a significant number of the society (they are of less importance to the society), or rather, their impact is not likely to affect the country in a significant way. Such smaller issues end up being ignored since they are of lesser importance compared to other major crisis that the country might be facing. For instance, eruption of a deadly illness or a national disaster like typhoons is likely to gain national attention compared to mild issues like a short duration power blackout. Another major factor that can contribute to a problem gaining national attention is the influence of media. Media tends to exaggerate and make a small problem appear as if it is a major national crisis. This is very common especially when the media is reporting abnormal behaviors relating celebrities and politicians. In such a situation, media pays special emphasize on a very small issue thus making the public take it as if it is a major issue. Question 3: The two major political parties namely the Democrat and the Republican parties have managed to survive for long as a result of a number of factors that completely diminish the other smaller parties to a point that they rarely win elections. Scholars associate this fact to a number of reasons with some blaming the structural features of the US political system such as the aspect of electing only one person and not many people to fill a position (single-member districts). This ends up giving the large and established parties an advantage since only parties that can manage to win 50% of the total votes in an election can ever win a seat. Moreover, scholars argue that Democrats and Republicans have been applying strategies aimed at diminishing the smaller parties in the past like making the process of having the names of contestants vying under the tickets of the smaller parties a difficult task (Katz 80). However, other scholars claim that the ideological consensus in the USA is the main cause for the dominance of the two parties. Political parties in the USA have undergone four major periods in history namely the progressive era, the Partisan era, era of reforms, and the contemporary era (Katz 63). Progressive era occurred between 1896 and 1932, and was characterized by strong party leadership in the two houses of Congress and elimination of corruption in the leadership. Era of reforms took place from 1930s up to 1970s, and was characterized by replacing nominating conventions and strict voter registration requirements. The partisan era occurred between 1830s and 1900s and was characterized by non-partisan elections at the local level. The contemporary era on the other had took place from 1970s up to date, and is featured by major reforms with respect to political parties management. Question 5 The president of the United States powers of conducting foreign policies are limited in a significant way since he or she must be granted consent by the US Senate so as to make any treaty. Under the permission of the senate, the president can negotiate any treaty with foreign nations but the negotiated treaties can only be implemented if only a two-third of the Senate ratifies them (Krent 52). The president’s powers as the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces are also limited since Congress is the only arm that has authority to declare war against another state. Moreover, the budget of the military and that of the civilian is prepared by the Congress thus significantly limiting the president’s powers (Krent 52). Works Cited Top of Form Krent, Harold. “Presidential Powers.” New York: New York University Press, 2005. Print. Top of Form Katz, Richard S. “Handbook of Party Politics.” London [u.a.: Sage, 2006. Print. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More