Inside This Unit: The Full Breakdown
This unit compares electoral systems, party systems, and the citizen organizations (interest groups, NGOs) that channel participation into influence.
Why it matters
Electoral rules shape how votes become seats and how many parties compete — a favorite quantitative-analysis topic on the exam.
Key concepts
- Plurality/FPTP (UK) tends toward two parties (Duverger’s law); proportional representation produces multiparty systems.
- Party systems range from one-party (China) to dominant-party (Mexico under PRI, Russia) to multiparty.
- Mixed systems (Russia, Mexico) combine single-member districts and proportional seats.
- Interest groups and NGOs organize citizens; regimes restrict them to limit outside influence.
Electoral Systems and Their Effects
First-past-the-post awards a seat to the top vote-getter, often boosting the largest party’s seat share and favoring two major parties. Proportional representation allocates seats by vote share, encouraging many parties and coalition governments. Mixed systems blend both. Electoral thresholds keep tiny parties out under PR.
Party Systems
A one-party state bans meaningful competition (China). A dominant-party system allows legal opposition but one party consistently wins (Mexico’s PRI for decades; Russia’s United Russia). Competitive systems may be two-party (UK tendency) or multiparty with coalitions.
Citizen Organizations
Interest groups and NGOs aggregate citizen demands and lobby for policy without seeking office. Democracies permit broad activity; authoritarian regimes restrict it — for example, requiring foreign-funded NGOs to register as "foreign agents" to discourage independent organizing (Russia).
AP exam tip
For quantitative-analysis FRQs, connect a vote-to-seat discrepancy directly to the electoral system (FPTP boosts the largest party) rather than just describing the numbers.
Connections to other units
- Unit 2: Electoral systems produce the legislatures studied earlier.
- Unit 1: Party competition is a key marker distinguishing regime types.
- Unit 6: Parties and groups shape which policies reach the agenda.
