Ruritania

(Short Version**)

**The short version of Ruritania is designed to demonstrate how political parties form coalition governments in multiparty states. Another objective is the reinforcement of concepts utilized throughout the semester to teach the POL 310 course from a comparative perspective. The longer version carries students all the way through the process (manifesto development, electoral strategy, etc.). The shortened version operates from the following assumptions: 1) that the election is over; 2) the results are in; 3) parties must now try to form a government; and 4) students know something about exploring parties and elections from a comparative perspective.

Setting the Scene

The country of Ruritania is located between Norway and Sweden in Scandinavia (see maps). It has just recently become a democracy (history) and has an electoral system far different from ours. Of most importance are the method of election (single transferable vote) and the type of representation (proportional). The electoral system thus fosters multiple parties (there are 10) which reflect the many social cleavages in this small but diverse country and thus represent the full range of political parties along the ideological spectrum. There are eleven electoral districts (with varying socio-demographic compositions) each of which gets 9 seats apportioned in relation to percentage of votes received. As a result each of the 10 parties has enough electoral strength somewhere to get seats in the 99 seat National Constituent Assembly (the country’s parliament).

Recently, elections were held:

The seats captured by each party in each election district are presented.

Party/District	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total
CDP	0	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	2	3	1	11
COM	5	0	0	0	2	2	0	5	2	0	0	16
CON	0	3	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	14
LIB	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	4
NSF	1	0	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	10
OPP	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	4
PEA	0	0	3	0	1	1	3	0	2	0	3	13
RLP	0	0	0	4	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	11
SHP	0	2	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	1	8
SOC	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	8
Total	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	99

You should be able to develop a distribution of preferences map to demonstrate how voters in Ruritania line up across the Ruritanian political spectrum.

Governing in Ruritania

As in most parliamentary democracies with multiparty systems, Ruritanian government is generally not “captured” by one political party. In order to control government in Ruritania, a coalition of parties (with a majority of the seats in the National Constituent Assembly, ie. 50) must agree to form a government. They form by:

1) choosing a Prime Minister (usually from the party obtaining the most seats); and

2) allocating ministries to members of the National Constituent Assembly
from various parties.

This differs greatly from the US system where: 1) the president is chosen separately from the legislature; and 2) members of his/her Cabinet are NOT part of the legislature. This is a reflection of the notion of separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government.

The Ruritanian Government-Formation Scenario

The new political system created by the National Committee for Reconciliation (NCR) emphasizes "executive power-sharing".  Since no political party is likely to gather a majority of the seats in the National Constituent Assembly, Ruritania will experience its first coalition government.  Coalition governments are the norm in many democracies.  While America (because of its presidential system) and Britain (because of its modified or two and one-half party system) have Cabinets composed of members from the same political party, in coalition governments, the coalition is formed by a select number of parties agreeing to allocate the postion of Prime Minister and Cabinet ministerships among themselves.  Parties are thus able to exert influence in areas of interest to their constituents (ie., their voters) by controlling ministerships in select important areas.  The ministerships to be allocated among a coalition government in Rurutania include the following (with a brief description of their major responsibilities in parentheses):

Ministry	Description of Responsibilities
Agriculture	Increasing agricultural production and overseeing the processing of agricultural products
Commerce and Industry	Implementing business, trade and industrial policies
Culture	Promoting the cultural traditions of Ruritanian society and its various subcultures and promoting their display in Ruritania and throughout the world
Defense	Maintaining national defense forces
Education	Implementing educational policies for all levels of education and developing worker training programs
Environment and Natural Resources	Implementing policies which impact upon natural resources and the environment
Finance	Overall oversight of budget and assisting NCA in the development (and implementation) of tax policy
Foreign Affairs	Assist in the development of (and Implementation of) foreign policies as well as staff embassies and consulates throughout the world
Justice and Police	Concerned with the court system as well as the control of the internal security forces at the national and local level
Labor and Welfare	Promoting good working conditions as well as overseeing health and human services
Public Works and Communication	Control of public works projects and control of (and development of) media policies

The Communist Party has been asked to form a coalition government by the Head of State, Prince Brian. The Conservative and Peasants parties (both with large number of seats) refuse to form a coalition government with the Communists and are thus both trying to form a coalition government of their own. The Christian Democratic and Ruritani Levimsvenka and National Salvation Front parties (also with a significant number of seats) are thinking about trying to form governments as well. The five parties are thus engaged in negotiations to try to form a coalition government (with the other parties or among themselves). Each party tries to get the “best deal” that it can for its members. This means getting control of ministries important to its constituents.

Governmental Policies in Ruritania

Along with the distribution of cabinet positions, the coalition government must also establish agreement on 6 basic policies. The policies are:

Educational Policy

Law and Order Policy

Health Care Policy

Energy Policy

Entrepreneurial Policy

and

Tax Policy

(Unlike the US, Ruritania must balance the budget! The coalition government must generate enough income to pay for its programs! For the most part, parties did not talk about taxes. Parties are thus relatively free to negotiate a tax policy. (Please think about what a “real” party in your “family” would do!)

Party Stands on the Issues

During the campaign, the parties committed themselves to the following stands on the issues:

Party Issue	CDP	COM	CON	LIB	OPP	NSF	PEA	RLP	SHP	SOC
ENTREPRENEUR	16	0	16	?	7	20	10	4	20	16
LAW & ORDER	9/ 6	40	6	6	14/ 8	40	6	20/ 10	30/ 10	20/ 10
HEALTH	7	40	22	30	22	17	22	7?	17	40
EDUCATION	15	20	20	20	20	15	10	7?	15	20
ENERGY	10	10	10	5	5	10	0	20	20	5
Totals	63	110	74	61+	76	102	54	67?	112	110

The Players

Party	Party Members
COM: Communist Party	K. Benken, M. Hunter, C. Valdini
CON: Conservative Party	K. Kalfas, M. Mihal
CDP: Christian Democratic Party	M. Brand, E. Madigan, A. Ross
LIB: Liberal Party	M. Lyle, D. Thompson
NSF: National Salvation Front	S. Kleinhenz, M. McBride
OPP: Opportunity Party	A. Powell, A. Rathge
PEA: Peasants’ Party	E. Fuller, A. Williams
RLP: Ruritani Levimsvenska Partei	D. Baldwin, N. Berning
SHP: Small Holders Party	C. Askew, R. Hollenkamp
SOC: Socialist Party	C. Beaupre, K. Kuenle, A. Walz

Timetable of Actions

Friday, April 6th	Create party team. Identify family of parties to which your party belongs. Identify electoral districts in which your party is likely to be successful via DISTFORM.
Monday, April 11	Ministry Interest: MININTFORM
Wednesday,	To negotiate coalition government/ policy stands/ tax policy
Friday	Same as above plus announce coalition government