Mandate (politics)

In

Modern democracies do not consistently provide a majority mandate, as several competing parties offer different policies, requiring coalition governments to make compromises between their members. In the United States, the two-party system always results in one party having a majority in government that can be interpreted as a mandate.^[13] In the event of a coalition government, there is no single party with a popular mandate, as every party was supported by less than half of voters.^[14] Some political systems, such as that of the United Kingdom, frequently give a majority of legislative seats to a party that received only a plurality of the vote. In this case, the majority only carries a mandate if it is representative of the median voter.^[15] Policy does not necessary correspond to the platform of the dominant party, as it may still have to negotiate with other parties or otherwise have limits on its power to implement certain policies.^[16] Proportional representation allows for more nuanced voter preferences, but it also allows for a party with only plurality support to receive a majority of seats.^[16] In any coalition-based system, voters are unable to know what coalitions may form after an election, further distancing voter preferences from electoral results.^[17]

The existence of political mandate as a concept is challenged by supporters of deliberative democracy, who believe that parties are elected as representatives to negotiate and compromise between different policy proposals.^[13] Direct democracy bypasses the issue of mandates entirely as it allows voters to choose policies directly.^[18]

• Consent of the governed
• Divine right of kings
• Election promise
• Mandate of Heaven
• Referendum
• Social contract

• ISBN 978-0-520-04090-8
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• Grossback, Lawrence J.;
  ISBN 978-1-139-45911-2
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• McDonald, Michael D.;
  ISBN 978-0-19-928672-0
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