Kyoungeun Kim
Dr. Patrick Wohlfarth
GVPT170
5 December 2022
Term paper
The United States is so famous for democracy that it is said to be a leader in democracy.
The world is interested in American elections and benchmarking the American political system.
However, before concluding this, it is necessary to check the achievements of democracy so
far. In order to evaluate the performance of democracy, first, it is necessary to look at the degree
to which citizens expressed their opinions during the presidential election, second, citizens'
satisfaction with their pledges in the presidential election, and finally, the actual
implementation of their pledges.
The degree of expression of political opinions by citizens
Through the extent to which citizens expressed their opinions during the presidential
election, it is possible to know whether citizens convey their political signals sufficiently so
that government actors can respond accordingly. This is because the Agents judged that how
much the political opinions of citizens, not representatives, are reflected in indirect democracy.
Citizens must express their opinions first so that government actors can identify the signals,
establish and implement policies. Therefore, I choose this indicator as the first indicator.
Citizens can express their political preferences anytime, anywhere. Among them, the
reason why it is limited to the expression of the election period is that it is not only expensive
and time-consuming to grasp the specific preferences expressed by individuals, but it is also
impossible to collect all preferences. For this reason, reviewing only what were expressed
during the election seems more suitable for the purpose of the investigation, because it is
efficient to set a specific period of time and to recognize all the expressions that have occurred
in the meantime. In addition, during the election period, citizens who usually do not express
their political opinions often voice them out on political issues. The reason why I chose the
presidential election among many elections is that the president's role in democracies is
growing and plays an important role in implementing policies. In addition, it was judged that
international comparison was easier than other elections, so it would be better to compare and
analyze the performance of American democracy. Of course, the presidential election may
differ from country to country in terms of election method, term of office, and the role of the
president. However, it can be said to be the most representative election in democracy and has
the highest similarity among elections, so I limited to the presidential election. In fact, even in
Korea, there is no concept of a state at all, so when comparing politics with the United States,
there is a tendency to focus much more on the presidential system/presidential elections than
on local councils/elections.
To find out the degree of citizens' expression of political opinions, we can list ways for
citizens to express their opinions during the presidential election, and investigate whether they
have participated in each item. In the past, the way citizens express their political opinions was
limited to rally, campaigns, etc. The way citizens express their political opinions with these
ways can be investigated by organizing them into the following items: 1) people who
contributed money to a candidate running for public office or to a group working to elect a
candidate, 2) people who attended a virtual political rally or online campaign event, 3) people
who attended a political Rally or campaign event in person, 4) people who worked or
volunteered for a political party, candidate or campaign, etc.1 In addition to these traditional
1
Daniller , A., & Gilberstadt, H. (2020, December 14). Key findings about voter engagement in the 2020
methods, the degree of political preference expression on the Internet must be measured. As
social media spreads rapidly, more and more people express political expressions on SNS such
as Facebook and Twitter. According to Shim(2012) public opinion is forming and affecting
election results.2 Political expressions on SNS can be investigated through how many people
show their support for political campaign or candidate on social media.
Commitment evaluation
Next, it is necessary to examine whether the pledge reflects the political preferences
expressed by citizens. The most representative way to confirm this is to evaluate pledges in the
presidential election. It is necessary to check whether the pledges included issues that citizens
valued and expressed in-depth opinions on the issues. The specific goals of the pledge,
implementation methods, financing methods, and feasibility are also reviewed and voted. I
don't think we should simply evaluate citizens' satisfaction with pledges. This is because each
candidate who receives a lot of support will receive a high score because they will be more
satisfied with the party or opinion they support.
For example, Korea's presidential election in 2020 was largely the most likely
candidate for four candidates. At that time, people were interested in diversity within politics
in Korea. Despite social diversity, Korean political society has been dominated by men in their
50s and 60s and Seoul-centered figures.3 It was such a big issue that there was a daily debate
election. Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 1, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2020/12/14/key-findings-about-voter-engagement-in-the-2020-election/
Shim, H. (2012). A Study on the Effect of Social Media on Political Participation: Focusing on Internal and
External Persuasion Factors. (Doctoral dissertation, Yonsei University Graduate School).
2
3
[Pledge Evaluation] 20th Presidential Candidate Pledge Evaluation – ② Electoral System Reform, Political
Reform. (2022, March 2). Retrieved December 2, 2022, from 참여연대:
on this issue in our university community. On the issue, Lee, the presidential candidate, made
a pledge to expand young people's participation in politics, while Shim made a pledge to
expand political participation by minority parties and political newcomers. The other two
candidates raised concerns because they made no promises about this issue. The evaluation of
these presidential pledges should check whether they dealt with issues that were the main
concern of citizens among many pledges and how appropriate they were made on those issues.
Pledge fulfillment rate
It is necessary to check how much pledges reflecting the preferences of citizens have
actually been implemented as policies. It is important to determine whether the U.S.
government system sufficiently represents voters' policy preferences. At the time of the election,
they make efforts to attract voters, but sometimes they are not interested in the needs of the
people after the election. In addition, there are many cases where they failed to keep their
promises in order to attract voters' attention. US has a low average rate of fulfilled
promises(65%).4 As an extreme example, in 1988, George Bush pledged not to collect taxes
during the presidential election. However, when the federal deficit increased significantly, it
eventually broke its promise and increased taxes.5
In summary, the three standards to investigate the achievements of American
democracy are 'The degree of expression of political opinions by citizens', 'Commission
https://www.peoplepower21.org/politics/1868466
4
Louis M. Imbeau. (2009). Do They Walk Like They Talk? Springer-Verlag.
Luxon, S. D. (2007). A Question of Leadership,“Read My Lips: No New Taxes.” (Doctoral dissertation,
Institute for the Study of the Americas).
5
evaluation', and 'Pledge fulfillment rate'. The important thing is that all three are connected.
The key is how carefully citizens accepted and actually realized the policy preferences
expressed. If these criteria are met well, it can be seen that agents are entrusted with the
decision-making authority of the principals, reducing the transaction cost, and realizing a
deregulatory democracy with no significant conformity cost.
References
Blake, A. (2021, January 20). Trump promised his supporters ‘everything.’ He didn’t deliver on much
of
it.
The
Washington
Post.
Retrieved
December
2,
2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/20/trump-promised-his-supporters-everything-he-didntdeliver-most-it/
Daniller , A., & Gilberstadt, H. (2020, December 14). Key findings about voter engagement in the 2020
election.
Pew
Research
Center.
Retrieved
December
1,
2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/20/trump-promised-his-supporters-everything-he-didntdeliver-most-it/
Ford, B. A. (2002). Delegative democracy. DEDIS.
Lee, M. (2018, December 2). “Look at my lips No more taxes”. Bush's sayings. The JoongAng.
Retrieved December 1, 2022, https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/23172293#home
Louis M. Imbeau. (2009). Do They Walk Like They Talk? Springer-Verlag.
Luxon, S. D. (2007). A Question of Leadership,“Read My Lips: No New Taxes.” (Doctoral dissertation,
Institute for the Study of the Americas).
Kim, J. (2022, July 5). How are the presidential systems of Korea and the United States different? The
columnist. Retrieved November 29, 2022, https://www.thecolumnist.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1142
Shim, H. (2012). A Study on the Effect of Social Media on Political Participation: Focusing on Internal
and External Persuasion Factors. (Doctoral dissertation, Yonsei University Graduate School).
[Pledge Evaluation] 20th Presidential Candidate Pledge Evaluation – ② Electoral System Reform,
Political
Reform.
(2022,
March
2).
Retrieved
December
2,
2022,
대:https://www.peoplepower21.org/politics/1868466
Wohlfarth, Patrick. DATE. Lecture: TITLE. University of Maryland: GVPT 170
from
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