Milner, H. (2002) Civic Literac

Why do PR systems have distributive income systems? Looks at as a function of Civic Literacy.
Theme: the causes and consequences of differences in political knowledge and what makes social-democratic welfare states sustainable

I. Civic Engagement and Social Capital develop skills that matter (Putnam says we get these from group associations; the no. leads to our S.C. stock).
Social Capital (as conceptualized by Putnam) measured as:
1. Trust (horizontal= interpersonal trust; vertical = trust in government)
2. associational density
definition of social capital: a public good; public trust, interpersonal and in government; community organization; voluntary associations.
Findings: Democratic institutions that equally distribute intellectial resources also more equally distribute material resources (high C.L. societies). AND Democratic institutions that more equally distribute intellectual resources attain higher levels of political parties.
Civic Engagement:
Organizational membership > ^trust in government > Civic engagement (voting)
II. Civic Literacy
Measured as:
1. willingness (the vote; @ the local level)
2. ability (knowledge-supply (media) and demand (people need)+ factual and cognitive)

- supply: “The nature and intensity of such efforts are seen to be a function of institutionalized incentives; in other words, political institutions matter when it comes to the accessibility and intelligibility of political information” (6).

III. Political ken
1. Individual Factors: education, age, income
2. Institutional Factors: electoral system; electoral system influences access, usefulness, and intelligibility.

IV. Sources of Civic Literacy
Measuring C.L.:
Civil: turning out to vote in local elections—more valid measure because they require more information; anyone can vote for a president. It takes more effort to vote in a local election.
Literacy: knowledge of U.N.

V. Political Parties and Political Institutions
-“The extent to which voters are informed on matters relevant to the decision to vote is in fact closely linked to the political institutions in which elections take place” (66).
Political Institutions > Political Ken > Political Participation

Electoral systems and Turnout
PR 71%
Maj 50%

VI. Political Institutions (78)
“each system has its own district long-term representational logic and it is via this logic that the citizens makes sense of the political choices available. Candidates in majoritarian systems are primarily oriented toward the median voter in the electorate, while those under PR systems are more oriented toward the median voter of their party (Wessels 1996)” (80). In FPTP political actors tend to misrepresent.

Consensus democracy: PR > ^ C.L. > ^ Voter Turnout

FPTP (first past the post) PR (proportional representation)
Ambiguity of leaders Less ambiguity
Zero Sum Better at supply side of ken
Mandates Visible compromises
SM cater to narrow interests Coalitions
Clear political map and more political information***

VII. C.L. and the Media
VIII. C.L. and Institutions
IX. Adult Education
Formal education and creating habits of civic literacy; as assessment of more deliberative democracy. Are people prone to change their minds when they have more information?
X. Case Study: New Zealand
Economy driven by a strong public sector; classic Westminster model. Milner has a negative evaluation of changes in New Zealand. Participation gone down following changes made by the state
XI. Economic Outcomes
XII. Case: Sweden
Universalism; decommodify labor (Epsing-Anderson conception). Excellent public health care, public transportation and education levels.
High levels of civic literacy; potential to also be economically successful (even though socialist). Taxation in Sweden is regressive (not redistributive). Is Milner making incorrect assumptions about Sweden?
What has been the impact of the war (immigrants/refuges) on the state of Sweden? They are taking in the most downtrodden and hopeless. The Swedish population is having a hard time adjusting to the influx; immigrants are having trouble assimilating. Milner is an institutionalist; he argues that the Scandinavian egalitarian culture was created by their institutions. But is the egalitarian culture changing? Outside of the immigrant communities you have a very knowledgeable, articulate population. Yet because immigrants are not acclimating, are the Sweds’ egalitarian virtues going the way of the buffalo? Taxes in Sweden are really high; immigrants are not contributing equally. This also upsets the more educated, homogenous native Sweds.
XIII. The Welfare State
Milner finds that economic performance is not connected to the welfare state; Asian tigers vs socialist democrats.
XIV. Conclusions on the Welfare State
How/why does Civic Literacy matter? What do high levels of civic literacy mean? Policy? Economy? Highly levels of DL make better decision and institute better institutions. Reinforcing, then. Since institutions make a difference toward the fostering of CL.

Milner class notes: Nordic countries vs market media
In PR systems, people vote more: vote is not wasted.
Milner argues that PR makes every single race competitive—and provide more information to the public in the pursuit of the seat; here are no safe seats, so parties compete in all districts.
2nd argument: if you are more informed you will vote for more welfare-oriented parties (leans to the left). 75% of the governments in PR system are left, or center left. 74% of majoritarian districts are right or center-right (personalized campaigns = lean right).

This is why information matters; people CHOOSE DIFFERENTLY when they have more information. What is the minimum level? Making accurate choices. At some point you will come to an equalibrium (no more impact on the collective decision). Once that is the same, we can compare apples to apples. According to Milner, there is more sophistication in Sweden.
There is a larger middle class in more equal societies, than in industrialized countries.

Now must look at where the rubber hits the road: What is the impact on POLICY?
I.e. If we were COMPLETELY informed about what led up to 9/11 (i.e. if we knew there were no WMDs or Iraqis on the plane, initially.

The dots start with the electoral system.