Write an analytical essay on the following topic:

The Situation:

An Island farming community called Pastoria has recently gained its independence and
holds elections for its legislative assembly, which governs the country. Pastoria a a
fairly large farming community with informed, interested, active, and reasonable citizens
all of whom care about and are loyal to the community and its new form of government.

There is one persistent issue that has divided and will continue to divide the citizens of
Pastoria into five political groups representing five distinct political opinions. The issue
has to do with the relationship between government and agriculture, the dominant
economic activity in the community. Each of the five groups is named (for convenience)
by a farm product, and their basic opinions are as follows:

Lettuce: These citizens believe that everyone would be best off if the
community as a whole simply owned all of the farms in Pastoria and managed
them together through government action. This way priorities would be set well,
and farm proceeds would be evenly divided among the citizens despite seasonal
changes in farm prices for various commodities.

Chile: Citizens in this group think that it is important for government to play an
active role in regulating the agricultural industry. While government should not
own all of the farms, it should be heavily involved in regulating what is grown by
whom during particular seasons so as to maintain the overall health of the
farming industry in Pastoria year after year.

Tomato: Citizens in the tomato group are not actively opposed to government
regulation of agriculture, but also are suspicious of whether government control is
needed and can be used well. They are open to arguments about particular
conditions in particular years and are likely to be a little bit flexible on the general
question of whether government should be involved.

Artichoke: People who belong to the artichoke group recognize that
government should be involved in regulating the agricultural industry, but only in
rare cases involving unfair pricing or business practices that might be used by
one farm to harm another. Government may need to encourage the growth of
certain commodities over others in rare instances, but should never require it.

Cabbage: These citizens of Pastoria believe that agricultural affairs are best
handled by farmers and by the free market and the government’s job is merely to
provide infrastructure in the form of roads and public order, but that it should
have no role whatsoever in influencing or managing agricultural business or
decisions.
Now suppose that with its independence and under his new Constitution Pastoria is
holding its first elections for its legislative assembly that has 200 seats. The Constitution
provides for an electoral system with single-member districts and plurality winners. The
public is distributed among the five opinion groups in the same proportions throughout
the country, and in the first election the voters form political parties according to these
groups, and each voter votes for the party whose position best represents her or his
beliefs about what is best for Pastoria. The results by political party in each part of
Pastoria are these:

Lettuce 19%
Chile 22%
Tomato 20%
Artichoke 16%
Cabbage 23%

The Essay:

Your job is to write an essay interpreting what these results would mean for the makeup
of the legislature and the political party over three election cycles (the legislature is up
for reelection under the Pastorian Constitution every three years).

so:

1. In this first election, what would be the results in terms of the makeup of the
legislature in Pastoria? Representatives from which parties would get about how many
seats? How might this outcome have differed with a system of proportional
representation? How would it have differed with the system of single member districts
representation and majority winners?

2. What would this result be likely to do to the party leadership in the voters as they
approach the second election, with the voters and the parties, especially those that lost
in the first election, still seeking to get influence for their political opinions in the
decision-making process in the legislature?

3. What then would happen in the third election on the same question about the
makeup of political parties in the makeup of the legislature as a whole. How many major
political parties with the country be likely to end up with, and why? How would you
characterize the differences between the parties that would emerge in terms of the key
issues that concern the people of Pastoria?

Your essay should analyze these issues very carefully and precisely, demonstrating
your analysis of how rational people would operate under the system with the rules of
single-member districts and plurality winners. Refer to the Analytical Element on Two
Parties as is useful and appropriate. The essay must be no more than 250 words,

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