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Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Parties, Elections, and Democracy -- 2. Electoral Law -- 3. An Extensive Test -- 4. An Intensive Test: Electoral Experience -- 5. An Intensive Test: Campaign and Nomination -- 6. An Intensive Test: Verification -- 7. Concluding Remarks -- Appendix A. Sampling -- Appendix B. Questionnaire -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W

Analyzing the electoral systems of various countries, including those of developing nations, this work examines the relationship between democratic theory values and the electoral institutions used to achieve them. Empirical data is used to find the institutions most appropriate to each model

AbstractThe 2023 political year in the United States was dominated by three major themes: the legal problems of former President Donald Trump, particularly in light of his campaign to regain the White House in 2024; the near‐total dysfunctionality of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives; and the state of the economy, especially inflation, but also employment. Lurking in the background, and in large measure captive to these concerns, were the issues of immigration and aid to Israel and Ukraine.

AbstractAmerican political life in 2022 was dominated by three major events. First, the trials of individuals arrested in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol and the televised hearings of the committee of the House of Representatives focusing on the actions and inactions of Donald Trump in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fomenting the insurrection. Second, the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending federal guarantees of reproductive rights. Third, the 2022 congressional election and the failure of the expected Republican wave to materialize.

AbstractPolitics in the United States in 2021 was dominated by four major events and two non‐events, setting the stage for what was likely to be an acrimonious 2022. The major events were the storming of the Capitol and the inauguration of a new President, both in January, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, and ongoing conflicts surrounding Covid‐19. The non‐events were the (non‐)passage of Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan and national voting rights legislation. The continuing drama concerned investigations arising from the Capitol riot, Supreme Court reconsideration of established law about libel and abortion, and challenges to redistricting based on the 2020 census as well as other electoral legislation, all in the run‐up to the 2022 election.

Declining turnout, declining party membership, declining aggregate vote for mainstream parties and increasing vote for anti‐party‐system parties all suggest a crisis of liberal party democracy. One suggested cure for the crisis of party democracy is more democracy within parties. But increased intraparty democracy, and increased use of instruments of direct democracy, such as recall, have their own potential costs. Following the example of de Tocqueville in looking to the United States, where intraparty democracy has a longer and deeper history, for lessons and warnings that might be applicable to Europe, this article points to polarization, alienation, intransigence, and decreased responsibility of political leaders – all feeding the anti‐party‐system narrative – as suggesting that the cure of more democracy may indeed be worse than the disease.