Predicting party sizes the 2007 Johan Skytte prize lecture

Abstract

The Skytte Foundation states that I was awarded the Skytte Prize 2008 for 'profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy'. What does this mean? As examples, I would highlight three relationships that qualify as laws in the strongest scientific sense. They do so because they offer a logically supported model as well as agreement with data, which gives them broad predictive ability. © 2009 Nordic Political Science Association.