Majoritarian and consensual democracies : The seat product connection

Abstract

This study connects two apparently disparate fields of inquiry in a specific quantitative way. In Lijphart's Patterns of Democracy, the majoritarian-consensual "executives-parties" score (L) combines five indices. Four of these largely or entirely derive from factors that Shugart and Taagepera, Votes from Seats, logically deduced from the product of two numbers: the number of seats in an average electoral district (M) and in the first or only chamber of representative assembly (S). Hence L connects to the purely institutional seat product MS (logged) along a simple logistic pattern. It can be predicted from L = 41+35 (MS)-0.56-2, with R-2 = 0.59. Thus, surprisingly, the majoritarian-consensual typology largely stems from the number of seats available. ; Peer reviewed