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We examine turnout in 324 democratic national lower house elections held in 91 countries, between 1972 and 1995. We rely on Freedom House ratings of political rights to determine whether an election is democratic or not. We distinguish three blocs of factors that affect turnout: the socio-economic environment, institutions, and party systems. We show that turnout is influenced by a great number of factors and that the patterns that have been shown to prevail in studies dealing with more limited samples of countries generally hold when we look at a larger set of democracies. But we also show that the socio-economic environment, which has been downplayed in previous studies, has a substantial impact on turnout. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

The paper offers a macroscopic view of the legislative electoral formulas in force in 166 sovereign countries, whether democratic or not. The purpose is to determine which formulas are the most widespread, and whether the prevalence of a formula is correlated with geographical, historical, economic, and political factors. While plurality and PR (= proportional representation) systems are equally frequent, the former tend to be found in more populated countries. PR prevails in Europe and South America, and among the most democratic countries, while the plurality rule is more typical of Asia, Africa, and North America, and is especially popular among former British colonies. Large countries are more likely to opt for single-member districts. No significant correlation emerges between the level of economic development or French colonial background and any electoral formula. The study suggests that the selection of an electoral system is not merely the outcome of party interest, but is also strongly influenced by ideas about what is good, just, or efficient. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

Le texte démontre la place marginale qu'occupe la sociologie quantitative dans l'activité officielle de cette discipline au Québec. Les chercheurs qui publient des articles quantitatifs sont peu nombreux et ne contribuent guère au développement des méthodes quantitatives dans la discipline. Les sujets traités se restreignent à quelques domaines seulement. Il semble par contre que les méthodes quantitatives soient plus répandues chez les sociologues non‐universitaires. Par ailleurs, les études quantitatives sont perméables aux tendances dominantes de la sociologie québécoise; elles sont centrées sur le Québec comme objet d'analyse et elles utilisent un cadre théorique relativement élaboré.This paper shows the marginal position of quantitative analysis in the articles published by Quebec francophone sociologists in the major journals of the discipline. Very few sociologists publish quantitative studies and they basically apply methods developed elsewhere. Quantitative analysis is confined to a few subject matters and is completely absent in many domains. It appears, however, that the quantitative approach is more widespread among non‐university‐based sociologists. Finally quantitative studies share some of the general characteristics of Quebec sociology: they focus almost entirely on Quebec as the object of analysis and they resort to an elaborate conceptual framework.

International growth rate differences are analyzed focusing on the roles of government & special interest groups as emphasized by M. Olson in The Rise and Decline of Nations, (New Haven: Yale U Press, 1982). A growth accounting framework is established & variables are defined & discussed. Data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development's Historical Statistics (various issues) are subjected to regression analysis, & empirical findings are reported & contrasted with those of previous researchers. 1 Table, 25 References. F. Rasmussen