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The effects of party system features and election rules on ideological representation can be seen in parliamentary elections in Western democracies over a fifty-year period. 'Distortion' is short-term representation failure -- the distance between the median voter and the legislature or government immediately after the election. Electoral choice and left-right positions of parties (from the manifesto data) can be used to estimate median voter positions. The number of parties, party polarization, and the election rules all independently affect ideological distances. But party system polarization seems to be the predominate factor shaping distortion of governments' relationship with the median voter. Examining the effects of party systems under different election rules helps clarify the causal connections between legislative and government levels. Adapted from the source document.

Though generations is now a standard item in the vocabulary of political change, identification of their boundaries is notoriously difficult. In this article the authors stress two themes, one theoretical and one specific to Italy. The predominant interpretation of Italian voting in the late 1970s is that the political "season" favorable to the Communist party (PCI) ended in 1976. The authors argue that the generational surge continued through another election and was almost as strong in 1979 as in 1976. The election of 1983, not 1979, witnessed a sharp change in youthful voting behavior. From a theoretical perspective, what is significant is that the leftist generation of the 1970s altered its voting behavior as a consistent part of a broad shift in party images and social attitudes and that these attitudes lingered on among new voters in 1983, even as the voting behavior of this new cohort changed radically. It is hypothesized that this pattern is characteristic of generations in general and that it is part of the reason that generational boundaries are difficult to identify.

Political scientists have contributed to the world of electoral systems as scientists and as engineers. Taking stock of recent scientific research, we show that context modifies the effects of electoral rules on political outcomes in specific and systematic ways. We explore how electoral rules shape the inclusion of women and minorities, the depth and nature of political competition, and patterns of redistribution and regulation, and we consider institutional innovations that could promote political equality. Finally, we describe the diverse ways that political scientists produce an impact on the world by sharing and applying their knowledge of the consequences of electoral rules and global trends in reform.

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