Suchergebnisse

It is obvious today that the democratic political regime cannot be considered reality without taking into account political parties; it is as obvious as the phenomenon of partidocracy, expressed through the quasi-total domination of parties in politics. Such judgements prompted the title of the book Stasiology and Electoral Systems. The book itself revives the term stasiology, introduced by M. Duverger in 1951, which defines the science of political parties but has not been used very much over the last decades. Its approach is explanatory and perspective alike, emphasizing the myriad of correl

Elections can increase tension in ethnically divided societies, like Fiji. The way constituencies are drawn and votes counted can also affect the result. First-past-the post can deliver lopsided results, while proportional representation may give excessive influence to small, fringe parties. Fiji's Constitution Review Commission believed a system of alternative voting in ethnically mixed constituencies would encourage politicians, and parties, to take into account the interests of other ethnic groups. This book assesses their recommendations, looks at alternatives, and considers how they might work in Fiji.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Boxes, Tables and Figures -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- 1 The Study of Electoral Systems -- 1.1 Why Study Electoral Systems? -- 1.2 Classifying Electoral Systems -- 1.3 Confl icting Views on the Meaning of 'Representation' -- 1.4 Conclusion -- 2 The Single-Member Plurality System and its Cousins -- 2.1 The Single-Member Plurality System in Practice -- 2.2 Britain's Long Road to Electoral Reform -- 2.3 The Electoral Reform Debate in Other SMP Countries -- 2.4 Other Plurality Systems -- 2.5 Conclusion -- 3 Majority Electoral Systems: Two-Round Systems and the Alternative Vote -- 3.1 The Two-Round System -- 3.2 The Alternative Vote System -- 3.3 Assessing Majority Electoral Systems -- 3.4 Conclusion -- 4 The List Systems of Proportional Representation -- 4.1 The Origins of List PR Systems -- 4.2 Electoral Formulas: Largest Remainders and Highest Averages -- 4.3 District Magnitude: Constituency Size and Multi-Tier Districting -- 4.4 Ballot Structure: Closed, Ordered and Open Lists -- 4.5 The Operation of the List PR System in the Netherlands -- 4.6 Conclusion -- 5 Mixed-Member Electoral Systems -- 5.1 The Operation of Germany's Mixed-Member Electoral System -- 5.2 Proportionality, Parties and Politics in Germany -- 5.3 Other Mixed-Member Electoral Systems -- 5.4 Conclusion -- 6 The Single Transferable Vote System of Proportional Representation -- 6.1 STV in Ireland -- 6.2 How STV Works -- 6.3 Variations in STV Design -- 6.4 The Consequences of STV for the Political System -- 6.5 Conclusion -- 7 The Consequences of Electoral Systems -- 7.1 Proportionality Profi les of Different Electoral Systems -- 7.2 Electoral Systems and Party Systems -- 7.3 Parliament as a 'Microcosm'? -- 7.4 The Strategic Effects of Electoral Systems -- 7.5 Conclusion -- 8 The Politics of Electoral System Design.