Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ã bo Akademi

The rational learning model sees political action as a goal-oriented choice drivenby decision-makers’ self-regarding interests. If a promising foreign model isidentified and its superiority over established policies is confirmed by means ofcost-benefit analysis, the model is likely to be adopted. However, the modelconfronts difficulties in explaining both commonality in diversity and thegeographical clustering of diffusion (2005: 270-279).Deriving from cognitive-psychological theory, the cognitive heuristics model alsoregards diffusion as a consequence of goal-oriented activities driven by selfinterestsof political actors. However, in contrast to the rational learning approach,the cognitive heuristics framework maintains that external models are attractivebecause of their apparent promise to solve problems rather than their demonstratedsuccess. “Since attention is finite and scanning the environment for relevantinformation is costly, people simply cannot meet the ideal-typical standards ofrational choice” (2005: 282). This approach stands out as superior to the otherthree models in explaining the three main features of diffusion, i.e. its temporalsequence, its geographical clustering, and its substantive nature of spreadingcommonality midst diversity (2005: 271-287). This conclusion is supported byempirical evidence (2005: 287-294). Finally, Weyland (2005: 295) maintains thatthe cognitive heuristics approach to explaining diffusion has wider theoreticalsignificance. It sheds light on political phenomena in the real world and broadensour understanding of political decision-making.It should be observed that no analysis of diffusion in its proper sense is provided inthe present study. A case study of each process of diffusion is out of the scope ofthe dissertation. 21 Consequently, I shall not compare these four explanatory modelsand make conclusions on how well they are capable of explaining existing patternsin the world of electoral systems. The empirical analysis is restricted to observingwhether processes of diffusion have occurred or not. The theoretical discussionabove is nevertheless important to the understanding of diffusion as a generalexplanation of institutional choices. Furthermore, it lays down the general outlinesfor an operationalization of diffusion.21 This should be emphasized in particular concerning the analysis of regional diffusion. The introductory analysis isrestricted to observing whether processes of regional diffusion have occurred by means of some specified criteriapresented in section 3.3.2.2.101