Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ã bo Akademi

3.3 Independent Variables3.3.1 The Rational PerspectiveIn this section, the operationalization of the independent variables is presented.Variables are dealt with in accordance with the perspective to which they belong,beginning with the rational perspective. The choice of an electoral system may berational in two different ways. On the one hand, the rational approach considerselectoral system choice as a consequence of the particular sociopolitical andcultural needs of a society. It emphasizes the importance of electoral systemdesign. Two structural variables are tested: ethnic/cultural diversity and countrysize. On the other hand, an electoral system choice may also be rational from thepolitical actor’s point of view. Each actor prefers a system from which he or shewill benefit. Structurally generated problems and actor-related problems are notnecessarily opposite to each other. Given the contextual nature of the study, I amonly interested in those actor-related determinants that have a structural dimensionas well. In the previous section (3.2.3.2), two such variables emerged: party systemstructure and party system transformation. In spite of the fact that both are featuresof the party system, there is a substantial difference between the two. The latter isan expression of the democratization process and implies a change from absoluteone-party rule to a multi-party system with competitive elections, whereas theformer is a measure of the number of parties in the legislature.3.3.1.1 Ethnic and Cultural DiversityThe electoral system is, according to experts on conflict management, onestructural technique for mitigating conflict and achieving political stability indevelopmental countries with deep ethnic and other societal cleavages. There are,however, many different kinds of cleavages. In addition to ethnicity, societies arealso composed of people with different language and religion. Moreover, theregional spread of minority groups varies; minorities may be highly concentratedinto one region or widely dispersed over the whole country. Furthermore, theextent to which a country is divided varies a lot. Evidently, a classification ofcultural diversity cannot take all these aspects into consideration. It is probably animpossible task to identify all different kinds of divided societies, and as aconsequence thereof, some generalizations are inevitable. Before presenting the116