Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ã bo Akademi

Table 8.3. Patterns of diffusion, the rational perspective and electoral system choice, threecomparisons. Multinomial logistic regression.Dependent variable Independent variables B Std. error Prob.Mixed – majority British legacy .748 1.332French legacy -.805 1.347Regional diffusion .136 .490Period II (1956-1969) .570 .952Period III (1970-1989) .465 .843Period IV (1990-2003) .808 .762Cultural diversity .010 .562Population size 1.169 1.578PR – majority British legacy 1.031 1.223French legacy -1.484 1.321Regional diffusion 1.413 .462 **Period II (1956-1969) .439 .809Period III (1970-1989) -.689 .759Period IV (1990-2003) -.410 .664Cultural diversity .137 .546Population size .006 1.529PR – mixed British legacy .283 .983French legacy -.679 1.493Regional diffusion 1.277 .410 **Period II (1956-1969) -.130 .807Period III (1970-1989) -1.154 .773Period IV (1990-2003) -1.218 .684Cultural diversity .127 .496Population size -1.162 1.453N 263Model chi-square 131.192 ***-2 Log likelihood 554.440Nagelkerke R square .423For key to the signs, see table 8.1.Variables of all three perspectives are included in tables 8.4 and 8.5. Comparisonsbetween plurality systems and all other systems are presented in table 8.4, whereascoefficients of the three remaining comparisons are given in table 8.5. Theinstitutional perspective is represented by territorial organization and chamberstructure. It has been emphasized that these two variables are connected to eachother. More specifically, bicameralism is often considered necessary in federalsystems. A test of covariance in this data sample shows that they correlate to some214