Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ãbo Akademi

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Weyland, Kurt. 2005. “Theories of Policy Diffusion. Lessons from Latin American PensionReform”. World Politics 57: 262-295.Wildenmann, R., W. Kaltefleiter and U. Schleth. 1965. “Auswirkungen von Wahlsystemen aufdas Parteien- und Regierungssystem der Bundesrepublik”. In E. K. Scheuch and R. Wildenmann(eds), Zur Soziologie der Wahl. Cologne: Westdeutscher Verlag.Zingel, Wolfgang-Peter. 2001. “Pakistan”. In Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz and ChristofHartmann (eds), Elections in Asia and the Pacific. A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.Zisser, Eyal. 2001. “Syria”. In Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz and Christof Hartmann (eds),Elections in Asia and the Pacific. A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.282
Why have countries in different parts of the world preferreddifferent electoral systems? Does context matter when countrieschoose electoral systems? Specifically, which contextual factorsare decisive? In the present thesis, Krister Lundell explores thesequestions from three theoretical perspectives: a rational, a culturaland historical, and an institutional perspective.The results show that although some institutional choicesmay be influenced by other particular institutions, the overallconstitutional framework does not determine the choice ofelectoral systems. The rational perspective also provides a ratherweak explanatory model. However, party system transformationfrom authoritarian one-party rule to competitive politics oftenresults in a replacement of majoritarian systems with proportionalor mixed electoral systems.The impact of the cultural and historical setting isoverwhelming. Electoral system choice is to a great extent aconsequence of various processes of diffusion, particularly Britishcolonialism and regional contacts. Specific temporal trends arealso discernible – the popularity of mixed systems in recent timesis a case in point.Åbo Akademi University PressISBN 951-765-298-4
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Krister LundellContextual Determina
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CONTEXTUAL DETERMINANTS OF ELECTORA
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CIP Cataloguing in PublicationLunde
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at Åbo Akademi University, the Fac
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3.2 Explanations of Electoral Syste
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9. CONCLUSION 2239.1 The Rational P
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politics. Both approaches bear rele
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electoral system choice as an epoch
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1.2 The Importance of Electoral Sys
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Within the range of democratic inst
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will depend on the specific cleavag
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Before describing different voting
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2.1.1 Ballot StructureThe ballot st
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formula, and the variety of elector
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ather be regarded as a characterist
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2.2.1 Plurality Systems2.2.1.1 Sing
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mixture of BV and PBV. In my classi
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Weaver 1984: 198-199). CV implies t
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total election, often pull out of t
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disadvantage is that it presupposes
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parties and minority groups. Furthe
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simultaneously avoiding disproporti
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and Blais. They also agree that the
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Whether one formula applies or not
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difficult. Even an independent comb
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attention to all three main dimensi
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(national, regional and local lists
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The degree of proportionality also
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variables: ethnic and cultural dive
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smallest category, representing 15
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democracies. 12 Nevertheless, the g
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(Vanuatu) are represented by merely
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3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKIn this cha
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ecognition of opposing views in the
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systems. If we reformulate the ques
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the rules, the lack of knowledge is
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not. Consequently, their analysis c
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proportional electoral systems. He
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groups as possible, to avoid attemp
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associated with certain features an
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also called electoral engineering.
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(2002: 14). Public opinion, often e
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Similar reform societies were estab
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systematically favor or disfavor ce
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interests based on ascriptive commu
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argues, both majorities and minorit
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A more popular form of recognizing
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Among the three basic majoritarian
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politics. When universal suffrage w
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and no electoral threshold in order
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threatened to change the current el
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inadequate since electoral systems
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electoral reform is likely to occur
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main advocates of proportional repr
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whereas majoritarian systems prevai
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The rational learning model sees po
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3.2.4.1 Colonial LegacyColonial leg
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Different colonial powers administe
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The Australian and American colonia
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epresented the “wave of the democ
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The second wave of democratization
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parliamentary elections, particular
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parliamentary or presidential gover
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measure of ethnic and cultural dive
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medium size. The other 40 per cent
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size and electoral systems, two str
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that have previously held general e
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The association between party syste
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democratization process. Neverthele
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The occurrence of list PR in former
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Third, an electoral system must exi
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Three matters are of interest in co
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according to Lijphart’s definitio
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3.3.3.2 Territorial OrganizationA n
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to the whole territory. Countries a
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or non-existence of an ‘additiona
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subset of the world’s countries,
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Concerning data on party system fra
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22). 30 Nevertheless, the coded yea
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(1) free and fair elections of the
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(e.g. 1984; 1990). The index is bas
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standards and Mauritius was democra
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Table 5.1. Ethnic and cultural frag
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Table 5.4. Ethnic and cultural frag
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values. Each integer of the logarit
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is also quite large, and therefore
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1966, and Cyprus 1981. Suriname ado
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significant. 36 The large standard
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small standard deviation values ind
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samples with changes to mixed syste
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a consequence of the party system t
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eplace plurality systems with mixed
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former British colonies did not inh
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Table 6.2. Colonial legacy and elec
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impact on the dependent variable wh
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(1993). All these countries adopted
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On the basis of figure 2.1 in secti
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their electoral systems. Bulgaria a
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as a general determinant of institu
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The average population size among c
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Only two federal states chose elect
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any major role. Regional diffusion,
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Plurality systems dominate the thir
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inherit the plurality system but al
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popular system between 1945 and 199
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presidential countries. Only Lebano
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legislative bodies are distinguishe
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legislative relations should also t
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etween independent and dependent va
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least 90 cases. Notwithstanding, as
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Table 8.1. Patterns of diffusion an
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other systems returns little to exp
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extent but the coefficient is small
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territorial organization and chambe
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there are only two (Gabon and Vanua
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the rational perspective, since it
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9. CONCLUSIONThis study is a contri
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shows that countries having adopted
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doubt that electoral systems affect
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The third variable within the cultu
Page 243 and 244: 9.4 Final RemarksThe impact of the
Page 245 and 246: APPENDIX IClassification of countri
Page 247 and 248: Sri Lanka - SMP 1948The Constitutio
Page 249 and 250: Laos - SMP-BV 1953Laos achieved ful
Page 251 and 252: Greece - List PR 1958After having a
Page 253 and 254: Madagascar - Super-mixed 1960The 19
Page 255 and 256: Iran - SMP-BV 1963In 1963, Iran ado
Page 257 and 258: Polyarchy dataset between 1960 and
Page 259 and 260: Morocco - SMP 1970The 1970 Constitu
Page 261 and 262: APPENDIX IICountry (year of elector
Page 263 and 264: Country Democracy Electoral system
Page 265 and 266: Country Democracy Electoral system
Page 267 and 268: APPENDIX IIICountry (year of electo
Page 269 and 270: Country Colonial Regional Form of T
Page 271 and 272: Country Colonial Regional Form of T
Page 273 and 274: APPENDIX IVParty system fragmentati
Page 275 and 276: Proportional systems - change from
Page 277 and 278: REFERENCESAhmed, Nizam. 2001. “Ba
Page 279 and 280: Blais, André and R. K. Carty. 1987
Page 281 and 282: Duverger, Maurice. 1984. “Which I
Page 283 and 284: Hartmann, Christof. 1999b. “Cote
Page 285 and 286: Koch, Christian. 2001. “Kuwait”
Page 287 and 288: Lijphart, Arend. 2002. “The Wave
Page 289 and 290: Norris, Pippa. 1995. “Introductio
Page 291 and 292: Riker, William H. 1982. “The Two-
Page 293: Taagepera, Rein and Matthew S. Shug
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