Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ãbo Akademi

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(national, regional and local lists) and the object of the vote (closed, flexible, openand free lists), which ultimately results in twelve different kinds of list systems inaddition to the other six electoral systems. Mixed systems are disregarded(Bogdanor 1983: 17).In an eminent study, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction (2001),Farrell distinguishes between plurality, majority and proportional electoralsystems. In addition, a category of electoral systems that combine differentelectoral formulas is created (2001: 7-10). He maintains that the principaldistinction with regard to political consequences is between proportional and nonproportionalsystems (2001: 192). A similar classification is applied in Handbookof Electoral System Choice (Colomer 2004) for the purpose of analyzing electoralsystem change. However, plurality and majority systems constitute one singlecategory, and indirect elections represent a category of their own. In their analysisof the adoption of PR at the turn of the twentieth century, Blais, AgniezskaDobrzynska and Indridi Indridason (2005) distinguish between plurality, majorityand proportional systems. Blais and Massicotte (1997) apply four categories –plurality, majority, proportional and mixed systems – in their cross-sectional studyof all countries with a working, directly elected legislature.Perhaps the most detailed typology of electoral systems (for national elections), sofar, has been presented by Blais and Massicotte in Comparative DemocraticElections, edited by Lawrence LeDuc, Richard G. Niemi and Norris (1996). Theyfollow the classical approach and initially classify electoral systems according toelectoral formula, while taking into account district magnitude and ballot structure.They identify three basic systems (plurality, majority and PR), a fourth category ofmixed systems, and several subtypes of formulas. Four plurality systems aredistinguished: plurality in single-member districts, plurality in multi-memberdistricts, plurality in two-member districts with large minority representation, andplurality in both single- and multi-member districts. The majority systems aremajority-plurality, majority-runoff, and alternative vote. The basic proportionalsystems are STV and list PR. List systems can be based on either a single nationalelectoral district or local districts. Among systems with local districts, six variantsare distinguished: (1) single tier; (2) two tiers, remainders pooled at higher tier; (3)two tiers, higher corrective; (4) two tiers, higher independent of lower; (5) threetiers; and (6) three tiers, higher corrective. Mixed systems are divided into four42
subtypes: (1) plurality-PR corrective, (2) plurality-PR combination, (3) plurality-PR coexistence + combination, and (4) majority-PR combination + corrective(Blais and Massicotte 1996: 52-67).In addition to constituency structure, PR countries are classified according towhich allocation formula (LR-Hare, LR-Droop, d’Hondt or modified Sainte-Laguë) they apply, and information on whether they use closed lists, preferentialvoting or panachage is provided (1996: 57-60). 11 Furthermore, the authors presenta typology of threshold structure in proportional representation systems. Initially,PR systems with legal thresholds are distinguished from those without thresholds.Thereafter, two forms of threshold structure are identified: thresholds for getting aseat at a higher level in systems with several tiers, and thresholds for getting a localseat (1996: 62-63). Hence, the classification of PR systems takes four dimensionsinto consideration: constituency structure, electoral formula, legal threshold, andpreferences for candidates. The authors maintain that due to the many differentways of combining these elements, no PR systems are exactly alike. They do not,however, distinguish between BV and LV (1996: 49-81).2.4 A Typology of Electoral SystemsThere is a great variety of electoral formulas and a classification of these into a fewmain categories is needed in order to conduct empirical analysis. Several previousclassifications distinguish between plurality/majority, semi-proportional andproportional systems. Another common ground of classification is to divideformulas into plurality, majority, proportional and mixed electoral systems. Mostclassifications follow one of these two principles, sometimes with smallmodifications. If electoral formulas are classified according to degrees ofproportionality, plurality and majority formulas are brought together into a singlemajoritarian category. Both the plurality and the majority rule usually producemuch more disproportional results than proportional systems. Exceptions are LV(including SNTV) and CV, which tend to produce more proportional results thanother plurality and majority formulas, but not as proportional as list PR and STV.Despite seat allocation according to the plurality rule, these formulas consequentlybelong to the intermediary category.11 The French term panachage implies that voters are entitled to cast multiple votes and to split their votes betweencandidates in one list as well as between lists.43
Page 1 and 2:
Krister LundellContextual Determina
Page 3: CONTEXTUAL DETERMINANTS OF ELECTORA
Page 6 and 7: CIP Cataloguing in PublicationLunde
Page 8 and 9: at Åbo Akademi University, the Fac
Page 10 and 11: 3.2 Explanations of Electoral Syste
Page 12 and 13: 9. CONCLUSION 2239.1 The Rational P
Page 14 and 15: politics. Both approaches bear rele
Page 16 and 17: electoral system choice as an epoch
Page 18 and 19: 1.2 The Importance of Electoral Sys
Page 20 and 21: Within the range of democratic inst
Page 22 and 23: will depend on the specific cleavag
Page 24 and 25: Before describing different voting
Page 26 and 27: 2.1.1 Ballot StructureThe ballot st
Page 28 and 29: formula, and the variety of elector
Page 30 and 31: ather be regarded as a characterist
Page 32 and 33: 2.2.1 Plurality Systems2.2.1.1 Sing
Page 34 and 35: mixture of BV and PBV. In my classi
Page 36 and 37: Weaver 1984: 198-199). CV implies t
Page 38 and 39: total election, often pull out of t
Page 40 and 41: disadvantage is that it presupposes
Page 42 and 43: parties and minority groups. Furthe
Page 44 and 45: simultaneously avoiding disproporti
Page 46 and 47: and Blais. They also agree that the
Page 48 and 49: Whether one formula applies or not
Page 50 and 51: difficult. Even an independent comb
Page 52 and 53: attention to all three main dimensi
Page 56 and 57: The degree of proportionality also
Page 58 and 59: variables: ethnic and cultural dive
Page 61 and 62: smallest category, representing 15
Page 63 and 64: democracies. 12 Nevertheless, the g
Page 65 and 66: (Vanuatu) are represented by merely
Page 67 and 68: 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKIn this cha
Page 69 and 70: ecognition of opposing views in the
Page 71 and 72: systems. If we reformulate the ques
Page 73 and 74: the rules, the lack of knowledge is
Page 75 and 76: not. Consequently, their analysis c
Page 77 and 78: proportional electoral systems. He
Page 79 and 80: groups as possible, to avoid attemp
Page 81 and 82: associated with certain features an
Page 83 and 84: also called electoral engineering.
Page 85 and 86: (2002: 14). Public opinion, often e
Page 87 and 88: Similar reform societies were estab
Page 89 and 90: systematically favor or disfavor ce
Page 91 and 92: interests based on ascriptive commu
Page 93 and 94: argues, both majorities and minorit
Page 95 and 96: A more popular form of recognizing
Page 97 and 98: Among the three basic majoritarian
Page 99 and 100: politics. When universal suffrage w
Page 101 and 102: and no electoral threshold in order
Page 103 and 104: threatened to change the current el
Page 105 and 106:
inadequate since electoral systems
Page 107 and 108:
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
Page 125 and 126:
parliamentary elections, particular
Page 127 and 128:
parliamentary or presidential gover
Page 129 and 130:
measure of ethnic and cultural dive
Page 131 and 132:
medium size. The other 40 per cent
Page 133 and 134:
size and electoral systems, two str
Page 135 and 136:
that have previously held general e
Page 137 and 138:
The association between party syste
Page 139 and 140:
democratization process. Neverthele
Page 141 and 142:
The occurrence of list PR in former
Page 143 and 144:
Third, an electoral system must exi
Page 145 and 146:
Three matters are of interest in co
Page 147 and 148:
according to Lijphart’s definitio
Page 149 and 150:
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,
Page 157 and 158:
Concerning data on party system fra
Page 159 and 160:
22). 30 Nevertheless, the coded yea
Page 161 and 162:
(1) free and fair elections of the
Page 163 and 164:
(e.g. 1984; 1990). The index is bas
Page 165 and 166:
standards and Mauritius was democra
Page 167 and 168:
Table 5.1. Ethnic and cultural frag
Page 169 and 170:
Table 5.4. Ethnic and cultural frag
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values. Each integer of the logarit
Page 173 and 174:
is also quite large, and therefore
Page 175 and 176:
1966, and Cyprus 1981. Suriname ado
Page 177 and 178:
significant. 36 The large standard
Page 179 and 180:
small standard deviation values ind
Page 181 and 182:
samples with changes to mixed syste
Page 183 and 184:
a consequence of the party system t
Page 185 and 186:
eplace plurality systems with mixed
Page 187 and 188:
former British colonies did not inh
Page 189 and 190:
Table 6.2. Colonial legacy and elec
Page 191 and 192:
impact on the dependent variable wh
Page 193 and 194:
(1993). All these countries adopted
Page 195 and 196:
On the basis of figure 2.1 in secti
Page 197 and 198:
their electoral systems. Bulgaria a
Page 199 and 200:
as a general determinant of institu
Page 201 and 202:
The average population size among c
Page 203 and 204:
Only two federal states chose elect
Page 205 and 206:
any major role. Regional diffusion,
Page 207 and 208:
Plurality systems dominate the thir
Page 209 and 210:
inherit the plurality system but al
Page 211 and 212:
popular system between 1945 and 199
Page 213 and 214:
presidential countries. Only Lebano
Page 215 and 216:
legislative bodies are distinguishe
Page 217 and 218:
legislative relations should also t
Page 219 and 220:
etween independent and dependent va
Page 221 and 222:
least 90 cases. Notwithstanding, as
Page 223 and 224:
Table 8.1. Patterns of diffusion an
Page 225 and 226:
other systems returns little to exp
Page 227 and 228:
extent but the coefficient is small
Page 229 and 230:
territorial organization and chambe
Page 231 and 232:
there are only two (Gabon and Vanua
Page 233 and 234:
the rational perspective, since it
Page 235 and 236:
9. CONCLUSIONThis study is a contri
Page 237 and 238:
shows that countries having adopted
Page 239 and 240:
doubt that electoral systems affect
Page 241 and 242:
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 and 294:
Taagepera, Rein and Matthew S. Shug
Page 295:
Why have countries in different par
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