Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ã bo Akademi

politics. When universal suffrage was introduced, the small European countriesopted for proportional systems because of their willingness to share power amongdisparate political actors.Blais and Massicotte (1997: 109) provide still another explanation for thesuggested link between size and electoral systems. According to them, there mightbe practical reasons for avoiding PR in large territories: a plurality system withsingle-member districts enables representatives to keep closer contact with thosewho have elected them. Large multi-member districts in large countries wouldseriously restrict the capacity of the candidates to reach the electorate duringelectoral campaigns and weaken the interaction between representatives and votersduring the term of office. Their study of determinants of electoral formulas,presented in the beginning of the third chapter, suggests that the larger the territory,the more likely it is to have single-member districts. Population size is of minorimportance. They find no association between size and electoral systems withregard to the dichotomy between plurality/majority and PR (1997: 116).D. Anckar (2002) asserts that the suggested link between diminutiveness and PR isincorrect. By looking at the electoral arrangements in microstates, he concludesthat smallness leads to plurality rather than PR. Among 40 countries with apopulation less than one million, the vast majority has adopted majoritariansystems. 18 Hence, the theoretical arguments put forward by Rokkan, Katzensteinand Rogowski do not stand an empirical test that comprises all small countries ofthe world.However, D. Anckar maintains that the prevailing pattern of plurality systems inmicrostates reflects colonial legacy and a process of diffusion rather than aconsequence of size itself (2002: 4). On the basis of the theoretical arguments thatdirectly concern size and electoral system choice, we may therefore propose theassumption that the larger the country the more likely the occurrence of amajoritarian electoral system.18 Plurality and majority systems are treated as a single category of electoral systems. Mixed systems andproportional systems constitute the other major types of electoral systems. Among the majoritarian systems, theplurality formula is considerably more frequent than the majority formula.87