Evaluating Electoral Systems

A UniJied Method of Evaluating Electoral Systems and Redistricting Plans*

We derive a unified statistical method with which one can produce substantially improved definitions and estimates of almost any feature of two-party electoral systems that can be defined based on district vote shares. Our single method enables one to calculate more efficient estimates, with more trustworthy assessments of their uncertainty, than each of the separate multifarious existing measu...

Empirically Evaluating the Electoral College

Electoral Systems

In previous chapters, we discussed the contextual factors that affect the development of political systems. However, the evolution of political systems is not merely a function of the economic, social, cultural, and international environments. Political democracy is also as much a product of human choices as it is a product of context, particularly the choice of institutions that help shape the...

Evaluating Hungary's Mixed-Member Electoral System

The electoral system adopted by Hungary in 1989 represents a monument to the potential for institutional design through bargaining to produce complex yet stable institutions. The key compromise reached during this bargaining process was the decision to use the mixed member system, electing a roughly even measure of representatives from both majoritarian single-member districts (SMDs) and from m...

Monotonicity in Electoral Systems