Personal Representation: The Neglected Dimension of Electoral Systems

ISBN-13: 9781907301162 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 216 str.

Josep H. Colomer

Opis

Personal representation is an essential element to achieve a high quality of democracy. Many studies of electoral systems, by focusing on the allocation of seats to parties, have neglected the study of this essential dimension. In democratic countries a huge variety of ballot forms and rules exist to vote for individual candidates and to allocate seats to persons. This book studies different voting procedures and formulas for personal representation, their origins and consequences, their compatibility with party representation and the strategies and normative criteria for electoral system choice. This book provides:- a ground-breaking study of voting procedures and formulas ballot forms and rules to allocate seats to persons;- a discussion on the relationship between party representation and personal representation;- new empirical data on voting forms;- an innovative classification of electoral systems;- reproductions of ballots from different countries; - comparative and single-case studies of different rules for candidate selection and for voting for individual candidates.