Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications

ISBN-13: 9783319647067 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 342 str.

Friedrich Pukelsheim

Opis

The book describes procedures used in proportional representation systems to translate vote counts into seat number. Includes such detailed examples as member states elections for the 2009 European Parliament, and the election for the 2013 German Bundestag.

Spis treści

Exposing Methods: The 2014 European Parliament Elections.- Imposing Constitutionality: The 2009 Bundestag Election.- From Reals to Integers: Rounding Functions and Rounding Rules.- Divisor Methods of Apportionment: Divide and Round.- Quota Methods of Apportionment: Divide and Rank.- Targeting the House Size: Discrepancy Distribution.- Favoring Some at the Expense of Others: Seat Biases.- Preferring Stronger Parties to Weaker Parties: Majorization.- Securing System Consistency: Coherence and Paradoxes.- Appraising Electoral Equality: Goodness-of-Fit Criteria.- Tracing Peculiarities: Vote Thresholds and Majority Clauses.- Truncating Seat Ranges: Minimum-Maximum Restrictions.- Proportionality and Personalization: BWG 2013.- Representing Districts and Parties: Double Proportionality.- Double-Proportional Divisor Methods: Technicalities.- Biographical Digest.- Notes and Comments.- Biographies.- References.- Index.

O autorze

Friedrich Pukelsheim is professor emeritus of University of Augsburg, where he held the Chair for Stochastics and its Applications from 1983 to 2014. The book grew out of interdisciplinary courses and seminars on electoral systems and apportionment methods conducted during many years in Augsburg and at other academic institutions.  

Pukelsheim has published extensively on apportionment issues in journals of mathematics, statistics, political sciences, state law, and history. He has testified as an expert witness before legal and political bodies, including the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, and several German State Diets and Swiss Canton Parliaments.  

Blurb

The book offers an in-depth study of the translation of vote counts into seat numbers in proportional representation systems  – an approach guided by practical needs. It also provides plenty of empirical instances illustrating the results. It analyzes in detail the 2014 elections to the European Parliament in the 28 member states, as well as the 2009 and 2013 elections to the German Bundestag. This second edition is a complete revision and expanded version of the first edition published in 2014, and many empirical election results that serve as examples have been updated. Further, a final chapter has been added assembling biographical sketches and authoritative quotes from individuals who pioneered the development of apportionment methodology. The mathematical exposition and the interrelations with political science and constitutional jurisprudence make this an apt resource for interdisciplinary courses and seminars on electoral systems and apportionment methods.