Duverger's law of plurality voting : the logic of party competition in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States / Bernard Grofman, Andre Blais, Shaun Bowler, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Grofman, Bernard

Blais, André, 1947-

Bowler, Shaun, 1958-

Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

Series:

Studies in public choice

Studies in public choice, 0924-4700

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Duverger, Maurice, 1917-2014.

Duverger, Maurice.

Election law--Cross-cultural studies.

Election law.

Comparative government.

Political parties--Cross-cultural studies.

Political parties.

Voting--Cross-cultural studies.

Voting.

Canada--Politics and government.

Canada.

Politics and government.

India--Politics and government.

India.

Great Britain--Politics and government.

Great Britain.

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Genre:

Cross-cultural studies.

Physical Description:

viii, 165 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York ; London : Springer, 2008.

Summary:

Maurice Duverger is arguably the most distinguished French political scientist of the last century, but his major impact has been largely in the English-speaking world. His book, Political Parties, first translated into English in 1954, has influenced both the party politics literature (which continues to make use of his typology of party organization) and the electoral systems literature. His chief contributions there deal with what have come to be called in his honor Duverger's Law and Duverger's Hypothesis. The first argues that countries with the plurality rule will tend to become two-party systems; the second argues that countries using proportional representation (PR) will tend to become multi-party systems. Duverger also identifies specific mechanisms that will produce these effects, conventionally referred to as "mechanical effects" and "psychological effects."

However, while Duverger's Hypothesis concerning the link between PR and multipartism is now widely accepted, the empirical evidence that plurality voting results in two-party systems is remarkably weak-with the U.S. the most notable exception. The chapters in this volume consider national-level evidence about Duverger's law in the world's largest, longest-lived and most successful democracies of Britain, Canada, India and the United States. One set of chapters involves looking at the overall evidence for and against Duverger's Law in these countries; the other set deals with evidence about the mechanical and psychological effects predicted by Duverger. The result is an incisive analysis of electoral and party dynamics that will appeal to researchers, academics, students, policymakers, and policy watchers around the world.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Evidence for Duverger's Law from Four Countries / Bernard Grofman, Shaun Bowler, Andre Blais 1

2 Voting Strategically in Canada and Britain / Andre Blais, Eugenie Dostie-Goulet, Marc Andre Bodet 13

3 Neither Representative Nor Accountable: First-Past-the-Post in Britain / John Curtice 27

4 Strategic Voting in the USA / Barry C. Burden, Philip Edward Jones 47

5 Mechanical Effects of Duverger's Law in the USA / Michael P. McDonald 65

6 Canada: The Puzzle of Local Three-Party Competition / Richard Johnston, Fred Cutler 83

7 Party Inflation in India: Why Has a Multiparty Format Prevailed in the National Party System? / Csaba Nikolenyi 97

8 Does the United Kingdom Obey Duverger's Law? / Brian J. Gaines 115

9 The United States: A Case of Duvergerian Equilibrium / Shaun Bowler, Bernard Grofman, Andre Blais 135.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-158) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hazel M. Hussong Fund.

ISBN:

9780387097190

0387097198

OCLC:

233934128