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Electoral systems and party systems:

Electoral systems and party systems:. Some conclusions. Political Science Seminar Series. Enforcing NAFO Regulations: A European Union Perspective Michele Del Zompo Senior Coordinator of Control Operations with the (EU) Community Fisheries Control Agency 3:00 pm Friday, November 16th

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Electoral systems and party systems:

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  1. Electoral systems and party systems: Some conclusions

  2. Political Science Seminar Series Enforcing NAFO Regulations: A European Union Perspective Michele Del Zompo Senior Coordinator of ControlOperations with the (EU) Community Fisheries Control Agency 3:00 pm Friday, November 16th AA1045

  3. Research papers: PRELIMINARY OUTLINE Due Friday, November 16th This should lay out the argument of the paper in point form PAPERS DUE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH

  4. Electoral systems and party systems: Do electoral systems • either determine the number of parties (stronger version) OR • influence the number of parties (more muted, weaker version) • If so, in what way?

  5. Duverger’s law In its simplest form: • Single member plurality (SMP) > two party system • PR > multiparty system But is it valid?

  6. Possible solutions: • Consider the argument: • Is it logically consistent? • Does it take into account the likely behaviour of parties and/or voters? • Consider historical sequences: • which came first? • Look at the data – look for correlations And….

  7. Other factors Consider whether there are other factors which explain the number of parties • Cleavage structure • District magnitude • Formal legal or effective thresholds

  8. Some evidence There is a relationship between electoral laws and the number of political parties: • Countries using plurality systems (SNP) have fewer parties • Countries using majority systems (double ballot/runoff) have more • Countries using PR have more still more

  9. Some data using Laakso and Taagepura’s index, the effective number of parties • Effective number of parties – a weighted measure, according greater importance to larger parties • ENEP = effective number of electoral parties (parties competing in elections) • ENPP = effective number of parliamentary parties (parties winning seats in the legislature)

  10. Electoral systems and the effective number of parliamentary parties

  11. Some qualifications • SNP can lead to multiparty competition: Canada as a case in point • PR will not necessarily lead to an extensive number of parties, e.g. • Austria • Spain • Greece And…

  12. Changing the electoral law doesn’t always work:

  13. Germany • 5% threshold does reduce the number of parties FRG goes from • 11 to 7 to 3 parties in parliament (1950s) • 4 parties in parliament from 1983-1990 • 5 since them

  14. Italy: how to get it wrong • Through 1992: PR in large districts > extended multipartyism • Change to single member plurality for ¾ of the districts and PR for the remaining ¼ > • More parties & clustered multipartyism: competition between two blocs ___________________________________Ulive (9 parties) Casa del Liberta (3 parties)

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