Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Political Science
Advisor
Susan L. Woodward
Committee Members
John Bowman
Charles Tien
Subject Categories
Political Science
Keywords
electoral rules, new democracies, old democracies, institutional strength, informal institutions, context
Abstract
Comparative research on electoral systems has focused on the generalizability of the effects of electoral institutions, such as plurality rules in single member districts leading to two party systems. However, exceptions have been noted in new democracies. So, do electoral rules have the same effects across all democracies? Challenging the conventional wisdom that simply links electoral systems and their effects, I claim that whether a democracy is new or old does not systematically explain variations in party systems across all democracies. Instead, I argue that institutional strength, informal institutions, and context variables along with the traditional predictor variable, electoral systems explain the electoral systems, such as party system. Thus, new democracies may, but do not always, hold to generalizations like “Duverger’s Law”.
Recommended Citation
Chang, Helen, "Electoral System Effects: Institutions and Context or New and Old Democracies" (2017). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1889
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