Paper #812

Título:

It's parties that choose electoral systems (or Duverger's Law upside down)

Autor:

Josep M. Colomer

Fecha:

Marzo 2005

Resumen:

This article presents, discusses and tests the hypothesis that it is the number of parties what can explain the choice of electoral systems, rather than the other way round. Already existing political parties tend to choose electoral systems that, rather than generate new party systems by themselves, will crystallize, consolidate or reinforce previously existing party configurations. A general model develops the argument and presents the concept of 'behavioral-institutional equilibrium' to account for the relation between electoral systems and party systems. The most comprehensive dataset and test of these notions to date, encompassing 219 elections in 87 countries since the 19th century, are presented. The analysis gives strong support to the hypotheses that political party configurations dominated by a few parties tend to establish majority rule electoral systems, while multiparty systems already existed before the introduction of proportional representation. It also offers the new theoretical proposition that strategic party choice of electoral systems leads to a general trend toward proportional representation over time.

Palabras clave:

Elections, electoral systems, political parties, institutional equilibrium

Códigos JEL:

H10, H79

Área de investigación:

História Económica y de la Empresa / Economía Laboral, Pública, de Desarrollo y de la Salud

Publicado en:

Political Studies, 53, 1, pp. 1-21, 2005

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