Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
9-2004
Abstract
Electoral systems are commonly treated as exogenous determinants of political party systems, yet our theoretical understanding remains limited as to how these institutions themselves are determined. Part of the problem lies with the subject matter itself: electoral system change is frequently idiosyncratic, often occurring during episodes of exceptional political change. Yet another aspect of the problem is that explanations of electoral system change frequently occur piecemeal in application to specific cases, without systematic or comparative development. Addressing both problems, I first survey the existing literature to develop a comprehensive typology of explanations of electoral system change and persistence. I then set forth a theory predicting the conditions under which electoral systems should change, linking motivations for institutional change to instrumentally rational political parties seeking to maximize their legislative seat shares. The theory predicts that electoral laws will change when a coalition of parties exists such that each party in the coalition expects to gain more seats under an alternative electoral institution, and that also has sufficient power to effect this alternative through fiat given the rules for changing electoral laws. To contrast this model to other explanations of electoral system change, I point to its observable implications and outline how it could be confirmed or disconfirmed in empirical research. The comparison also highlights limitations in other approaches to explaining electoral system change, and underscores the importance of institutions in inducing equilibriums in both electoral systems and party systems.
Keywords
Electoral systems, Institutional change, Institutional origins
Discipline
Election Law | Political Science
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Electoral Studies: An International Journal on Voting and Electoral Systems and Strategy
Volume
23
Issue
3
First Page
363
Last Page
389
ISSN
0261-3794
Identifier
10.1016/S0261-3794(03)00020-9
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
BENOIT, Kenneth.(2004). Models of electoral system change. Electoral Studies: An International Journal on Voting and Electoral Systems and Strategy, 23(3), 363-389.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4047
Copyright Owner and License
Publisher
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-3794(03)00020-9