District Magnitude, Social Heterogeneity and Local Party System Fragmentation

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benny Geys
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Social Heterogeneity ◽  
Local Party

Wahlsystemreform in Deutschland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Matauschek
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Parallel Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
Representation Systems ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Alternative Vote

Is plurality or majority electoral reform a sensible option in Germany’s muddled electoral system debate? Yes, it is. Since Germany’s mixed-member proportional system fails to concentrate the party system in a sufficient way, Peggy Matauschek searches for a suitable alternative to the principle of proportional representation. She discusses the following options according to their contextual conditions: single-member plurality and majority electoral systems—like the alternative vote system—, parallel systems, proportional representation systems with a low district magnitude and majority bonus systems. In light of its balanced performance, the study advocates the introduction of a system with a majority bonus for a coalition.

The Local Party System in Poland

2021 ◽  
pp. 273-282
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Zychowicz
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Local Party

Nasjonale partier og lokale lister i kommunestyrevalgene 2015 og 2019

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
Dag Arne Christensen ◽  
Bjarte Folkestad ◽  
Jacob Aars
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Local Dimension ◽  
Municipal Council ◽  
Municipal Reform ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Local Party

The term local party systems suggests that party systems not only vary between municipalities, but that the systems also have a local dimension. This chapter is concerned with the balance between national parties and the local lists in municipal council elections in Norway. We also examine whether municipal amalgamation reform has changed the balance between these types of parties. Our analyses show that the correspondence between the party system in the parliament (“Stortinget”) and in the municipal councils is strong in Norwegian municipalities. One consequence of the municipal reform is that constituencies have become larger (on average), and more representatives are being elected to the municipal councils. By comparing merged and non-merged municipalities over two elections, we find that the reform has contributed to greater party diversity in the municipal councils. This applies both to the supply of lists that stand for election and the number of lists that are represented in the municipal councils. The municipal reform, on the other hand, does not seem to have contributed to greater party diversity in the form of more or fewer local lists.

scholarly journals Political finance regimes and party system size: evidence from new and established European democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48
Author(s):  
Ekaterina R. Rashkova ◽  
Yen-Pin Su
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
System Size ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Sociological Factors ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Campaign Expenditure ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
Established Democracies

AbstractStudies of party system size have looked at institutional and sociological factors in their attempt to explain what determines the number of parties. While some recent studies contend that party laws, beyond the district magnitude, have a significant impact on, among others, new party entry, we know very little about whether certain rules matter more in some societies than they do in others. In this paper, we study the extent to which various party finance rules affect party system size and differentiate the effect between new and established democracies. Specifically, we focus on direct and indirect public subsidization and limits on private donation and campaign expenditure. We hypothesize that compared to established countries, new democracies tend to have a larger party system size when the political finance rules create more equal conditions for electoral competition. Using data from 43 Europe democracies, the empirical analyses support our hypothesis.

Predicting Party Systems from Electoral Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rein Taagepera ◽  
Matthew Shugart
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Product Model ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Predictive Relationships ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
Quantities Of Interest

The Seat Product Model matters to electoral and party systems specialists in what it is able to predict, and to all political scientists as one example of how to predict. The seat product (MS) is the product of assembly size (S) and electoral district magnitude (M, number of seats allocated). Without any data input, thinking about conceptual lower and upper limits leads to a sequence of logically grounded models that apply to simple electoral systems. The resulting formulas allow for precise predictions about likely party system outputs, such as the number of parties, the size of the largest party, and other quantities of interest. The predictions are based entirely on institutional inputs. And when tested on real-world electoral data, these predictions are found to explain over 60% of the variance. This means that they provide a baseline expectation, against which actual countries and specific elections can be compared. To the broader political science audience, this research sends the following message: Interconnected quantitatively predictive relationships are a hallmark of developed science, but they are still rare in social sciences. These relationships can exist with regard to political phenomena if one is on the lookout for them. Logically founded predictions are stronger than merely empirical relationships or predictions of the direction of effects. Finally, isolated equations that connect various factors are nice, but equations that interconnect pack even more predictive punch. Political scientists should strive for connections among connections. This would lead to a more scientific political science.

scholarly journals The effects of district magnitude and social diversity on party system fragmentation in majoritarian systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-326
Author(s):  
Christopher D Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Social Diversity ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
National Model ◽  
National Models ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

Cross-national models of party system fragmentation hold that social diversity and district magnitude interact: higher levels of district magnitude allow for greater expression of social diversity that leads to higher levels of party system fragmentation. Most models, however, ignore differences between majoritarian and proportional electoral rules, which may significantly alter the impact of district magnitude, as well as the way in which district magnitude impacts the translation of social cleavages into party system fragmentation. Examining the case of Singapore suggests majoritarian multimember districts limit party system fragmentation, particularly by reducing the degree to which ethnic and religious diversity are translated into political parties. Applying these insights to a standard cross-national model of party system fragmentation, the results suggest that majoritarian multimember districts produce lower levels of party system fragmentation than proportional multimember districts.

scholarly journals The Vlaams Belang: A Mass Party of the 21st Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Sijstermans
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Organisation ◽  
Important Player ◽  
Social Media Tools ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Local Party

Throughout its 40-year history, the Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest) has established itself as an important player within the Belgian party system, albeit with significant electoral fluctuations. In 2019, it became the second largest party in Flanders. The party developed and maintained a mass-party organisation by investing significantly in local party branches and in a rigid vertically articulated structure. It relies heavily on social media, particularly Facebook, to communicate to supporters beyond the more limited group of party members. Using both modern and traditional tools, VB representatives aim to create communities of supporters bonded to the party, facilitating dissemination of the party’s messages. Despite this investment in a grassroots organisation, the VB’s decision-making remains highly centralised. Social media and local branches allow informal consideration of members’ views, but the party has not created significant mechanisms for internal democracy. While it is often claimed that political parties have moved away from the “mass-party” model, this article demonstrates that the VB still maintains characteristics of the mass party, albeit with a modern twist. New social media tools facilitate attempts to foster communities and disseminate party messages among a wider group of supporters, both formal members and more informal sympathisers.

scholarly journals South Carolina: Party Development in the Palmetto State

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Robert P. Steed ◽  
Laurence W. Moreland
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Southern States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Party Development ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
Partisan Realignment ◽  
Local Party

Paralleling developments in other southern states over the past three to four decades, South Carolina’s political system has undergone dramatic change. One of the more significant components of this change has been the partisan realignment from a one-party system dominated by the Democrats to a competitive two-party system in which Republicans have come to hold the upper hand. This increased electoral competitiveness has been accompanied by an increased organizational effort by both parties in the state. An examination of local party activists in 2001 points to a continuation of this pattern over the past ten years. In comparison with data from the 1991 Southern Grassroots Party Activists Survey, the 2001 data show the following: (1) the Republican Party has sustained its electoral and organizational gains of recent years; (2) the parties continue to attract activists who differ across party lines on a number of important demographic and socioeconomic variables; (3) there has been a continued sorting of political orientations and cues marked by sharply different inter-party ideological and issue positions; (4) the Democratic Party has become more ideologically homogeneous and more in line with the national party than previously; and (5) since 1991 perceptions of factionalism have declined in both parties, but still remain higher among Democrats than among Republicans.

District Magnitude, Economic Performance, and Party-System Fragmentation in Five Latin American Countries

1997 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL COPPEDGE
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Party System ◽  
Initial Level ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Simultaneous Equations ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Effective Number Of Parties ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Country Specific

This article makes a fresh start in the attempt to explain the number of parties in party systems. It develops a simultaneous equations model to differentiate between the psychological and mechanical effects of district magnitude on party-system fragmentation. Both effects are statistically significant and approximately equal. However, neither effect is very large in comparison to underlying patterns of politicization, which are argued to be reflections of the number of political cleavages in society. These cleavages predispose each party system to converge toward a country-specific effective number of parties within 5 elections, regardless of the initial level of fragmentation, barring outside disturbances. Major devaluations may act as such disturbances, but the evidence so far is inconclusive. The analysis is based on new data from 62 elections in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela, supplemented by 30+ additional elections in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Uruguay for the exploration of economic impacts.

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