Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-Seven Democracies, 1945-1990

The most fundamental element of representative democracy is the electoral system—translating citizens' votes into representatives' seats. Electoral systems are also the most practical and accessible instrument available to democratic reformers. This systematic and comprehensive study describes and classifies 70 electoral systems used by 27 democracies including those of Western Europe, the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Japan, and New Zealand. Using comparative a…