Matthew S Shugart
Biographic Data
| ID | 3628451 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew S Shugart |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew S |
| FAMILY NAME | Shugart |
| SIGNATURE | SHUGART M S |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 1 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 41 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Portfolio-Maximizing Strategic Voting in Parliamentary Elections
This chapter reviews work on portfolio-maximizing strategic voting in parliamentary systems. It first offers a typology of strategies, sorting them into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories. This helps organize the literature and identify gaps. It then considers the equilibrium levels of portfolio-maximizing voting. Taking a game-theoretic perspective (where most of the literature takes a decision-theoretic approach) helps cl…
Electoral Systems and Electoral Integrity
Do formal electoral systems determine how far contests meet international standards of electoral integrity? This question touches on some classic debates in the literature seeking to understand the reasons underlying electoral reforms and the effects of these changes. To examine these issues, the first part of this chapter develops the conceptual framework to unpack the meaning of electoral integrity. The second part builds upon this understandin…
Reconciling Approaches in the Study of Mixed-Member Electoral Systems
The diffusion of mixed-member electoral systems over the last three decades has prompted extensive scholarly attention to their consequences. One approach, labeled controlled comparison, emphasizes how the juxtaposition of two different election rules allows scholars to assess the implications of Duverger’s propositions. Another approach, labeled contamination effects, emphasizes how the simultaneous use of two different election rules creates in…
Electoral Systems in Context
The system used for Japan’s House of Representatives (Shugiin, or HoR) was changed in the mid-1990s from hyperpersonalistic single nontransferable voting (SNTV) to mixed-member majoritarian (MMM). The reform was expected to bring about a move toward two-party competition, party-centered campaigning, and party centralization. Evidence generally supports the theoretically expected consequences of the electoral reform. However, the electoral system …
Electoral Systems and Ethnic Minority Representation
Every democratic process short of unanimity produces opinion minorities. Political divisions along anchored demographic characteristics like language, religion, race, or ethnicity challenge pluralist models of governance by threatening to entrench the exclusion of minority groups from political power. Especially when attuned to ethnic geography, electoral engineering through manipulation of the electoral system and other rules governing the elect…
Electoral Systems and Constituency Service
Constituency service, addressing the nonpolicy grievances of constituents or looking out for their nonpolicy interests, provides legislators an opportunity to enhance their personal reputations. Electoral incentives are the primary explanation suggested for the amount of constituency service carried out by representatives. Variation in electoral rules, such as ballot type and district magnitude, can increase personal vote-seeking incentives, incr…
Electoral Systems and Campaign Finance
Studies that emphasize the importance of legislative electoral systems for campaign finance mostly fit into one of two groups. One literature identifies consequences of electoral systems that foster intraparty competition, including high levels of campaign spending and campaign finance–motivated pork, particularism, and political corruption. The second literature studies “spending effects” (i.e., vote-share gains per unit of expenditure), especia…
Electoral Systems in Context
Italy stands out among advanced industrialized democracies because of its frequency of major electoral reforms. In the postwar period, Italy has experienced four major electoral systems: the proportional representation (PR) system of the First Republic (1948–1992), mixed-member majoritarian (MMM, 1993–2005), and two varieties of PR with majority bonus (2005–2015, 2015–). In addition, there have been many failed attempts at electoral reform throug…
Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout
What is the relationship between electoral rules and voter turnout? To answer this question, this chapter begins with the more general question of why voters turn out on Election Day at all. The chapter then reviews the main theoretical arguments and empirical evidence of how electoral rules affect voters’ turnout decisions, as well as the puzzles that have emerged from that literature. It then highlights some recent theoretical, methodological, …
Electoral Systems in Context
South Africa’s post-apartheid election outcomes demonstrate how contextual factors interact with electoral rules to shape party systems. South Africa’s national electoral system represents one of the most permissive in the world, combining parliamentary rules with an extreme form of proportional representation. These rules were selected to encourage broad representation of parties in the National Assembly. However, South Africa’s party system con…
Electoral Systems in Context
Overall, elections in France take place in a two-round system (with the exception of the European elections), and although each different electoral arena has its own particular procedures, most promote majoritarian principles. This chapter analyzes the electoral system of the French Fifth Republic by focusing on the operation of these rules in the larger political context: including the interaction between the rules, the party system, and the mai…
Electoral System Design in New Democracies
Elections in the wake of dramatic transitions from authoritarian regimes to democracy may confront voters with choices that are unattractive or bewildering, or both. This chapter examines the conditions that produce tractable sets of party options for voters, presents cross-national data on the choice sets and competitiveness in elections after dramatic transitions, and examines how the electoral formula used in proportional elections can affect …
Presidential and Legislative Elections
Over a hundred countries have popularly elected presidents. Within a democratic context, presidential and legislative elections have a profound impact on politics and government in a country. Systems of government with democratically elected presidents fall into two broad regime-type categories: pure presidential and semipresidential. Presidential systems vary in terms of the length of the president’s term, the rules determining how the winner of…
Electoral Systems in Context
This chapter, which focuses on the Israeli electoral system as a prototype of an extreme PR system, has five main sections. First, it uses the 2015 election results to analyze the properties of the electoral system and the nature of its outputs. Second, it reviews the three prominent features of the Israeli electoral system and their origins: its PR electoral formula, its nationwide electoral district, and its closed party lists. Third, it examin…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Finnish electoral system combines open-list proportional representation (OLPR) and mandatory preferential voting. OLPR provides the Finnish electoral system with a high degree of intra- and interparty competition. The inherent duality of the system has a multitude of effects on how elections are played out at different levels. The chapter provides a thorough presentation of the basic features of the electoral system and discusses its conseque…
Electoral Systems and Roles in the Legislative Arena
Do electoral systems impact the roles that elected representatives play in the legislative arena? Despite the concept’s long pedigree in legislative studies, evidence of an association between the electoral institutions and the role orientations adopted by legislators is hard to come by. After detailing what are roles in the legislative arena and reviewing the state of the literature, we explore three possible reasons—critically re-examining the …
Party System Effects on Electoral Systems
A long tradition of empirical studies has focused on the consequences of electoral systems on party systems. A number of contributions have turned this relationship upside down by postulating that it is the parties that choose electoral systems and manipulate the rules of elections. The most remote shaping of innovative electoral rules, the choice of electoral systems in new democracies, and further electoral reforms in well-established regimes c…
Electoral Systems in Context
The United Kingdom is well known for the single-member plurality or, more colloquially, the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system. Devolution of power in the late twentieth century, however, introduced new bodies and positions with new electoral systems, with the total reaching six. These consisted of three majoritarian systems (FPTP, multiple nontransferable vote, and supplementary vote) and three proportional systems (single transferable …
Electoral Systems in Context
This chapter examines the consolidation of New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system since the first MMP election in 1996. It has three sections: the first examines whether the change to MMP has achieved the goals of electoral reformers or confirmed the fears of its opponents; the second draws on longer-term historical analysis to assess the fit between the MMP system and the cleavage structure of New Zealand’s electoral poli…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Netherlands has one of the most proportional electoral systems in the world. This chapter details the origins, functioning, and effects of the Dutch electoral system. After providing the historical background of the electoral system, the chapter discusses the allocation of seats both to parties and to candidates and gives practical examples. Afterward, the chapter outlines the effects of the electoral system on the party system, the parties t…
Electoral Systems in Context
Australia is often characterized as “a democratic laboratory,” where a wide variety of electoral systems have been designed and implemented. Australia gave the world “the Australian ballot” (or secret ballot), and it is one of the few countries to operate an enforced system of compulsory voting. This chapter examines the evolution of the electoral systems in the lower House of Representatives and in the upper house, the Senate. Particular attenti…
Electoral Systems and Citizen-Elite Ideological Congruence
Electoral rules play an important role in determining citizen-elite ideological congruence. This is because they influence each stage of the representation process as one moves from citizen preferences to policy outcomes. Electoral rules directly affect ideological congruence due to the way they shape citizen preferences and the composition of party systems, legislatures, and governments. Electoral rules can also have an indirect effect on ideolo…
Direct Democracy and Referendums
This chapter outlines the history of the use of the referendum and outlines why politicians have resorted to using referendums. While referendums may be justified on the grounds that they provide legitimacy to controversial decisions, the empirical and statistical evidence suggests that referendums are generally held due to political expediency. Looking at the practical conduct of referendums, this chapter suggests that those in office tend to lo…
Electoral Systems and Issue Polarization
This chapter reviews theoretical and empirical research pertaining to the question: How do electoral systems influence parties’ programmatic incentives, that is, the policy positions party elites present to the public? More specifically, it discusses whether electoral systems influence the diversity of party policy positions, measured via the degree of party system polarization. It emphasizes electoral laws’ permissiveness or proportionality, def…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Republic of Ireland is unusual in using the single transferable vote to elect its national parliament. The system allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, and those lower preferences are used to allocate seats when a count of first preferences shows that candidates have no overall majority or, in multiseat elections, do not reach a set quota. The party system showed little fragmentation until recently, and proportionality has …
No prominent works on this page.
Portfolio-Maximizing Strategic Voting in Parliamentary Elections
This chapter reviews work on portfolio-maximizing strategic voting in parliamentary systems. It first offers a typology of strategies, sorting them into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories. This helps organize the literature and identify gaps. It then considers the equilibrium levels of portfolio-maximizing voting. Taking a game-theoretic perspective (where most of the literature takes a decision-theoretic approach) helps cl…
Electoral Systems and Electoral Integrity
Do formal electoral systems determine how far contests meet international standards of electoral integrity? This question touches on some classic debates in the literature seeking to understand the reasons underlying electoral reforms and the effects of these changes. To examine these issues, the first part of this chapter develops the conceptual framework to unpack the meaning of electoral integrity. The second part builds upon this understandin…
Reconciling Approaches in the Study of Mixed-Member Electoral Systems
The diffusion of mixed-member electoral systems over the last three decades has prompted extensive scholarly attention to their consequences. One approach, labeled controlled comparison, emphasizes how the juxtaposition of two different election rules allows scholars to assess the implications of Duverger’s propositions. Another approach, labeled contamination effects, emphasizes how the simultaneous use of two different election rules creates in…
Electoral Systems in Context
The system used for Japan’s House of Representatives (Shugiin, or HoR) was changed in the mid-1990s from hyperpersonalistic single nontransferable voting (SNTV) to mixed-member majoritarian (MMM). The reform was expected to bring about a move toward two-party competition, party-centered campaigning, and party centralization. Evidence generally supports the theoretically expected consequences of the electoral reform. However, the electoral system …
Electoral Systems and Ethnic Minority Representation
Every democratic process short of unanimity produces opinion minorities. Political divisions along anchored demographic characteristics like language, religion, race, or ethnicity challenge pluralist models of governance by threatening to entrench the exclusion of minority groups from political power. Especially when attuned to ethnic geography, electoral engineering through manipulation of the electoral system and other rules governing the elect…
Electoral Systems and Constituency Service
Constituency service, addressing the nonpolicy grievances of constituents or looking out for their nonpolicy interests, provides legislators an opportunity to enhance their personal reputations. Electoral incentives are the primary explanation suggested for the amount of constituency service carried out by representatives. Variation in electoral rules, such as ballot type and district magnitude, can increase personal vote-seeking incentives, incr…
Electoral Systems and Campaign Finance
Studies that emphasize the importance of legislative electoral systems for campaign finance mostly fit into one of two groups. One literature identifies consequences of electoral systems that foster intraparty competition, including high levels of campaign spending and campaign finance–motivated pork, particularism, and political corruption. The second literature studies “spending effects” (i.e., vote-share gains per unit of expenditure), especia…
Electoral Systems in Context
Italy stands out among advanced industrialized democracies because of its frequency of major electoral reforms. In the postwar period, Italy has experienced four major electoral systems: the proportional representation (PR) system of the First Republic (1948–1992), mixed-member majoritarian (MMM, 1993–2005), and two varieties of PR with majority bonus (2005–2015, 2015–). In addition, there have been many failed attempts at electoral reform throug…
Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout
What is the relationship between electoral rules and voter turnout? To answer this question, this chapter begins with the more general question of why voters turn out on Election Day at all. The chapter then reviews the main theoretical arguments and empirical evidence of how electoral rules affect voters’ turnout decisions, as well as the puzzles that have emerged from that literature. It then highlights some recent theoretical, methodological, …
Electoral Systems in Context
South Africa’s post-apartheid election outcomes demonstrate how contextual factors interact with electoral rules to shape party systems. South Africa’s national electoral system represents one of the most permissive in the world, combining parliamentary rules with an extreme form of proportional representation. These rules were selected to encourage broad representation of parties in the National Assembly. However, South Africa’s party system con…
Electoral Systems in Context
Overall, elections in France take place in a two-round system (with the exception of the European elections), and although each different electoral arena has its own particular procedures, most promote majoritarian principles. This chapter analyzes the electoral system of the French Fifth Republic by focusing on the operation of these rules in the larger political context: including the interaction between the rules, the party system, and the mai…
Electoral System Design in New Democracies
Elections in the wake of dramatic transitions from authoritarian regimes to democracy may confront voters with choices that are unattractive or bewildering, or both. This chapter examines the conditions that produce tractable sets of party options for voters, presents cross-national data on the choice sets and competitiveness in elections after dramatic transitions, and examines how the electoral formula used in proportional elections can affect …
Presidential and Legislative Elections
Over a hundred countries have popularly elected presidents. Within a democratic context, presidential and legislative elections have a profound impact on politics and government in a country. Systems of government with democratically elected presidents fall into two broad regime-type categories: pure presidential and semipresidential. Presidential systems vary in terms of the length of the president’s term, the rules determining how the winner of…
Electoral Systems in Context
This chapter, which focuses on the Israeli electoral system as a prototype of an extreme PR system, has five main sections. First, it uses the 2015 election results to analyze the properties of the electoral system and the nature of its outputs. Second, it reviews the three prominent features of the Israeli electoral system and their origins: its PR electoral formula, its nationwide electoral district, and its closed party lists. Third, it examin…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Finnish electoral system combines open-list proportional representation (OLPR) and mandatory preferential voting. OLPR provides the Finnish electoral system with a high degree of intra- and interparty competition. The inherent duality of the system has a multitude of effects on how elections are played out at different levels. The chapter provides a thorough presentation of the basic features of the electoral system and discusses its conseque…
Electoral Systems and Roles in the Legislative Arena
Do electoral systems impact the roles that elected representatives play in the legislative arena? Despite the concept’s long pedigree in legislative studies, evidence of an association between the electoral institutions and the role orientations adopted by legislators is hard to come by. After detailing what are roles in the legislative arena and reviewing the state of the literature, we explore three possible reasons—critically re-examining the …
Party System Effects on Electoral Systems
A long tradition of empirical studies has focused on the consequences of electoral systems on party systems. A number of contributions have turned this relationship upside down by postulating that it is the parties that choose electoral systems and manipulate the rules of elections. The most remote shaping of innovative electoral rules, the choice of electoral systems in new democracies, and further electoral reforms in well-established regimes c…
Electoral Systems in Context
The United Kingdom is well known for the single-member plurality or, more colloquially, the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system. Devolution of power in the late twentieth century, however, introduced new bodies and positions with new electoral systems, with the total reaching six. These consisted of three majoritarian systems (FPTP, multiple nontransferable vote, and supplementary vote) and three proportional systems (single transferable …
Electoral Systems in Context
This chapter examines the consolidation of New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system since the first MMP election in 1996. It has three sections: the first examines whether the change to MMP has achieved the goals of electoral reformers or confirmed the fears of its opponents; the second draws on longer-term historical analysis to assess the fit between the MMP system and the cleavage structure of New Zealand’s electoral poli…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Netherlands has one of the most proportional electoral systems in the world. This chapter details the origins, functioning, and effects of the Dutch electoral system. After providing the historical background of the electoral system, the chapter discusses the allocation of seats both to parties and to candidates and gives practical examples. Afterward, the chapter outlines the effects of the electoral system on the party system, the parties t…
Electoral Systems in Context
Australia is often characterized as “a democratic laboratory,” where a wide variety of electoral systems have been designed and implemented. Australia gave the world “the Australian ballot” (or secret ballot), and it is one of the few countries to operate an enforced system of compulsory voting. This chapter examines the evolution of the electoral systems in the lower House of Representatives and in the upper house, the Senate. Particular attenti…
Electoral Systems and Citizen-Elite Ideological Congruence
Electoral rules play an important role in determining citizen-elite ideological congruence. This is because they influence each stage of the representation process as one moves from citizen preferences to policy outcomes. Electoral rules directly affect ideological congruence due to the way they shape citizen preferences and the composition of party systems, legislatures, and governments. Electoral rules can also have an indirect effect on ideolo…
Direct Democracy and Referendums
This chapter outlines the history of the use of the referendum and outlines why politicians have resorted to using referendums. While referendums may be justified on the grounds that they provide legitimacy to controversial decisions, the empirical and statistical evidence suggests that referendums are generally held due to political expediency. Looking at the practical conduct of referendums, this chapter suggests that those in office tend to lo…
Electoral Systems and Issue Polarization
This chapter reviews theoretical and empirical research pertaining to the question: How do electoral systems influence parties’ programmatic incentives, that is, the policy positions party elites present to the public? More specifically, it discusses whether electoral systems influence the diversity of party policy positions, measured via the degree of party system polarization. It emphasizes electoral laws’ permissiveness or proportionality, def…
Electoral Systems in Context
The Republic of Ireland is unusual in using the single transferable vote to elect its national parliament. The system allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, and those lower preferences are used to allocate seats when a count of first preferences shows that candidates have no overall majority or, in multiseat elections, do not reach a set quota. The party system showed little fragmentation until recently, and proportionality has …
Political science (41 works) · Law (40 works) · Politics (40 works) · Democracy (33 works) · Economics (31 works) · Electoral system (31 works) · Political economy (28 works) · Context (archaeology) (20 works) · Geography (20 works) · Public Administration (18 works)