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Using election returns, public opinion surveys, and legislative roll-call data from many mixed systems in every world region, the authors show that contamination systematically affects party strategy, voting behaviour, legislative cohesion and overall structure of partisan competition.
List of contents
A New Species of Electoral Institutions? Relative Causal Inference and the Study of Mixed Electoral Systems A Taxonomy of Mixed Electoral Systems The Logic of Contamination: District-Level Party Systems Going It Alone? Strategic Nominations in Mixed Electoral Systems Interactive Ballots: The Microfoundations of Contamination Voting from their Hearts? Contamination and Strategic Voting Eyeing the Future: Contamination and Legislative Behavior Better, Worse, or Just Different? Legislative Fractionalization in Mixed Systems Conclusion
About the author
FEDERICO FERRARA is a PhD Candidate at Harvard University, USA.
ERIK S. HERRON is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Kansas, USA.
MISA NISHIKAWA is Assistant Professor, Ball State University, USA.
Summary
Using election returns, public opinion surveys, and legislative roll-call data from many mixed systems in every world region, the authors show that contamination systematically affects party strategy, voting behaviour, legislative cohesion and overall structure of partisan competition.
Additional text
'Mixed Electoral Systems is the first cross-national study of the combined Single Member District and List Proportional Representation systems. The authors demonstrate that the mixed system is not uniform and its governance consequences are dependent upon several variables. This outstanding book concludes with a research agenda for scholars to pursue to improve our understanding of the functioning of the different varieties of mixed member systems employed by various nations.'
- Joseph F. Zimmerman, Rockefeller College, University at Albany
"This is a compelling case that the growth in mixed electoral systems represents the emergence of a new breed of electoral institutions. The detailed and comprehensive comparative examination is the state of the art in this emerging subfield of electoral systems research and sets a new standard for empirical research into institutional outcomes."
- Kenneth Benoit, Trinity College
