Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems

Author:

CUSACK THOMAS R.,IVERSEN TORBEN,SOSKICE DAVID

Abstract

The standard explanation for the choice of electoral institutions, building on Rokkan's seminal work, is that proportional representation (PR) was adopted by a divided right to defend its class interests against a rising left. But new evidence shows that PR strengthens the left and redistribution, and we argue the standard view is wrong historically, analytically, and empirically. We offer a radically different explanation. Integrating two opposed interpretations of PR—minimum winning coalitions versus consensus—we propose that the right adopted PR when their support for consensual regulatory frameworks, especially those of labor markets and skill formation where co-specific investments were important, outweighed their opposition to the redistributive consequences; this occurred in countries with previously densely organized local economies. In countries with adversarial industrial relations, and weak coordination of business and unions, keeping majoritarian institutions helped contain the left. This explains the close association between current varieties of capitalism and electoral institutions, and why they persist over time.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

Political Science and International Relations,Sociology and Political Science

Reference63 articles.

1. Colomer Josep .2006.Political Institutions: Democracy and Social Choice.Oxford:Oxford University Press.

2. Lipset Seymour M. , and Stein Rokkan. 1967.“Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An Introduction.”In Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives,ed. S. M. Lipset and S. Rokkan .New York:Free Press,1–64.

3. Powell G. Bingham .2006.“Election Laws and Representative Governments: Beyond Votes and Seats”British Journal of Political Science 36 (April):291–315.

4. Gallagher Michael .1991.“Proportionality, Disproportionality and Electoral Systems.”Electoral Studies 10 (March):33–51.

5. Carstairs Andrew McLaren .1980.A Short History of Electoral Systems in Western Europe.London:George Allen & Unwin.

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