Democracy and the Politics of Electoral System Choice: Engineering Electoral Dominance

242 Pages·2013·0.92 MB·English

by  Amel Ahmed

more information – www.cambridge.org/9781107031616

Democracy and the Politics of Electoral
System Choice
AmelAhmedbringsnewhistoricalevidenceandanoveltheoreticalframe-
work to bear on the study of democratization. Looking at the politics of
electoral system choice at the time of suffrage expansion among early
democratizers, she shows that the electoral systems used in advanced
democracies today were initially devised as exclusionary safeguards to
protect pre-democratic elites from the impact of democratization and,
particularly, the existential threat posed by working-class mobilization.
The ubiquitous use and enduring nature of these safeguards calls into
questionthefamiliarpictureofdemocracymovingalongapathofincreas-
ing inclusiveness. Instead, what emerges is a picture that is riddled with
ambiguity, where inclusionary democratic reforms combine with exclu-
sionary electoral safeguards to form a permanent part of the new demo-
craticorder.Thisbookhasimportantimplicationsforourunderstandingof
thedynamicsofdemocraticdevelopmentbothinearlydemocraciesandin
emergingdemocraciestoday.
amelahmedisAssistantProfessorofPoliticalScienceattheUniversityof
Massachusetts,Amherst.

Democracy and the
Politics of Electoral
System Choice
Engineering Electoral Dominance
amel ahmed
cambridge university press
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Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
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©AmelAhmed2013
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Firstpublished2013
PrintedandboundintheUnitedKingdombytheMPGBooksGroup
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Ahmed,Amel
Democracyandthepoliticsofelectoralsystemchoice:engineeringelectoraldominance/
AmelAhmed
p. cm
ISBN978-1-107-03161-6(hardback)
1. Democratization. 2. Democracy. 3. Elections. 4. Representativegovernment
andrepresentation. I. Title
JC423.A39 2012
320.6–dc23
2012021711
ISBN978-1-107-03161-6Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
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ForFaroukandEslahAhmed,myfirstteachersandmost
cherishedmentors.

Contents
Listoffigures pageviii
Listoftables ix
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction:contradictionsandambiguitiesof
democratization 1
2 Strategiesofcontainment:theroleofrepressionand
accommodation 33
3 Strategiesofcompetition:thelogicofelectoralsystem
choice,singlememberplurality(SMP)vs.proportional
representation(PR) 64
4 TheUnitedStates:pre-industrialdemocratizationand
theoriginsofSMP 89
5 TheUnitedKingdom:safeguardingtheReformActs
withSMP 117
6 France:thetumultuouspathofelectoralsystemchoice
intheThirdRepublic 139
7 Belgium:minimizingtheexistentialthreatwithPR 166
8 Conclusions:rethinkingdemocracy’sdeterminisms 183
Appendix:Theexistentialthreat–electoralviabilityand
ideologicalradicalism 196
Bibliography 206
Index 224
vii
Figures
1.1 Anticipatedresultsofelectionsunderdifferentvoting
systems page18
A.1 Timelineofelectoralviabilityofworkers’parties 197
viii