Advertisement

Social Choice and Welfare

, 33:617 | Cite as

Liberal political equality implies proportional representation

  • Eliora van der Hout
  • Anthony J. McGann
Open Access
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

This article shows that for a single-vote electoral system for a representative body to treat all voters and all parties equally, it must produce results essentially identical to list proportional representation (PR). Democratic theory has often been agnostic concerning representative institutions. Different institutions have been compared in terms of behavioral outcomes rather than axiomatic properties. Building on van der Hout (Annual meeting of the Public Choice Society, San Diego, 2002) result, we show that for an electoral system to completely respect the principle of liberal political equality and popular sovereignty, its results must be equivalent to those of list PR.

Keywords

Electoral System Vote Rule Allocation Rule Vote Share Proportional Representation 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Download to read the full article text

Notes

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

References

  1. Aumann R, Maschler M (1985) Game theoretic analysis of a distribution problem from the Talmud. J Econ Theory 36: 195–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Austen-Smith D, Banks J (2005) Positive political theory II. University of Michigan Press, Ann ArborGoogle Scholar
  3. Balinski M, Young H (1982) Fair representation: meeting the ideal of one man, one vote. Brookings Institute, Washington, DCGoogle Scholar
  4. Banker R (1981) Equity considerations in traditional full cost allocation practices: an axiomatic approach. In: Moriarty S (eds) Joint cost allocations. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma CityGoogle Scholar
  5. Christiano T (1996) The rule of the many: fundamental issues in democratic theory. Westview Press, BoulderGoogle Scholar
  6. Farrell D (2001) Electoral systems: a comparative introduction. Palgrave, BasingstokeGoogle Scholar
  7. Hout E van der, de Swart H, ter Veer A (2002) Axioms characterizing the plurality ranking rule. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Public Choice Society, San Diego, March 22–24 (submitted)Google Scholar
  8. Independent Commission on the Voting System (1998) Report of the Independent Commission on the Voting System. The Stationary Office Cm 4090–1, LondonGoogle Scholar
  9. Katz R (1997) Democracy and elections. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  10. Lijphart A (1994) Electoral systems and party systems: a study of twenty-seven democracies, 1945–1990. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  11. May K (1952) A set of independent necessary and sufficient conditions for simple majority decision. Econometrica 20: 680–684CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. McLean I (1991) Forms of representation and voting systems. In: Held D (eds) Political theory today. Stanford University Press, Palo AltoGoogle Scholar
  13. Moulin H (2002) The proportional random allocation of indivisible units. Soc Choice Welf 19(2): 381–413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. O’Neill B (1982) A problem of rights allocation from the Talmud. Math Soc Sci 2: 345–371CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Pitkin H (1967) The concept of representation. University of California Press, BerkeleyGoogle Scholar
  16. Powell G (2000) Elections as instruments of democracy: majoritarian and proportional visions. Yale University Press, New HavenGoogle Scholar
  17. Rae D (1967) The political consequences of electoral laws. Yale University Press, New HavenGoogle Scholar
  18. Rogowski R (1981) Representation in political theory and in law. Ethics 91(3): 395–430CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Saari D (2003) Capturing the ‘Will of the People’. Ethics 113: 333–349CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Schumpeter J (1942) Capitalism, socialism and democracy. Harper, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  21. Still J (1981) Liberal political equality and election systems. Ethics 91(3): 375–394CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Taagepera R, Shugart M (1988) Seats and votes: the effects and determinants of electoral systems. Yale University Press, New HavenGoogle Scholar
  23. van Deemen AMA (1993) Paradoxes of voting in list systems of proportional representation. Elect Stud 12: 234–241CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Ward H (1995) A contractarian defense of ideal proportional representation. J Polit Philos 3(1): 86–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Young H (1974) An axiomatization of Borda’s rule. J Econ Theory 9: 43–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Young H (1995) Optimal voting rules. J Econ Perspect 9(1): 51–64Google Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Universiteit van TilburgTilburgThe Netherlands
  2. 2.Department of GovernmentUniversity of EssexColchesterUK
  3. 3.Department of Political ScienceUniversity of CaliforniaIrvineUSA

Personalised recommendations