Michael Gallagher is Professor of Comparative Politics at Trinity College, University of Dublin. He has also been a visiting Professor at New York University and at City University of Hong Kong. His research has covered various aspects of elections, electoral systems and political parties in a comparative context.Paul Mitchell: Graduated with a PhD in political science from the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. After teaching at University College Galway and Queen's University Belfast, he joined the LSE in 2000 where he teaches party competition and research methods. During 2000/01 Mitchell was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Harvard University. He is currently working on an ESRC funded study of the 2003 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

• Foreword ; PART 1: INTRODUCTION: ELECTORAL SYSTEMS AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH ; 1. Introduction to Electoral Systems ; 2. Comparative Electoral Systems Research: The Maturation of a Field and New Challenges Ahead ; 3. Why are There so many (or so few) Electoral Reforms? ; PART 2: SINGLE-MEMBER CONSTITUENCY SYSTEMS ; 4. Australia: The Alternative vote in a Compliant Political Culture ; 5. Canada: Sticking to First-past-the-Post, for the Time Being ; 6. France: Stacking the Deck ; 7. India: Two-Party Contests Within a Multi-Party System ; 8. United Kingdom: Plurality Rule Under Siege ; 9. United States of America: Perpetual Campaigning in the Absence of Competition ; PART 3: MIXED SYSTEMS ; 10. Germany: Stability and Strategy in a Mixed-Member Proportional System ; 11. Hungary: Holding Back the Tiers ; 12. Italy: A Case of Fragmented Bipolarism ; 13. Japan: Haltingly Toward a Two-Party System ; 14. New Zealand: The Consolidation of Reform? ; 15. Russia: The Authoritarian Adaptation of an Electoral System ; PART 4: CLOSED LIST SYSTEMS ; 16. Israel: The Politics of Extreme Proportionality ; 17. South Africa: One Party Dominance Despite Perfect Proportionality ; 18. Spain: Proportional Representation with Majoritarian Outcomes ; PART 5: PREFERENTIAL LIST SYSTEMS AND PR-STV ; 19. Austria: A Complex Electoral System with Subtle Effects ; 20. Belgium: Empowering Voters or Party Elites? ; 21. Chile: The Unexpected (and Expected) Consequences of Electoral Engineering ; 22. Denmark: Simplicity Embedded in Complexity (or Is it the Other Way Round?) ; 23. Finland: One Hundred Years of Quietude ; 24. The Netherlands: The Sanctity of Proportionality ; 25. Ireland: The Discreet Charm of PR-STV ; PART 6: CONCLUSION ; 26. Conclusion ; Appendix A - The Mechanics of Electoral Systems ; Appendix B - Indices of Fragmentation and Disproportionality ; Appendix C: Effective Threshold and Effective District Magnitude ; Appendix D: Values of Indices for 22 Countries at Most Recent Election ; Appendix E: Web Sites Related to Elections, Election Results, and Electoral Systems

Review from previous edition It is a treasure trove of information about electoral systems and comprehensively examines how votes get translated into seats across the democratic world

Michael Gallagher is Professor of Comparative Politics at Trinity College, University of Dublin. He has also been a visiting Professor at New York University and at City University of Hong Kong. His research has covered various aspects of elections, electoral systems and political parties in a comparative context.Paul Mitchell: Graduated with a PhD in political science from the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. After teaching at University College Galway and Queen's University Belfast, he joined the LSE in 2000 where he teaches party competition and research methods. During 2000/01 Mitchell was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Harvard University. He is currently working on an ESRC funded study of the 2003 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

• Foreword ; PART 1: INTRODUCTION: ELECTORAL SYSTEMS AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH ; 1. Introduction to Electoral Systems ; 2. Comparative Electoral Systems Research: The Maturation of a Field and New Challenges Ahead ; 3. Why are There so many (or so few) Electoral Reforms? ; PART 2: SINGLE-MEMBER CONSTITUENCY SYSTEMS ; 4. Australia: The Alternative vote in a Compliant Political Culture ; 5. Canada: Sticking to First-past-the-Post, for the Time Being ; 6. France: Stacking the Deck ; 7. India: Two-Party Contests Within a Multi-Party System ; 8. United Kingdom: Plurality Rule Under Siege ; 9. United States of America: Perpetual Campaigning in the Absence of Competition ; PART 3: MIXED SYSTEMS ; 10. Germany: Stability and Strategy in a Mixed-Member Proportional System ; 11. Hungary: Holding Back the Tiers ; 12. Italy: A Case of Fragmented Bipolarism ; 13. Japan: Haltingly Toward a Two-Party System ; 14. New Zealand: The Consolidation of Reform? ; 15. Russia: The Authoritarian Adaptation of an Electoral System ; PART 4: CLOSED LIST SYSTEMS ; 16. Israel: The Politics of Extreme Proportionality ; 17. South Africa: One Party Dominance Despite Perfect Proportionality ; 18. Spain: Proportional Representation with Majoritarian Outcomes ; PART 5: PREFERENTIAL LIST SYSTEMS AND PR-STV ; 19. Austria: A Complex Electoral System with Subtle Effects ; 20. Belgium: Empowering Voters or Party Elites? ; 21. Chile: The Unexpected (and Expected) Consequences of Electoral Engineering ; 22. Denmark: Simplicity Embedded in Complexity (or Is it the Other Way Round?) ; 23. Finland: One Hundred Years of Quietude ; 24. The Netherlands: The Sanctity of Proportionality ; 25. Ireland: The Discreet Charm of PR-STV ; PART 6: CONCLUSION ; 26. Conclusion ; Appendix A - The Mechanics of Electoral Systems ; Appendix B - Indices of Fragmentation and Disproportionality ; Appendix C: Effective Threshold and Effective District Magnitude ; Appendix D: Values of Indices for 22 Countries at Most Recent Election ; Appendix E: Web Sites Related to Elections, Election Results, and Electoral Systems

Review from previous edition It is a treasure trove of information about electoral systems and comprehensively examines how votes get translated into seats across the democratic world

Michael Gallagher is Professor of Comparative Politics at Trinity College, University of Dublin. He has also been a visiting Professor at New York University and at City University of Hong Kong. His research has covered various aspects of elections, electoral systems and political parties in a comparative context.Paul Mitchell: Graduated with a PhD in political science from the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. After teaching at University College Galway and Queen's University Belfast, he joined the LSE in 2000 where he teaches party competition and research methods. During 2000/01 Mitchell was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Harvard University. He is currently working on an ESRC funded study of the 2003 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

• Foreword ; PART 1: INTRODUCTION: ELECTORAL SYSTEMS AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH ; 1. Introduction to Electoral Systems ; 2. Comparative Electoral Systems Research: The Maturation of a Field and New Challenges Ahead ; 3. Why are There so many (or so few) Electoral Reforms? ; PART 2: SINGLE-MEMBER CONSTITUENCY SYSTEMS ; 4. Australia: The Alternative vote in a Compliant Political Culture ; 5. Canada: Sticking to First-past-the-Post, for the Time Being ; 6. France: Stacking the Deck ; 7. India: Two-Party Contests Within a Multi-Party System ; 8. United Kingdom: Plurality Rule Under Siege ; 9. United States of America: Perpetual Campaigning in the Absence of Competition ; PART 3: MIXED SYSTEMS ; 10. Germany: Stability and Strategy in a Mixed-Member Proportional System ; 11. Hungary: Holding Back the Tiers ; 12. Italy: A Case of Fragmented Bipolarism ; 13. Japan: Haltingly Toward a Two-Party System ; 14. New Zealand: The Consolidation of Reform? ; 15. Russia: The Authoritarian Adaptation of an Electoral System ; PART 4: CLOSED LIST SYSTEMS ; 16. Israel: The Politics of Extreme Proportionality ; 17. South Africa: One Party Dominance Despite Perfect Proportionality ; 18. Spain: Proportional Representation with Majoritarian Outcomes ; PART 5: PREFERENTIAL LIST SYSTEMS AND PR-STV ; 19. Austria: A Complex Electoral System with Subtle Effects ; 20. Belgium: Empowering Voters or Party Elites? ; 21. Chile: The Unexpected (and Expected) Consequences of Electoral Engineering ; 22. Denmark: Simplicity Embedded in Complexity (or Is it the Other Way Round?) ; 23. Finland: One Hundred Years of Quietude ; 24. The Netherlands: The Sanctity of Proportionality ; 25. Ireland: The Discreet Charm of PR-STV ; PART 6: CONCLUSION ; 26. Conclusion ; Appendix A - The Mechanics of Electoral Systems ; Appendix B - Indices of Fragmentation and Disproportionality ; Appendix C: Effective Threshold and Effective District Magnitude ; Appendix D: Values of Indices for 22 Countries at Most Recent Election ; Appendix E: Web Sites Related to Elections, Election Results, and Electoral Systems

Review from previous edition It is a treasure trove of information about electoral systems and comprehensively examines how votes get translated into seats across the democratic world