Electoral fraud is less common in proportional representation systems than it is in plurality systems
What impact does the electoral system in use have on levels of electoral quality and fraud? Fabrice Lehoucq and Kiril Kolev share research which shows that plurality electoral systems lead to more ballot rigging than do proportional systems, that plurality systems are associated with inferior election quality in the Quality of Elections Database, and that electoral […]
Britain’s EU membership will now be the subject of several years of negotiation and debate
Last week’s election of a Conservative majority government paves the way for a referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union. Anthony Salamone outlines some of the challenges ahead for the upcoming renegotiation and referendum. Similar PostsWhat did ITV’s EU referendum debate say about the role of women in the campaign?A British exit would harm […]
How do nationalist parties reform their organisational profiles? The cases of Plaid Cymru and the SNP compared
The SNP swept Scotland’s electoral map at the General Election, winning almost all of the Westminster seats on offer. But what of its organisation? Craig McAngus argues that ‘stateless-nationalist-regionalist’ parties like the SNP and Plaid Cymru have, in response to the introduction of devolved assemblies and the incentive of power, become more ‘normal’ in organisational […]
Book Review: Elites: A General Model
Elites: A General Model applies looks at three distinctly different societies – ancient India, Classical Athens, and the contemporary United States and analyses each societies’ politicians and propagandists, landowners and capitalists, national heroes and celebrities, ordinary folks and outcasts. Marion Koob reviews. Elites: A General Model. Murray Milner, Jr. Polity. November 2014. Whatever their epoch, elites fascinate. […]
The Smith Commission, federalism, or independence: Can the Union survive the election?
Not only could federalism work for Britain, it may be the only constitutional system which can now hold the country together. The real obstacle is that such a solution does not appear to be in the political interests of either of the two solitudes which ‘won’ the election, writes Stephen Tierney. Similar PostsThe Scottish Government’s […]
Cameron’s post-election reshuffle: a historical perspective
Following his return to Downing Street at the head of a majority Conservative government, Cameron had no choice but to conduct another wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle. Elections represent obvious punctuations in government, and post-election reshuffles are a chance to inject fresh blood and new energy into Whitehall. In this article, Nicholas Allen looks at reshuffles from a historical perspective. Similar PostsWho will succeed […]
The Finns Party and UKIP have shared a similar journey from the outside to the mainstream
UKIP finished second in hundreds of seats in the UK’s General Election, though only managed to claim one MP. The Finns Party, a UKIP-like populist party in Finland, are set to enter government. Mari Niemi, a keen observer of UK and Finnish politics, charts the assent of these two outsider parties seeking to simultaneously join […]
The new government’s constitutional reform agenda – and its challenges
Following the surprise election of a Conservative government with a small majority, Meg Russell and Robert Hazell offer an overview of the constitutional reforms which are likely to be prioritised and the associated difficulties that may arise. Similar PostsHow democratic is the House of Commons? How effectively does it control the UK government and represent citizens?How […]
The next step for local government should be the right to pass primary legislation
Councillors are currently limited in how much influence they are able to have over their local area, locked in local governance networks in which they feature but don’t control. Assessing these networks and their democratic credentials, Colin Copus concludes that the right to pass primary legislation, over for example the legal drinking age or fox hunting, […]
The contest in Bradford West shows British democracy in all its technicolour glory
A passionate contest in Bradford West, which pitted the incumbent Respect party MP George Galloway against the Labour Party’s challenger Naz Shah was one of the highlights of Britain’s 2015 general election. Parveen Akhtar tells the remarkable story of the election from a changing city. Similar PostsPolitical parties need to take greater responsibility for Pakistani and […]
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