What happens when majority rule breaks down?

Computational results of Niemi and Weisberg are extended to investigate the number of alternatives in the top cycle set (possible winning alternatives in a sequence of pairwise votes) when there is no Condorcet winner. With n alternatives we assume a large number of voters each equally likely to select any of the n! preference orderings. If no Condorcet winner exists, the number of members of the top cycle set is always more likely to be n or n?1 than between 3 and n?2 inclusive. As n grows the probability that all alternatives are in the top cycle set approaches 1.     

Boutique Government and the Challenge of Contemporary Leadership

The demands on natural leaders have changed dramatically in recent decades. Opportunities for bold innovation appear to have passed, prompting instead a focus on consensus building and partnership. Drawing on evidence from five Anglo-American democracies, this article argues that a diminished faith in public institutions and declining willingness to support altruistic community programs are reshaping the possibilities for national chief executives.     

The Tangled Webs of Westminster and Whitehall: The Discourse, Strategy and Practice of Networking Within the British Core Executive

In this paper we identify and seek to resolve a certain paradox in the existing litera-ture on networks and networking. Whilst earlier policy network perspectives have tended to emphasize the structural character of networks as durable, dense and relatively static organization forms, the more recent strategic network literature emphasizes the flexible, adaptive and dynamic quality of networking as a social and political practice. However, neither perspective has yet developed a theory of network formation, evolution, transformation and termination. In this paper, we seek to rectify this omission, advancing a 'strategic relational' theory of network dynamics based on a rethinking of the concept of network itself. We illustrate this perspective with respect to the policy process centred in and around Westminster and Whitehall, drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with ministers and officials from four departments.