Institutional determinants of the largest seat share

The degree of predominance of the largest party in a representative assembly affects government formation and survival. The seat share of the largest party, in turn, is constrained by the interaction of assembly size and electoral district magnitude in the following way. When all S seats in an assembly are allocated in districts of magnitude M, a logical quantitative model proposes that the largest fractional share is s₁ = (MS)^−1/8. As a curve, the model is found to fit with R² = 0.509, considering data from the averages of 46 periods in 37 countries, during which the electoral rules were essentially steady. As a worldwide average, the expression s₁(MS)^1/8 = 1 holds within 1%. Deviations from this average express the impact of various country-specific political and socio-cultural factors that can be investigated once the basic institutional constraints are controlled-for. This means that the degree of largest party predominance may be engineered to hover around a desired average by adjusting assembly size, and district magnitude, while keeping country-specific factors in mind.     

电子政务现实冲突及其解决

当前我国电子政务在现实中与政府管理创新、政府组织结构、法律滞后、行政成本、信息资源开发利用及安全等产生冲突。对于这些冲突,一方面要从行政机制上寻求解决方案,另一方面要用立法的办法来解决。立法解决是在立法原则的基础上,订立电子政务相关法律的基础性体系、核心性体系和运作性体系。     

实施产品召回制度的法律思考

缺陷产品的召回制度作为政府管理产品质量的一种有效手段,在发达国家已非常完善,而我国在此方面的立法很不完善。这种立法差异直接导致了企业轻视召回缺陷产品和政府在缺陷产品监管上的无力,使消费者正当权益受损害。为此,应借鉴发达国家的实践经验,结合中国国情,完善我国的产品召回制度,以形成保护消费者、维护市场安全与稳定、增加生产者与销售者的产品质量责任和政府的产品监管职责的法律制度。     

WTO农业协议与我国农业保护立法对策

文章拟从WTO农业协议的主要内容入手,着重从完善配套法规立法,健全农业发展战略性立法、健全农业经济结构调整立法三大方面阐述了WTO框架下我国农业立法的调整与改进,提出了我国农业保护的立法对策。     

充分发挥教代会载体作用努力推进校务公开

教代会是学校实行校务公开制度的重要途径和载体,在新形势下工会要充分发挥 教代会载体作用,认真扎实地推进校务公开工作。     

税收刑事立法比较与我国税收刑事立法的完善

在对各国税收刑事立法进行比较和对我国现行税收刑事立法缺陷评析的基础上 ,我国的税收刑事立法应进行如下完善 :取消偷税罪的列举式和数额加比例式的立法方式 ,采取列举加概括式和单独数额式的立法方式 ;增设抗税罪的单位犯罪 ;增设税务代理人偷税犯罪 ;对于发票犯罪 ,按照行为方式的不同来构建法条 ,以压缩罪名。     

澳大利亚议会的立法方式

澳大利亚宪法没有规定议会行使国家立法权力时的具体操作程序、标准和范围 ,这为参议院和众议院的代表行使立法权留下了一定的活动空间。参众两院的代表从各自的政治倾向和社会利益出发 ,在立法过程中 ,以民主、正当、公平、合理为基础 ,不断形成新的立法方式 ,这些方式对议会立法活动既有积极的作用 ,也有消极的影响。     

An integrated perspective on the three potential sources of partisan bias: Malapportionment, turnout differences, and the geographic distribution of party vote shares

Partisan bias refers to an asymmetry in the way party vote share is translated into seats, i.e., a situation where some parties are able to win a given share of seats with a lesser (share of the) vote than is true for other parties. Any districted system is potentially subject to partisan biases. We show that there are three potential sources of partisan bias: (1) differences in the nature of the vote shares of the winning candidates of different parties that give rise to differences in the proportion of each party's votes that come to be ‘wasted’—differences which arise because of the nature of the geographic distribution of partisan support; (2) turnout rate differences across districts that are linked to the partisan vote shares in those districts, such that certain parties are more likely to have ‘cheap seats’ vis-à-vis turnout; and (3) malapportionment. In the context of two-party competition over single-member districts we provide a simple formulation to calculate the independent effect of each of these three factors. We illustrate our analysis with a calculation of the magnitude and direction of effects of the three determinants of partisan bias in elections to the US House and the US Senate in 1984, 1986 and 1988; then we consider how to extend the approach to a system with a mix of single- and multi-member districts or to a weighted voting system such as the US electoral college. We then apply the method to calculate the nature and sources of partisan bias in the 1984 and 1988 US presidential elections.     

The judiciary and post-election conflict resolution and democratic consolidation in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

ABSTRACT

In recent times most elections in Africa have been fraught with post-elections conflicts that have had dire consequences on citizens. Kenya, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe are few of these cases. This makes post-election conflict resolution a very important aspect of the electoral process deserving enormous attention. However, extant literature has not accorded it the needed attention. It is as a result of this, that this study investigates the nature of post-election conflict resolution in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. The study, based on a qualitative case study approach, found among others that, the Courts have been instrumental in consolidating democracy in Ghana, and stakeholders are devotedly operating within the legal framework governing elections, despite logistical, law enforcement and justice delivery challenges. The study being conscious of the progress made over the years concludes that, where democratic institutions are consolidating, the use of unconventional means to resolve conflicts is usually not an option.