Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems

No subject is more central to the study of politics than elections. All across the globe, elections are a focal point for citizens, the media, and politicians long before--and sometimes long after--they occur. Electoral systems, the rules about how voters' preferences are translated into election results, profoundly shape the results not only of individual elections but also of many other important political outcomes, including party systems, candidate selection, and policy choices. Electoral systems have been a hot topic in established democracies from the UK and Italy to New Zealand and Japan. Even in the United States, events like the 2016 presidential election and court decisions such as Citizens United have sparked advocates to promote change in the Electoral College, redistricting, and campaign-finance rules. Elections and electoral systems have also intensified as a field of academic study, with groundbreaking work over the past decade sharpening our understanding of how electoral systems fundamentally shape the connections among citizens, government, and policy. This volume provides an in-depth exploration of the origins and effects of electoral systems.

Erik S. Herron is the Eberly Family Professor of Political Science at West Virginia University. His research focuses on political institutions, especially electoral systems. Prof. Herron has traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, including a term as a Fulbright scholar in Ukraine and thirteen election-observation missions. He has published research in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, World Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, and other journals, as well as two books: Mixed Electoral Systems: Contamination and Its Consequences (with Federico Ferrara and Misa Nishikawa) and Elections and Democracy after Communism. Robert J. Pekkanen is Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 2002. His research interests lie in electoral systems, political parties, and civil society. He has published articles in political science journals such as the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science, and Comparative Political Studies, as well as six books on American nonprofit advocacy, Japanese civil society, and Japanese elections and political parties. Matthew S. Shugart is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, and Affiliated Professor at the University of Haifa. He is a world-renowned scholar of democratic institutions. He is a two-time winner of the George H. Hallet Award, given annually by the Representation and Electoral Systems Section of the American Political Science Association for a book published at least ten years ago that has made a lasting contribution to the field. He won it first for his collaboration with Rein Taagepera, Seats and Votes (1989) and again for Presidents and Assemblies (1992, with John M. Carey). He has participated as an advisor on electoral-system reform and constitutional design in several countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, Colombia, Estonia, and Israel.