Download or read book From Majority Rule to Inclusive Politics written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-16 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses voting procedures in collective decision-making. Drawing on well-established election processes from all over the world, the author presents a voting procedure that allows for the speedy but fair election of a proportional, all-party coalition. The methodology - a matrix vote - is accurate, robust and ethno-color blind. In the vote, the counting procedure encourages all concerned to cross the gender as well as any party and/or sectarian divides. While in the resulting executive each party will be represented fairly and, at best, with the consensus of parliament, every minister will be the one most suited to his/her new portfolio. By using preferential voting and thus achieving consensus, the matrix vote will be fundamental to the resolution of conflicts. The matrix vote can also be used when: • two or more parliamentary parties elect a coalition government • one parliamentary party elects a government or shadow cabinet, or organizations in civil society elect their governing boards or executive committees • any group chooses a fixed number of individuals to form a team in which each member carries out a different function
Download or read book Majority Voting as a Catalyst of Populism written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book presents a critique of binary majority rule and provides insights into why, in many instances, the outcome of a two-option ballot does not accurately reflect the will of the people. Based on the author's first-hand experience, majority-voting is argued to be a catalyst of populism and its divisive outcomes have prompted countless disputes throughout Europe and Asia. In like manner, simple majority rule is seen as a cause of conflict in war zones, and of dysfunction in so-called stable democracies. In order to safeguard democracy, an all-party power-sharing approach is proposed, which would make populism less attractive to voters and governments alike. In geographically arranged chapters, well-tested alternative voting procedures (e. g. non-majoritarian Modified Borda Count) are presented in case studies of Northern Ireland, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia, China, North Korea and Mongolia.
Download or read book Democratic Reason written by Hélène Landemore and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Individual decision making can often be wrong due to misinformation, impulses, or biases. Collective decision making, on the other hand, can be surprisingly accurate. In Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that the very factors behind the superiority of collective decision making add up to a strong case for democracy. She shows that the processes and procedures of democratic decision making form a cognitive system that ensures that decisions taken by the many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few. Democracy as a form of government is therefore valuable not only because it is legitimate and just, but also because it is smart. Landemore considers how the argument plays out with respect to two main mechanisms of democratic politics: inclusive deliberation and majority rule. In deliberative settings, the truth-tracking properties of deliberation are enhanced more by inclusiveness than by individual competence. Landemore explores this idea in the contexts of representative democracy and the selection of representatives. She also discusses several models for the "wisdom of crowds" channeled by majority rule, examining the trade-offs between inclusiveness and individual competence in voting. When inclusive deliberation and majority rule are combined, they beat less inclusive methods, in which one person or a small group decide. Democratic Reason thus establishes the superiority of democracy as a way of making decisions for the common good.
Download or read book The Punters Guide to Democracy written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-05 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses multiple ways of voting in a democratic system and explains the basis of more consensual politics. Without delving into too much technical argument or too many mathematical examples, it aims to show that binary decision-making is blunt, primitive, divisive, and sometimes inaccurate; prove that other methodologies are more accurate and, therefore, more democratic; highlight more inclusive and effective voting procedures; discuss electoral reforms for national parliaments and international forums like the UN Security Council and COP26/27. The book is written not just for academia, or for the politicians and journalists, or for other specialists; it is for the general public: for students still at school, for voters in society at large, and for activists in umpteen NGOs. “...the West's relentless pursuit of binary voting... has been a cause of countless tragedies. This book is brilliant: political controversies should rarely if ever be 'resolved' by majority vote.” Arend Lijphart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego “[for] those who do not believe in a black-or-white world... a very important and extremely timely contribution...” Věra Stojarová, Associate Professor of Political Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic “Peter’s challenge to the binary “win-lose” approach is urgently necessary, as is his proposal for an eminently more reasonable, accountable, and participatory system.” Dr. Valery Perry, Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo “...the preferential points vote... would be the more accurate way to make decisions, and the consequences far more peaceful.” Lord Boyce, House of Lords “He builds a case for a specific version of preferential procedure, not only for elections, but for decision making as well.” Hannu Nurmi, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Turku, Finland “A particularly strong plea in favour of voting procedures... which go far beyond the usual 'yes or no' ballots. [He uses] an alert prose and a wealth of illuminating and easily graspable examples.” Maurice Salles, Emeritus Professor, Université de Caen Normandie
Download or read book Designing an All Inclusive Democracy written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-05 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the voting procedures by which majority rule may be replaced by a more consensual system of governance. In a word, such an inclusive polity can be achieved by asking the voters or, more usually, their representatives in councils and parliaments, to state their preferences, so to facilitate the identification of that option which gains the highest average preference score.
Download or read book First Democracy written by Paul Woodruff and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-03-16 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This brilliant analysis of the nature of democracy draws on the hard-earned lessons of the ancient Greeks.
Download or read book Democratic Decision making written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a practical guide to how groups of people, everywhere, from the local village council to the United Nations Security Council, can best make collective decisions. By comparing the many voting procedures used in democratic decision-making, it explains why win-or-lose binary voting can be inaccurate and divisive, while the more inclusive preferential points system of voting can be so much more accurate and, therefore, more democratic; indeed, it is a win-win methodology. The text, essential reading for anyone interested in fair and participatory collective decision-making, also compares the most common electoral systems.
Download or read book The Politics of Democratic Inclusion written by Christina Wolbrecht and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How institutions foster and hinder political participation of the underrepresented
Download or read book Designing an All Inclusive Democracy written by Peter Emerson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-09-02 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the voting procedures by which majority rule may be replaced by a more consensual system of governance. In a word, such an inclusive polity can be achieved by asking the voters or, more usually, their representatives in councils and parliaments, to state their preferences, so to facilitate the identification of that option which gains the highest average preference score.
Download or read book Exceptions to the Rule written by Molly E. Reynolds and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Special rules enable the Senate to act despite the filibuster. Sometimes. Most people believe that, in today's partisan environment, the filibuster prevents the Senate from acting on all but the least controversial matters. But this is not exactly correct. In fact, the Senate since the 1970s has created a series of special rules—described by Molly Reynolds as “majoritarian exceptions”—that limit debate on a wide range of measures on the Senate floor. The details of these exemptions might sound arcane and technical, but in practice they have enabled the Senate to act even when it otherwise seemed paralyzed. Important examples include procedures used to pass the annual congressional budget resolution, enact budget reconciliation bills, review proposals to close military bases, attempt to prevent arms sales, ratify trade agreements, and reconsider regulations promulgated by the executive branch. Reynolds argues that these procedures represent a key instrument of majority party power in the Senate. They allow the majority—even if it does not have the sixty votes needed to block a filibuster—to produce policies that will improve its future electoral prospects, and thus increase the chances it remains the majority party. As a case study, Exceptions to the Rule examines the Senate's role in the budget reconciliation process, in which particular congressional committees are charged with developing procedurally protected proposals to alter certain federal programs in their jurisdictions. Created as a way of helping Congress work through tricky budget issues, the reconciliation process has become a powerful tool for the majority party to bypass the minority and adopt policy changes in hopes that it will benefit in the next election cycle.
Download or read book Democracies and the Populist Challenge written by Y. Meny and published by Springer. This book was released on 2001-12-06 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Populism has become a favourite catchword for mass media and politicians faced with the challenge of protest parties or movements. It has often been equated with radical right leaders or parties. This volume offers a different perspective and underlines that populism is an ambiguous but constitutive component of democratic systems torn between their ideology (government of the people, by the people, for the people) and their actual functioning, characterised by the role of the elites and the limits put on the popular will by liberal constitutionalism.
Download or read book From Divided Pasts to Cohesive Futures written by Hiroyuki Hino and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an insightful yet readable study of the paths - and challenges - to social cohesion in Africa, by experienced historians, economists and political scientists.
Download or read book Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy written by Michael Albertus and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that - in terms of institutional design, the allocation of power and privilege, and the lived experiences of citizens - democracy often does not restart the political game after displacing authoritarianism. Democratic institutions are frequently designed by the outgoing authoritarian regime to shield incumbent elites from the rule of law and give them an unfair advantage over politics and the economy after democratization. Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy systematically documents and analyzes the constitutional tools that outgoing authoritarian elites use to accomplish these ends, such as electoral system design, legislative appointments, federalism, legal immunities, constitutional tribunal design, and supermajority thresholds for change. The study provides wide-ranging evidence for these claims using data that spans the globe and dates from 1800 to the present. Albertus and Menaldo also conduct detailed case studies of Chile and Sweden. In doing so, they explain why some democracies successfully overhaul their elite-biased constitutions for more egalitarian social contracts.
Download or read book Capabilities in a Just Society written by Rutger Claassen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new theory of social justice arguing that people have rights to the core human capabilities necessary for 'navigational agency'.
Download or read book In Defence of Democracy written by Roslyn Fuller and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-10-18 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Should Brexit or Trump cause us to doubt our faith in democracy? Are ‘the people’ too ignorant or stupid to rule? Numerous commentators are seriously arguing that the answer to these questions might be ‘yes’. In this take-no-prisoners book, Canadian-Irish author Roslyn Fuller kicks these anti-democrats where it hurts the most – the facts. Fuller shows how many academics, journalists and politicians have embraced the idea that there can be ‘too much democracy’, and deftly unravels their attempts to end majority rule, whether through limiting the franchise, pursuing Chinese ‘meritocracy’ or confining participation to random legislation panels. She shows that Trump, Brexit or whatever other political event you may have disapproved of recently aren’t doing half the damage to democracy that elite self-righteousness and corruption are. In fact, argues Fuller, there are real reasons to be optimistic. Ancient methods can be combined with modern technology to revitalize democracy and allow the people to truly rule. In Defence of Democracy is a witty and energetic contribution to the debate on the future of democracy.
Download or read book Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare written by Kenneth J. Arrow and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2010-10-13 with total page 985 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second part of a two-volume set continues to describe economists' efforts to quantify the social decisions people necessarily make and the philosophies that those choices define. Contributors draw on lessons from philosophy, history, and other disciplines, but they ultimately use editor Kenneth Arrow's seminal work on social choice as a jumping-off point for discussing ways to incentivize, punish, and distribute goods. Develops many subjects from Volume 1 (2002) while introducing new themes in welfare economics and social choice theory Features four sections: Foundations, Developments of the Basic Arrovian Schemes, Fairness and Rights, and Voting and Manipulation Appeals to readers who seek introductions to writings on human well-being and collective decision-making Presents a spectrum of material, from initial insights and basic functions to important variations on basic schemes
Download or read book Inclusive Political Participation and Representation written by Raul Cordenillo and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Participation and representation are two fundamental elements and principles of democracy: they affirm that a democracy is dependent on its citizens and that this ownership is expressed through meaningful participation by and representation of all citizens in democratic institutions and processes. Underpinning all this is the idea that every citizen—regardless of class, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability, group, culture, and ethnic or religious background—should have an equal right and opportunity to engage with and contribute to the functioning of these institutions and processes. This publication documents and highlights the experiences and innovation of regional organizations in promoting inclusive political participation and representation. Focused on civil society engagement, gender mainstreaming, and regional parliaments, this publication not only provides food for thought for policymakers and practitioners but also facilitates understanding of the contexts in which regional organizations operate.
