Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T19:18:30.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Between Science and Engineering: Reflections on the APSA Presidential Task Force on Political Science, Electoral Rules, and Democratic Governance

Designing Electoral Systems: Normative Tradeoffs and Institutional Innovations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2013

Andrew Rehfeld
Affiliation:
Washington University in St. Louis
Melissa Schwartzberg
Affiliation:
Columbia University

Abstract

Political scientists have contributed to the world of electoral systems as scientists and as engineers. Taking stock of recent scientific research, we show that context modifies the effects of electoral rules on political outcomes in specific and systematic ways. We explore how electoral rules shape the inclusion of women and minorities, the depth and nature of political competition, and patterns of redistribution and regulation, and we consider institutional innovations that could promote political equality. Finally, we describe the diverse ways that political scientists produce an impact on the world by sharing and applying their knowledge of the consequences of electoral rules and global trends in reform.

Type
Symposium: Between Science and Engineering
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beitz, Charles. 1989. Political Equality. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Green, Jeffrey. 2011. The Eyes of the People: Democracy in an Age of Spectatorship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, Mogens Herman. 1991. The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lublin, David. 1999. The Paradox of Representation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent Yes.” The Journal of Politics 61(3): 628657.Google Scholar
McCormick, John. 2011. Machiavellian Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pogge, Thomas. 2002. “Self-constituting constituencies to enhance freedom, equality and participation in democratic procedures.” Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory 49(99): 2654.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Stokes, Susan, and Manin, Bernard. 1999. “Elections and Representation.” In Przeworski, Stokes, and Manin, eds. Democracy, Accountability, and Representation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rehfeld, Andrew. 2005. The Concept of Constituency. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar