The Electoral System in Britain


Book Description

This excellent new book provides a comprehensive account of the British system of parliamentary elections. It contains a description of the current structure and operation of the electoral system, and pays special attention to those subjects which have given rise to political concern or controversy in recent years. There is extensive analysis and commentary upon the different proposals for reform which are currently in debate, and the author puts forward his own conclusions on how the electoral system should be developed in the years ahead to modernise and improve the quality of representative democracy in Britain.




Elections and Voters in Britain


Book Description

This title is a revised and extended replacement for the same author's text on Elections and Voting Behaviour in Britain in the same series. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of electoral politics today and of its evolution in the post war period. Two entirely new chapters focus on electoral reform and on the main theoretical approaches to the study of elections and voting.







The UK's Changing Democracy


Book Description

The UK’s Changing Democracy presents a uniquely democratic perspective on all aspects of UK politics, at the centre in Westminster and Whitehall, and in all the devolved nations. The 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU marked a turning point in the UK’s political system. In the previous two decades, the country had undergone a series of democratic reforms, during which it seemed to evolve into a more typical European liberal democracy. The establishment of a Supreme Court, adoption of the Human Rights Act, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution, proportional electoral systems, executive mayors and the growth in multi-party competition all marked profound changes to the British political tradition. Brexit may now bring some of these developments to a juddering halt. The UK’s previous ‘exceptionalism’ from European patterns looks certain to continue indefinitely. ‘Taking back control’ of regulations, trade, immigration and much more is the biggest change in UK governance for half a century. It has already produced enduring crises for the party system, Parliament and the core executive, with uniquely contested governance over critical issues, and a rapidly changing political landscape. Other recent trends are no less fast-moving, such as the revival of two-party dominance in England, the re-creation of some mass membership parties and the disruptive challenges of social media. In this context, an in-depth assessment of the quality of the UK’s democracy is essential. Each of the 2018 Democratic Audit’s 37 short chapters starts with clear criteria for what democracy requires in that part of the nation’s political life and outlines key recent developments before a SWOT analysis (of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) crystallises the current situation. A small number of core issues are then explored in more depth. Set against the global rise of debased semi-democracies, the book’s approach returns our focus firmly to the big issues around the quality and sustainability of the UK’s liberal democracy.




The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems


Book Description

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.




Electoral Systems and Voting in the United Kingdom


Book Description

A key feature of the New Labour government's constitutional reform agenda has been the introduction of a number of alternative methods of voting for both existing elections and for those to new political institutions. This book examines the workings of these various systems of elections, looking specifically at how they operate within the United Kingdom and their direct impact on representation and governance. It also considers voting behaviour in the UK, with reference to the context of the electoral system being used. In conclusion there is an attempt to discover the extent to which the introduction and operation of different electoral systems has affected voter behaviour.




Making Votes Count


Book Description

Popular elections are at the heart of representative democracy. Thus, understanding the laws and practices that govern such elections is essential to understanding modern democracy. In this book, Cox views electoral laws as posing a variety of coordination problems that political forces must solve. Coordination problems - and with them the necessity of negotiating withdrawals, strategic voting, and other species of strategic coordination - arise in all electoral systems. This book employs a unified game-theoretic model to study strategic coordination worldwide and that relies primarily on constituency-level rather than national aggregate data in testing theoretical propositions about the effects of electoral laws. This book also considers not just what happens when political forces succeed in solving the coordination problems inherent in the electoral system they face but also what happens when they fail.




Elections and Voters in Britain


Book Description

How do voters in Britain decide which party to vote for in elections? Why do smaller parties get more support than they used to? How do the mass media influence political opinions? The authors examine these and other questions in the third edition of this popular text. They trace the evolution of the British electorate over the post-war period, and focus in particular on recent elections – from Labour's victories in the 2000s through to the hung parliament of 2010. As well as examining and explaining theories of party choice – including the view that voters' evaluations of government performance and party leaders are now the key determinants of election outcomes – the authors also devote separate chapters to turnout trends and patterns, electoral systems and the geography of party support. Campaigning, opinion polls and the mass media are also considered. Fully revised, the text incorporates the latest research on elections and voting behaviour, and includes analysis of recent trends and developments – including how 'new media' are affecting election campaigning.




Security Protocols XX


Book Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 20th International Workshop on Security Protocols, held in Cambridge, UK, in April 2012. Following the tradition of this workshop series, each paper war revised by the authors to incorporate ideas from the workshop, and is followed in these proceedings by an edited transcription of the presentation and ensuing discussion. The volume contains 14 papers with their transcriptions as well as an introduction, i.e. 29 contributions in total. The theme of the workshop was "Bringing protocols to life".




The Modern British Party System


Book Description

Providing a complete up-to-date overview of the changing nature of contemporary party politics in Britain, this book draws on models of comparative politics and the latest empirical analysis to explain the capacity of British parties to adapt to a changing political environment. A number of broad themes include: the nature and extent of party competition; the internal life and organizational development of parties; the variety of evolving party systems in the United Kingdom; and the links between parties and the wider political system. The current weaknesses of party performance are addressed, and the scope of reform explained and examined. Contrary to claims of 'decline', however, the book demonstrates that party politic




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