Elections and electoral rules matter.
Whether people vote or not
Imagine how Canadian politics might have unfolded if the distortions in converting votes into seats produced by Canada’s electoral system had not contributed to the near-annihilation of the Progressive Conservative Party and the electoral breakthrough of two regionally-based parties (Reform in the West and the Bloc in Quebec) in the 1993 federal election.
How they vote
Imagine the outcome of the 2000 U.S. presidential election if Nader supporters had voted strategically for Gore rather than voting for their preferred candidate. Imagine the U.S. government’s response to Hurricane Katrina if the voter turnout of poor Americans matched that of their affluent counterparts.
The electoral rules of the game
The goal of the project is to examine how the rules of the game, most especially the electoral system, and the electoral context, most especially electoral competitiveness and salience, influence the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between voters and parties.
The approaches
This ambitious research is based on systematic comparisons across individuals and parties, across countries and regions within countries, and over time within regions and countries as well as among the same individuals and parties. The study covers elections held under a variety of voting rules and contexts, and it encompasses both parties and voters. The study will examine 27 elections (national, supranational, and sub-national) in five countries (Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland).
The causal processes through which the rules of the game affect the behaviour of both parties and voters will be explicated and tested through a combination of experimental, quasi-experimental, and non experimental approaches. The goal is to make an important contribution to the understanding of how electoral democracies actually function and of why they perform better under some contexts than in others.
The research will focus on four dimensions of party strategies: inter-party coordination, campaign strategies, mobilization, and candidate selection. We will conduct an intensive analysis of party strategies in twenty elections in the five different countries. Our innovative approach combines qualitative and quantitative methods to throw new light on how electoral rules influence party strategies and, hence, the options that are available to voters at election time.
With respect to voters, special attention will be given to the decision to vote sincerely or strategically or to abstain, but also their assessments of the rules under which they choose their representatives. The next component is, therefore, a panel survey of voters in the same five countries. The same people will be interviewed in different elections at the national, sub-national, and supranational level.
Our observational analyses of party strategies and voter choice will be complemented by a series of laboratory experiments designed to isolate the impact of electoral institutions and/or contexts on party and voter behaviour.
Project participants
Our project brings together an exceptional team of economists, political scientists, and psychologists from Canada, Europe, and the United States.
The project will benefit from the wise input of a scientific board consisting of leading international scholars.
