The Evolution of Electoral and Party Systems in the Nordic Countries

Illustrating how changing laws can shape future elections, each chapter in this collection narrates the history of, and the largely partisan political maneuvering behind, the evolution of electoral laws in the five Nordic countries. Because the chapters are written to a common overall outline, and include a number of standard tables, they have an unusually high degree of comparability a great asset.

Many political scientists in English-speaking countries tend to think of Proportional Representation in terms of the underlying concepts of proportionality and examples that institutionalize it in relative pure form, such as Israel. Reading these chapters, one gains a more sophisticated understanding of the variety and complexities of real PR systems, including the interaction of geographical representation with the principle of proportionality, the practical stakes behind the seemingly technical choice of allocation formulas, the origin of the "modified" St. Laguë divisors, the functioning of apparentement and other vote-pooling devices, the interaction of strategic advantage and normative principles in the development of the Proportional Representation systems, the role of partisan manipulation, etc.

A model of comparative, cumulative political science, and of "embedded system" research design, the book is part of a major project by both Grofman and Lijphart to bring a vast improvement in rigor and systemicity in the analysis of electoral laws and their impacts.