Title: Electoral Coordination in Single-Member District Systems: Canada as a Critical Case
Speaker: Richard Johnston, PhD (University of British Columbia)
Place: Hörsaal HS10, Rathausstraße 19, Stiege 2, 1010 Wien
Time: 7.05.2018, 5:00 p.m.
Abstract: The majoritarian logic of single-member districts is said to severely inhibit the fractionalization of the vote. The only recognized exception in the mainstream literature is when different parties organise the competition in different regions of the country. On this view, the intuition that originated with Duverger applies to district-level competition only. Coordination across districts requires a different logic. Canada was the originating case for this refinement of Duverger, and the conceptual lineage passes through Rae, Riker, Cox, and Chhibber and Kollman. In fact, the Canadian case increasingly illustrates a contrary logic, where electoral coordination within districts reflects considerations beyond their borders. Certain facets of Canadian electoral fractionalization also speak to the motives of party elites, to relations among pre-existing parties in policy space, and to path dependence.
