Guide to Electoral Reform

The readings given here are selective: they include a few general sources of particular value for the issues discussed and those materials that I mention in the text or use as sources of specific information.

The best all-round introduction to electoral systems is David Farrell, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction, 2^nd edition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). Briefer but good discussion appears in Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries (Yale University Press, 1999). Useful analysis of the effects of electoral systems on a variety of criteria is given in Pippa Norris, Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior (Cambridge University Press, 2004). Good introductions to many aspects of elections appear in Lawrence LeDuc, Richard G. Niemi, and Pippa Norris (eds.), Comparing Democracies 3: Elections and Voting in the 21^st Century (Sage, 2010).

A very helpful overview of the electoral systems that exist around the world is Andrew Reynolds, Ben Reilly, and Andrew Ellis, Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook (International IDEA, 2005). Good discussions of how electoral systems operate in a variety of countries around the world, including the UK, appear in Michael Gallagher and Paul Mitchell (eds.), The Politics of Electoral Systems (Oxford University Press, 2005).

For a history of recent developments in the British electoral system, see John Curtice, “The Electoral System”, in Vernon Bogdanor (ed.), The British Constitution in the Twentieth Century (Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 483–520. Much insight into recent debates over electoral reform can be gained from official documents. Most important is the report of the Jenkins Commission (the Independent Commission on the Voting System), which can be read online or found as Command Paper 4090–I. A recent overview of issues that need to be thought about when choosing an electoral system, written from a British perspective, is Simon Hix, Ron Johnston, and Iain McLean, Choosing an Electoral System (British Academy, 2010).

I mention the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats at various points throughout the book. It is available from programmeforgovernment.hmg.gov.uk.

The information on the number of countries enforcing compulsory voting comes from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, at www.idea.int.

Figures for postal voting come from Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, “The 2005 General Election: Analysis of the Results” and “UK General Election 2010: Turnout and Administrative Data”, both www.electoralcommission.org.uk.

Chapter 2

The subject of what criteria we should use in evaluating electoral systems is discussed interestingly in Adrian Blau, “Fairness and Electoral Reform”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, vol. 6, no. 2 (May 2004), pp. 165–81, and Michael Gallagher, “Conclusions”, in Michael Gallagher and Paul Mitchell (eds.), The Politics of Electoral Systems (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 535–78. A more formal, mathematical approach is taken by the Oxford philosopher Michael Dummett in his Principles of Electoral Reform (Oxford University Press, 1997).

Information on the number of women in parliament is given in two papers from the House of Commons Library: “Women in Parliament and Government” (30 June 2009) and “General Election 2010” (8 July 2010). Both of these are available from the parliament website (www.parliament.uk). The latter gives data also on MPs from ethnic minorities (and much else besides).

The Power Inquiry report was published as Power to the People: The Report of Power: An Independent Inquiry into Britain’s Democracy (2006) and is available at www.powerinquiry.org.

The Hansard Society report that looked (among other things) at the proportion of MPs’ time spent on constituency work was called A Year in the Life: From Member of Public to Member of Parliament (2006), available at www.hansardsociety.org.uk.