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On Curing Political Diseases: The Healing Power of Majoritarian Elections in Multi-Member Districts

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  • Reiner Eichenberger

    (University of Fribourg
    CREMA – Center for Research in Economics, Managements and the Arts)

  • Patricia Schafer

    (University of Fribourg)

Abstract

Democratic politics suffers from numerous diseases such as lack of inclusiveness, time-inconsistency, short-termism, negative campaigning, lack of trust in and between governments, and many more. These diseases affect all countries, albeit to a differing extent. How can they be cured? From a politico-economic perspective, an institutional approach is required. We look at a country where these political diseases seem to play a relatively minor role: Switzerland. So far, Switzerland is renowned for its extensive direct democracy and federalism. However, its electoral system has been largely neglected. It uniquely combines proportional representation and majoritarian elections on all government levels. In contrast to the international standard, Swiss majority votes do not take place in single-member districts but in multi-member districts. We analyze how the interplay of majoritarian elections in multi-member districts and proportional representation mitigates many of the political diseases.

Suggested Citation

  • Reiner Eichenberger & Patricia Schafer, 2023. "On Curing Political Diseases: The Healing Power of Majoritarian Elections in Multi-Member Districts," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 79-93, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:homoec:v:40:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s41412-022-00131-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s41412-022-00131-w
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutions; Electoral system; Multi-member districts; Majority rule; At-large; Convergence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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