Electoral systems are discussed in this book from three different perspectives: logical, historical and empirical. The author shows how political actors tend to choose electoral systems through strategic calculations in their own interest.
Josep M. Colomer analyzes the invention and adoption of different electoral rules and formulas throughout history according to four basic principles: unanimity, lottery, majority and proportionality. The various electoral systems in Western and Eastern Europe, the United States and Latin America are studied in detail.
This work provides the largest collection of data accumulated to date on electoral systems used in almost one hundred democratic countries of the world from the 19th century to the present day.
The historical perspective makes it clear that changes in the electoral system tend to favour increasingly inclusive formulas: from indirect to direct elections, from the rule of unanimity to that of the majority, and from the rule of the majority to mixed and proportional representation systems.