Bibliographic Information

Political institutions : democracy and social choice

Josep M. Colomer

(Comparative politics)

Oxford University Press, 2003, c2001

  • : pbk

Available at  / 4 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

"Published new as paperback 2003"--T.p. verso

Bibliography: p. [220]-243

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The role of institutions is to establish the domains of public activity and the rules to select leaders. Democratic regimes organize in simple institutional frameworks to foster the concentration of power and alternative successive absolute winners and losers. They favour political satisfaction of relatively small groups, as well as policy instability. In contrast, pluralistic institutions produce multiple winners, including multiparty co-operation and agreements. They favour stable, moderate, and consensual policies that can satisfy large groups' interests on a great number of issues. The more complex the political institutions, the more stable and socially efficient the outcome will be. This book develops an extensive analysis of this relationship. It explores concepts, questions and insights based on social choice theory, while empirical focus is cast on more than 40 democratic countries and a few international organizations from late medieval times to the present. The book argues that pluralistic democratic institutions are judged to be better than simple formula of their higher capacity of producing socially satisfactory results.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Politics and Social Choice
  • 2. Who Can Vote
  • 3. How Votes are Counted
  • 4. What is Voted For
  • 5. Choosing Socially Effective Institutions

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1

Details

  • NCID
    BA66662495
  • ISBN
    • 0199241848
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Oxford ; Tokyo
  • Pages/Volumes
    256 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
Page Top