Comparing Democracies
Elections and Voting in a Changing World
- Lawrence LeDuc - University of Toronto, Canada
- Richard G Niemi - University of Rochester, USA
- Pippa Norris - Harvard University, USA
Edited by three leading figures in the field, the new edition brings together an impressive range of contributors and draws on a range of cases and examples from across the world. It now includes:
- New chapters on authoritarian elections and regime change, and electoral integrity
- A chapter dedicated to voting behaviour
- Increased emphasis on issues relating to the economy.
Compared to its predecessors, the fourth edition of Comparing Democracies is entirely different and yet it is much the same. It is much the same because it offers again a superb collection of chapters dealing with democratic institutions and processes in a changing and multifaceted political world. And it is entirely different because the focus of the collections has been altered to include measurement issues of democracy; a growing emphasis of the profession on the context of the vote, and on the manner in which elections are conducted. As a consequence of that, all chapters but one are entirely new or substantially revised. The group of contributors, while largely different from previous editions, is again outstanding. It introduces some of the most important new work on those issues to the broader community of scholars interested in elections and democracy. For all these reasons, Comparing Democracies will remain a must-read for students and lecturers of elections and voting behaviour, comparative politics, parties, and democracy.
The 4th edition of Comparing Democracies continues the editors’ tradition of bringing together leading scholars to address the fundamentals of democratic politics and major advances in scholarship. In this edition, they expand their view to include recent advances in thinking about how even apparently futile competition in electoral-like settings shapes outcomes in authoritarian regimes. This and other new additions mean that this work now touches on every nation in a truly comparative way without losing sight of democratic fundamentals.
Indeed, more so than any of the earlier editions, the present volume is characterised by a considerable use of statistical models. Another valuable aspect of the book is that it provides a list of all the electoral systems used around the world, which includes disproportionality scores, the effective number of parties and the percentage of female MPs...For the comparative political scientist this edition is an improvement upon earlier editions. It is a safe prediction that the individual chapters will be cited extensively in years to come.
Comparing Democracies, Fourth Edition, brings together eleven prominent scholars who cover a wide range of highly relevant topics in the field of electoral research and provides a great resource for young scholars and students to build a theoretical and comparative understanding in the wide range agenda of political science.
Clearly written. It is a good option for Bachelor students wanting to know more about democratization. Good to keep it as a reference book.
Many students find it very useful as an essential reading.
Classic text on comparative politics.
A well written book detailing the challenges facing modern democracies.
Excellent text that I use for an Elections and Voting course. It deals with a lot of the issues pertinent to the course and brings experts using original data presenting the state of the art in an accessible manner. I particularly like that new editions really are new editions, that respond to new challenges facing democracy.
There are possibly a few issues that haven't been dealt with in CD4 - challenges to democracy from the economic crisis; impact of leadership on democracies (voting) and political communications (not just campaigns)
- Chapters on authoritarian elections and regime change, and electoral integrity
- A chapter dedicated to voting behaviour
- Increased emphasis on issues relating to the economy.