Legislative and Electoral Studies

Legislative and electoral studies analyse elections, electoral systems, parties, and legislatures — how votes are won and how representative institutions work.

Scope

It covers electoral systems and their effects, party systems, legislative organization and behaviour, and representation.

Core questions

• How do electoral systems shape party systems?
• How do legislators behave and why?
• How are parties organized?
• How well do elections produce representation?

Key concepts

• Electoral systems
• Duverger's law
• Party systems
• Legislative organization
• Representation
• Incumbency

Key theories

Duverger's law

Duverger argued that plurality electoral rules tend to produce two-party systems.

The electoral connection

Mayhew analysed legislators as single-minded seekers of re-election, explaining congressional organization.

History

Building on Duverger's analysis of parties and electoral rules and Mayhew's rational-choice account of legislatures, the field rigorously studies electoral systems, party competition, and legislative behaviour.

Debates

How strongly do electoral rules determine party systems?

Whether Duverger's law holds deterministically or is mediated by social cleavages and context.

Key figures

• Maurice Duverger
• David Mayhew

Seminal works

• duverger-1954
• mayhew-1974

Frequently asked questions

What is Duverger's law?

The proposition that single-member-district plurality elections tend to produce two-party systems.