Territory and Electoral Rules in Post-Communist Democracies

Electoral systems are the central pillar of every constitutional design. To understand their effect on party systems, we need to consider the issue of territory.

Electoral system studies have attempted to explain the format of party systems in post-communist democracies. In general, proportional representation allows for large multi-party systems and single-seat district elections leading to two-party competition, yet studies on post-communist Europe seem to reveal something different. Are post-communist democracies so chaotic that they surpass the limits of the electoral system school?

This study considers the importance of territory: it matters not only how many votes parties get but also where they get them from. The book extends research on the territorial structure of party systems (party nationalization) to 20 post-communist democracies. It explains party nationalization as a consequence of ethnically oriented politics, and, by extending common models of electoral systems, it shows how party nationalization can increase our understanding of electoral systems.

Daniel Bochsler is Research Fellow at the Central European University, Hungary. He Studies comparative politics, with a particular emphasis on the nationalization of party systems and on electoral systems. His work has been published in Electoral Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, Public Choice and Regional and Federal Studies.