A Conceptual Framework for Major, Minor, and Technical Electoral Reform

Abstract

This article advances the study of electoral reform by conceptualising major, minor and technical reforms. To do so it treats electoral reform as a two-level concept and defines both the scope and the degree of reform. The scope is expanded by introducing fivedimensions of reform. Regarding the degree of electoral reform, an ordinal scale iscreated featuring major, minor and technical reform. The advantage of this conceptualisation is that it allows for a more adequate case selection. The second part ofthe study assesses the empirical applicability of the framework by examining one minor electoral reform in the Netherlands, the 1997 legislation on preferential voting. This allows an assessment of whether existing theories on major reform are also applicable to the study of minor reform. It is concluded that the current theories on major reform are not ‘one-size-fits-all’ theories, but apply only partially to minor reform.