What Kind of Electoral Outcome do People Think is Good for Democracy?

André Blais,David M Farrell,Shaun Bowler,Ignacio Lago,Carolina Plescia,Romain Lachat,Miroslav Nemčok,Peter John Loewen,Damien Bol,Martial Foucault,Emmanuel Heisbourg,Jean-Benoit Pilet,Annika Fredén

doi:10.1177/00323217211055560

Abstract

There is perennial debate in comparative politics about electoral institutions, but what characterizes this debate is the lack of consideration for citizens’ perspective. In this paper, we report the results of an original survey conducted on representative samples in 15 West European countries ( N = 15,414). We implemented an original instrument to elicit respondents’ views by asking them to rate “real but blind” electoral outcomes. With this survey instrument, we aimed to elicit principled rather than partisan preferences regarding the kind of electoral outcomes that citizens think is good for democracy. We find that West Europeans do not clearly endorse a majoritarian or proportional vision of democracy. They tend to focus on aspects of the government rather than parliament when they pass a judgment. They want a majority government that has few parties and enjoys wide popular support. Finally, we find only small differences between citizens of different countries.

Highlights

Since the end of the Cold War, there is a wide consensus that democracy is the best system of government (Fukuyama, 1992)
The actual functioning of representative democracy is increasingly criticized, as illustrated by the growing distrust of politicians and parties (Dalton, 2004; Putnam, 2002), international survey data show that a vast majority of citizens worldwide think that democracy is a good system of collective governance (Anderson et al, 2020; Norris, 2011)
The proportional vision values inclusive and accommodative political power that takes the concerns of as many groups as possible into account

Summary

Introduction

Since the end of the Cold War, there is a wide consensus that democracy is the best system of government (Fukuyama, 1992). Whether a democracy functions in a proportional or majoritarian way depends in good part on the electoral system (Farrell, 2011; Lijphart, 2012; Norris, 2004). A majoritarian electoral system gives an advantage to the largest parties, which often means that a single party holds a majority of parliamentary seats and can govern alone. This creates an inextricable trade-off: depending on their electoral system, some democracies are more of one type or the other, but they cannot be perfectly proportional and perfectly majoritarian at the same time (Carey and Hix, 2011; Shugart and Wattenberg 2001; Taagepera and Nemčok, 2021)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion