Comparing Democracies 2: New Challenges in the Study of Elections and Voting

The first edition of Comparing Democracies was a landmark text, providing students with a thematic introduction to the global study of elections and voting. In this major new edition the world's leading international scholars have again produced an indispensable guide and up-to-date review of the whole field. Each of the chapters (the majority of which are completely new) provides a broad theoretical and comparative understanding of all the key topics, making this essential reading.

Table of Contents:
Introduction - Lawrence LeDuc, Richard G. Niemi and Pippa NorrisLawrence LeDuc, Richard G Niemi and Pippa Norris Comparing Democratic Elections Electoral Systems - André Blais and Louis Massicotte Referendums and Initiatives - Lawrence LeDuc The Politics of Direct Democracy Comparing Party Systems - Peter Mair Candidate Selection - Reuven Y Hazan Campaign Communications - Pippa Norris The Dynamics of Electoral Participation - Mark N Franklin Voting - William L Miller and Richard G Niemi Choice, Conditioning, and Constraint Political Cleavages, Issues, and Electoral Change - Russell J Dalton Consolidating Democracies - Larry Diamond

About the Author :
Richard G. Niemi is Don Alonzo Watson Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester, where he has taught for forty-five years and has served as department chair, associate dean for graduate studies, and interim dean. He earned his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1967. Professor Niemi has been a Guggenheim fellow and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Lund (Sweden) and at the University of Iowa. In 2007–2009 he was president of the American Political Science Association’s Section on State Politics and Policy. He is a foreign member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous works on political socialization, civic education, voting behavior, and various aspects of state politics. He has an ongoing interest in the Native Americans of upstate New York and Wisconsin, from whom he can trace a portion of his ancestry. Pippa Norris is Director of the Democratic Governance group in the United Nations Development Programme in New York and the Maguire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard University′s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Recent books include Sacred and Secular: Politics and Religion Worldwide (with Ronald Inglehart, 2004), Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior (2004), and Driving Democratization: What Works (2006). Norris, who is a political scientist, has served as an expert consultant for many international bodies including the UN, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, International IDEA, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the UK Electoral Commission.

Review :
`This excellent collection of essays provides a highly knowledgeable and

insightful overview of current knowledge in the sub-field of elections and

voting in the world′s democracies. Coherent in organization and

wide-ranging in content and perspective, this is a book that should be read

by anyone interested in political science.′

- Anthony Mughan, The Ohio State University