Democracy in Divided Societies

Reilly analyzes the design of electoral systems for divided societies, examining various divided societies which utilize "vote-pooling" electoral systems--including Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland and Fiji. He shows that political institutions which encourage the development of broad-based, aggregative political parties and where campaigning politicians have incentives to attract votes from a range of ethnic groups can, under certain conditions, encourage a moderate, accommodatory political competition and thus influence the trajectory of democratization in transitional states. This is a challenge to orthodox approaches to democracy and conflict management.

Author: Benjamin Reilly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 09/13/2001
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780521797306