Take a look at these projections of the outcome of today's national election in Canada - the vote totals, how they are dispersed, and the seats the parties are expected to win. It's a great example of how electoral systems, not votes, drive who has power. One of the best seminars I ever had in school was on the variation in democratic electoral systems. I think it's a major hole in our curriculum.
Posted by armand at October 14, 2008 09:41 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics | The AcademyWhen I used to teach comparative politics, a big part of it was electoral systems. I wonder if that's the same here...
Posted by: kikimonster at October 14, 2008 10:05 AM | PERMALINKMe too. Although because certain members of the faculty here "do" comparative, I never had the chance to teach the intro course, despite asking to do so. I did spend a good bit of time on it in my Latin America course though, FWIW.
Posted by: binky at October 15, 2008 06:54 AM | PERMALINKI was just going to say that I believe this was, supposedly, taught to me by you-know-who in Western Democratic Govts. Of course, 40 of the 50 people in that class dropped by the end of the semester (thats not an exaggeration).
Posted by: ryan at October 15, 2008 08:04 AM | PERMALINKWell it's good to know it's covered in some comparative classes - though it comes in so many shapes and sizes it might merit a separate class(given that comparative also focuses on a number of other things - I hope).
Posted by: Armand at October 15, 2008 11:46 AM | PERMALINKLOL at the you know who. He'd better at least be covering it in that class, although it should be an important component of any intro to comparative class.
Posted by: kikimonster at October 15, 2008 01:49 PM | PERMALINK