Voting Behavior

Competitive elections are vital to any democracy. American elections and public policy making demonstrate many positive qualities but at the same time are beset with serious problems. As the essays in this collection make clear, we sometimes get what we vote for, yet often we do not.

''The book under review is of exceptional interest for a wide range of potential readers: 1) for students and postgraduates as a basic textbook and a handbook; 2) for lecturers delivering courses connected with decision making as the source of mathematical models and real examples; 3) for researchers as a handbook as well as an inexhaustible source of unsolved problems.'' - V.G. Skobolev, Zentralblatt für Mathematik und ihre Grenzgebiete ''Felsenthal and Machover''s book is a well-balanced mixture of overview, evaluation and new results. It is both a fine scholarly achievement and a most readable text. No one working in the field of formal political theory, institutional design and/or applied social choice theory can afford to ignore it.'' - Hannu Nurmi, European Journal of Political Economy ''...provides a systematic critical examination and exposition of the foundations and methodological presuppositions of the theory of a priori voting power.... it will prove to be a very valuable source of reference and a starting point for every scholar doing research in the field of voting power analysis. The book or parts of it could also be used as a standard textbook for a course on voting power at an advanced graduate level ...The measurement of Voting Power is an excellent book, full of stimulating insights and with some suggestions for future research. It is mathematically rigorous, but at the same time very reader-friendly due to informative informal explanations. It is at the cutting edge of research in the theory and Measurement of a priori voting power, but it is also of practical and political relevance, insofar as it provides a sound basis for the analysis of real-life decision-making processes.'' - Matthias Sutter, Public Choice ''This book provides an extensive survey in the field of voting power Measurement (and further), well documented and self contained.... The book provides a very up-to-date and exhaustive bibliography, but does not neglect to remind and often clear up the historical origin of the various theoretical developments. Covering its subject widely, it presents not only the groundwork of the theory of voting power measurement and its main tools ...but also the related backgrounds, applications and discussions, with wide incursions into the US and European voting systems. Read it: its a must!'' - Giséle De Meur, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium ''To say that this book is excellent would be an understatement. It is really remarkable. Not only would it help people using power indices to redirect their analysis, but it could also incite game theorists in general to reconsider the bad opinion they have of cooperative game theory (must I say that there are several texts that exist on game theory in which cooperative game theory is hardly mentioned?). In brief, it is very highly recommended to social choice theorists, game theorists (and mathematical economists using game theory), and mathematically-inclined political scientists.'' - Maurice Salles, Social Choice and Welfare ''This is an excellent book. Felsenthal and Machover do a remarkable job of weaving together extended discussions of real-world voting systems, the philosophical and historical aspects of measuring power in such contexts, and the paradoxes of voting power - including the striking examples from their own recent work with Zwicker. Anyone interested in voting and social choice, mathematicians, economists, political scientists, philosophers should own a copy.'' - Alan Taylor, Union College, US ''The history of the power indices goes back more than fifty years and is told accurately and completely, for the first time, in this volume. More important, Felsenthal and Machover elucidate the conceptual foundations of the power indices, discover new paradoxes to which the various indices are vulnerable, and draw important lessons, using empirical cases, about the proper measurement and interpretation of voting power.'' - Steven Brams, New York University, US ''Dan Felsenthal and Moshe Machover have been writing stimulating and important papers on the voting power indices for several years. This book collects them together and adds new material. It is both mathematically rigorous and politically important. It will become a required reference for anyone working on weighted voting games, whether in US legislatures or the European Union.'' - Iain McLean, Nuffield College, Oxford University, UK ''This book pulls no punches in exposing confusions in the orthodox approach to voting power. Its clarity and good sense point the way to a better founded theory.'' - Ken Binmore, University College London, UK This book is the first of its kind: a monograph devoted to a systematic critical examination and exposition of the theory of a priori voting power. This important branch of social-choice theory overlaps with game theory and is concerned with the ability of members in bodies that make yes or no decisions by vote to affect the outcome. The book includes, among other topics, a reasoned distinction between two fundamental types of voting power, the authors'' discoveries on the paradoxes of voting power, and a novel analysis of decision rules that admit abstention. Formal mathematical statements are accompanied by reader-friendly informal explanations. The theory is applied and illustrated in extensive case studies. A series of US court cases concerning the application of the principle of ''one person, one vote'' are critically examined in the light of the theory. The history of ''qualified majority voting'' in the European Community''s Council of Ministers is outlined and the distribution of voting power under this rule is analysed for each period of the community''s growth. The measurement of voting power where abstention is a distinct option is illustrated with the examples of the US Congress and the UN Security Council. This important book breaks new ground and will be of interest to students and researchers in social choice, game theory, and in related disciplines such as political economy, business administration and constitutional law.

This timely volume outlines the history, causes, and consequences of political anger in American politics today and embraces positive solutions to problems that we are all entitled to be angry about.

What social groups support which political party, and how that support has changed over time, are central questions in the sociology of political behaviour. This study provides the first systematic book-length reassessment and restatement of the sociological approach to American politics in more than 20 years. It challenges widespread arguments that the importance of social cleavages have declined precipitously in recent years in the face of post-industrial social and economic changes. The book reconceptualizes the concept of social cleavages and focus on four major cleavages in American society: class, religion, gender, and race, arguing a that a number of important changes in the alignments of the groups making up these four cleavages have occurred. The book examines the implications of these changes for the Democratic and Republican Parties. The findings of the book are examined in light of the central dilemmas facing the two major parties in the contemporary political environment.

This work presents an alternative empirical theory of voter turnout. Named the Mobilization/Demobilization Theory, it analyzes voter turnout of different segments of the voting age population in terms of barriers created to prevent participation and efforts to stimulate participation. Avey challenges the theory that the characteristics of nonvoters, low levels of education and political apathy, are the root causes of poor voter turnout among persons of low socioeconomic status, arguing instead that nonvoting results from the behavior of politicians, political elites, and the political system.

Economic voting is a phenomenon that political scientists and economists can hardly overlook. There is ample evidence for a strong link between economic conditions and government popularity. However, not everything is that simple and this edited collection focuses on 'the comparative puzzle' of economic voting. Economic Voting emphasises the importance of comparative research design and argues that the psychology of the economic voter model needs to be developed further.

This volume begins with the well-known premise that different voting procedures may lead to different outcomes. The author then fills a void in present literature by comparing voting procedures in terms of four issues: sophisticated versus sincere voting; sophisticated voters and simultaneous versus sequential voting; voter efficacy in plurality and approval voting; and the use of normative to compare outcomes. He proposes both a new model of sophisticated voting and normative standards for proportional representation procedures. Written for those interested in voting schemes, voting behavior, and social choice theory.

This up-to-date collection of essays addresses key elements of the law and politics of voting rights: the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, the impact of the Voting Rights Act, and the opportunities for enhanced minority representation posed by alternative electoral systems.

This book examines anti-gay voter initiatives from both the political science and communication perspectives. In recent years, anti-gay initiatives sponsored by conservative Christian groups have been placed on the ballot in several states. This development provides an opportunity to evaluate the initiative process as a way of resolving public policy questions on this divisive topic. Using examples and data from Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Maine, Missouri, Florida, California, and Washington, the authors discuss the emergence of the new religious right and why anti-gay initiatives are sponsored by conservative Christian groups. Interviews with the leaders of the groups opposing and supporting the anti-gay initiative in Idaho and a listing of the measures themselves are included.

This pioneering volume advances the thesis that there exists a significant linkage between Black politics and Black political behavior, heretofore treated as separate and distinct areas of study. This is the first work to bring the two together and to support such an approach with empirical studies. Chapter authors explore and analyze basic and fundamental areas of linkage providing a provocative and insightful contribution to the literature of Black politics and political behavior in America. Organized into five main linkage blocks, the work examines: Theoretical linkages between Black politics and Black political behavior; national linkages; state-contextual linkages; procedural linkages; and gender linkages. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students in American politics and political behavior and African-American politics and political behavior.