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Rational Choice Meets the New Politics: Choosing the Scottish Parliament’s Electoral System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2018

Alan Convery  and
Thomas Carl Lundberg
Alan Convery*
Affiliation:
Alan Convery is a Lecturer in Politics in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh
Thomas Carl Lundberg
Affiliation:
Thomas Carl Lundberg is a Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow
*
*Corresponding author. Email: Alan.Convery@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

Although there has been extensive research on electoral system choice at the national level, we know relatively little about the dynamics of deciding the rules of the game for sub-state institutions. This article examines the factors that influenced the choice of a proportional electoral system for the new Scottish Parliament in 1999. Through the use of archival sources and interviews with key participants, we challenge the conventional rational choice explanation for the adoption of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system. Although rational considerations on the part of the Labour Party were involved in the choice of MMP, our findings suggest that, as at the national level, theories of electoral system choice need to consider normative values as well.

Keywords

electoral systemsrational choiceScottish ParliamentMMPdevolution
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 114 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 

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