election: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
A classic English-language review of the history of elections is Charles Seymour and Donald Paige Frary, How the World Votes: The Story of Democratic Development in Elections, 2 vol. (1918). A readable, comprehensive overview of electoral institutions is David M. Farrell, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction (2001). The impact of electoral systems on party systems is analyzed in Douglas W. Rae, The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws, rev. ed. (1971); Rein Taagepera and Matthew Soberg Shugart, Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems (1989, reissued 1991); and Arend Lijphart et al., Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-seven Democracies, 1945β1990 (1994). The significance for democratic theory of electoral arrangements is considered in Richard S. Katz, Democracy and Elections (1997). The development of mixed-member electoral systems is the focus of Matthew Soberg Shugart and Martin P. Wattenberg (eds.), Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? (2001).
Analyses of referenda and direct democracy can be found in David B. Magleby, Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States (1984); Thomas E. Cronin, Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall (1989, reissued 1999); David Butler and Austin Ranney (eds.), Referendums Around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy (1994); and Ian Budge, The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1996).
Classic perspectives on voting behaviour and electoral participation can be found in Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957, reissued 1965); Angus Campbell et al., The American Voter (1960, reprinted 1980); and Seymour M. Lipset and Stein Rokkan (eds.), Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives (1967). Other developments in voting behaviour are discussed in Ivor Crewe and David Denver (eds.), Electoral Change in Western Democracies: Patterns and Sources of Electoral Volatility (1985); Stefano Bartolini and Peter Mair, Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates, 1885β1985 (1990); Mark N. Franklin et al., Electoral Change: Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries (1992); Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns, 2nd ed. (1994); Warren E. Miller and J. Merrill Shanks, The New American Voter (1996); Geoffrey Evans (ed.), The End of Class Politics?: Class Voting in Comparative Context (1999); and Samuel Merrill III and Bernard Grofman, A Unified Theory of Voting: Directional and Proximity Spatial Models (1999).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Paul David Webb
- Heinz Eulau
-
Roger Gibbins
Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary, Alberta.
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Social Sciences LibreTexts - Elections. | Sep 02, 2026 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 23, 2025 | ||
| Links added. | Mar 04, 2025 | ||
| Media added. | Aug 29, 2024 | ||
| Media added. | Feb 01, 2024 | ||
| Media added. | Jul 19, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: OpenStax - American Government 4e - Elections. | Jan 20, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Social Sciences LibreTexts - Elections. | Sep 06, 2022 | ||
| Added mention that Iraq holds competitive elections and cited the U.S. presidential election of 2016 as an example of its electoral college system. | Nov 02, 2020 | ||
| Add new Web site: How Stuff Works - Election Issues Explained. | Mar 02, 2012 | ||
| Updated to include the results of the 2011 recall effort in Wisconsin. | Aug 17, 2011 | ||
| Changed "The Netherlands" to "the Netherlands." | Sep 02, 2010 | ||
| Added map of 2008 federal election results in Canada. | Jan 30, 2009 | ||
| Added new Web site: American National Election Studies (ANES). | Jul 17, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: Politics1. | Jun 06, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Nov 20, 2003 | ||
| Article revised. | Mar 28, 2003 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 26, 1999 |