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On the Outcome of the 1983 Conservative Leadership Convention: How They Shot Themselves in the Other Foot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Terrence J. Levesque
Terrence J. Levesque
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
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Abstract

Social choice theory demonstrates that interesting and nonobvious perversities can result when majoritarian methods are applied to the selection of a single alternative from among more than two alternatives. The “voters paradox” is a well-known example of this phenomenon. This note demonstrates that the outcome of the 1983 federal Conservative party leadership convention is another example of the interaction of a decision rule and preferences producing a nonoptimal outcome.

Résumé

La théorie du choix social démontre que de perversités interessantes et non évidentes peuvent résulter lorsque des méthodes majoritaires sont appliquées à la sélection d'un choix parmi plus de deux alternatives. Le paradoxe des électeurs est un exemple bien connu de ce phénomèe. Ce commentaire démontre que le résultat de la convention pour élir le chef du parti Conservateur fédérale en 1983 est un autre exemple d'une interaction entre une méthode de décision et des préférences qui produisent un résultat non-optimal.

Type
Notes
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 1983 , pp. 779 - 784
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1983

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References

1 See, for example. Riker, William H., Liberalism Against Populism (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1982).Google Scholar

2 Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, “1983 Leadership Convention Elections Committee Progress Report No. 1” (dated March 11, 1983; multilith), 2–3.

3 See Riker, Liberalism Against Populism, for description of this and other methods of election referred to in this paragraph.