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Understanding the Impact of Electoral Systems on Women's Representation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2016

Frank C. Thames
Frank C. Thames*
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
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Extract

The study of electoral systems is a key area of research within political science. In part, the attention paid to electoral systems reflects their importance to democratic political systems. Electoral systems define “what constitutes” a vote, establish “a rule for how votes are totaled,” and create a mechanism for “translating vote share into seat allocations” for representative institutions (Bawn 1993, 966). These roles mean that electoral systems impact not only how interests are represented, but also how accountability is structured.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 379 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

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