Elections lie at the heart of democracy, and this book seeks to understand how the rules governing those elections are chosen. Drawing on both broad comparisons and detailed case studies, it focuses upon the electoral rules that govern what sorts of preferences voters can express and how votes translate into seats in a legislature. Through detailed examination of electoral reform politics in four countries (France, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand), Alan Renwick shows how major electoral system changes in established democracies occur through two contrasting types of reform process. Renwick rejects the simple view that electoral systems always straightforwardly reflect the interests of the politicians in power. Politicians' motivations are complex; politicians are sometimes unable to pursue reforms they want; occasionally, they are forced to accept reforms they oppose. The Politics of Electoral Reform shows how voters and reform activists can have real power over electoral reform.

This Is Virtually A Handbook Of Information For All Political Parties And A Useful Book For Political Scientists, Scholars, Teachers And Students Of Political Science As Well As Modern Indian History.

Electoral laws in India have many loopholes. Unfortunately, over the years, India's various governments have not been serious in addressing electoral reforms. There certainly have been improvements, with India's Election Commission taking some major initiatives in bringing about changes, such as the introduction of electronic voting machines and providing every voter with a voter identity card. But larger issues merit serious attention. It is time that proactive steps are taken by the government so that the people not only get a chance to vote, but also get to vote for the right people who will represent them. This book analyzes and charts the possibilities for electoral reform. It scrutinizes the validity of various recent discourses on electoral reforms and establishes, on the one hand, a dialectical re(-)visioning of the institution of the Election Commission and the process through which it validates existence, and on the other, striving to link aspects of the Commission, the office of the Chief Election Commissioner, and electoral reforms. Along with recommend solutions, the book cites examples from countries such as Germany, Japan, and China.

One of the most troubling critiques of contemporary democracy is the inability of representative governments to regulate the deluge of money in politics. If it is impossible to conceive of democracies without elections, it is equally impractical to imagine elections without money. Costs of Democracy is an exhaustive, ground-breaking study of money in Indian politics that opens readers’ eyes to the opaque and enigmatic ways in which money flows through the political veins of the world’s largest democracy. Through original, in-depth investigation—drawing from extensive fieldwork on political campaigns, pioneering surveys, and innovative data analysis—the contributors in this volume uncover the institutional and regulatory contexts governing the torrent of money in politics; the sources of political finance; the reasons for such large spending; and how money flows, influences, and interacts with different tiers of government. The book raises uncomfortable questions about whether the flood of money risks washing away electoral democracy itself.

Papers presented at a seminar organized by the Institute at Chandigarh.