Reconceptualising electoral reform

Abstract

This article delineates the three waves of development in the study of electoral reform: the systematic description and consequences of electoral systems; the analysis of major reform and its political consequences; and a more comprehensive approach to the study of electoral reform. It seeks to achieve two goals. The first is to shift attention away from the political consequences of electoral change and toward what takes place before the passage of reform. Beyond delineating what electoral reform is, the authors ask: Why does it occur? Who initiates the electoral reform? When, and where, does it succeed or fail to pass the necessary obstacles? How should we study it? They therefore want to analyse the determinants of electoral reform. Their second goal is to elaborate an agenda for future research in electoral change, and they do so by discussing both the reconceptualisation and the methodology of electoral reform research. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.