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"Herron, Erik S"
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Mixed electoral systems : contamination and its consequences
Using election returns, public opinion surveys, and legislative roll-call data from many mixed systems in every world region, the authors show that contamination systematically affects party strategy, voting behaviour, legislative cohesion and overall structure of partisan competition.
eBook
One Ukraine or Many? Regionalism in Ukraine and Its Political Consequences
Intra-state regional differences are a central topic in the study of European and Eurasian politics. In Ukraine, regional differences have proven to be powerful predictors of mass attitudes and political behavior. But what does the “regional factor” in Ukrainian politics represent? Is it simply the result of compositional effects, or are the regional differences more than just a sum of other demographic factors correlated with geographic divisions? When analyzing regional divisions as an explanatory variable, what are the implications of employing different regional frameworks? In this article, we demonstrate how geographic divisions in the country hold up even when others factors—such as ethnicity and language use—are controlled for. As part of this inquiry, we compare the results of three competing regional frameworks for Ukraine: one with two regions, one with four regions and one with eight regions. While the eight-region framework is uncommon in studies of Ukraine, the decision to examine eight regions is supported by historical, economic and demographic arguments, as well as by the results of the statistical analyses presented in this article. Scholars who have focused on fewer regions in Ukraine may have underestimated the effects of regional differences and missed interesting stories about intra-state variation in Ukrainian attitudes and voting behavior. The results of this study carry important implications not only for the study of Ukraine but also for those interested in intra-state regional divisions across Europe and Eurasia.
Journal Article
Going It Alone? Strategic Entry under Mixed Electoral Rules
Recent studies on strategic voting and entry in elections that combine plurality or majority and proportional representation (PR) have found candidate placement in single-member district (SMD) races to improve a party's PR performance. The primary implication of the existence of \"contamination effects\" is that parties have an incentive to nominate candidates in as many single-member districts as possible. Pre-electoral coordination in the majoritarian component of mixed electoral systems, however, is far from uncommon. In this article, we identify a number of institutional incentives that induce political parties to form pre-electoral alliances in spite of contamination effects. By identifying institutions that favor and hamper coordination, we seek to advance the understanding of PR-SMD interactions and to assess their implications for the design, classification, and empirical analysis of mixed electoral rules. Our statistical tests evaluate strategic entry in a diverse sample of countries.
Journal Article
The Impact of 'Boss' Candidates and Local Political Machines on Elections in Ukraine
The business sector has strongly influenced Ukrainian electoral campaigns since the founding post-communist elections. This article investigates the role of influential, local business-sector candidates, whom we label 'boss' candidates, in illicit campaign activities, using unique biographical, electoral, and crowd-sourced data from the 2012 parliamentary elections. The analysis shows that higher levels of competition among candidates with 'boss' characteristics are associated with elevated reports of voter manipulation, specifically vote buying. The findings add to extant research on election integrity in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, presenting quantitative empirical evidence that is consistent with narratives about Ukrainian electoral corruption.
Journal Article
The Relationship Between Independence and Judicial Review in Post-Communist Courts
Following the collapse of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, constitutional designers codified rules establishing independent judiciaries. To what degree do these constitutional and statutory guarantees of independence reflect the actual behavior of courts? Our analysis demonstrates that official judicial power does not predict expressions of judicial review—overturning legislation in whole or in part. Rather, exogenous factors, including economic conditions, executive power, identity of the litigants and legal issues, influence the likelihood that courts will nullify laws. Our findings should caution both scholars and institutional designers. Both formal and informal factors create the parameters in which courts operate. Although courts have become more powerful institutions in the post-communist era, they face a diverse set of constraints on independent action.
Journal Article
Electoral Influences on Legislative Behavior in Mixed-Member Systems: Evidence from Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada
This article addresses how mixed-member systems that combine proportional representation (PR) and single-member districts (SMD) into a single election can influence legislators' voting behavior. Scholars have generally extended standard expectations of behavior to mixed-member systems by assuming that legislators occupying PR seats in mixed-member parliaments should be more cohesive than those occupying SMD seats. I argue that controlling for seat type alone does not take into account the interaction between PR and SMD in mixed-member systems. Using voting data from Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, I show that controlling for dual candidacy and the \"safety\" of the deputy's district or list position increases our understanding of the factors motivating legislative cohesion.
Journal Article
Causes and Consequences of Fluid Faction Membership in Ukraine
Assesses why many Ukrainian legislators have demonstrated limited loyalty to their parliamentary parties, or factions, and shows that electoral, policy and partisan factors are significant. Institutional features, including the electoral rules and legislative procedures, encourage deputies to make limited commitments to factions. Discusses the implications of defection for representation and policy making.
Journal Article
The Motherland is Calling: Views of Homeland among Russians in the Near Abroad
Do Russians in Central Asia and other parts of the former Soviet Union see Russia as their homeland? Do they want Russia to defend their interests? How united are they in their views? This article examines these questions through the analysis of surveys conducted among the Russian population in four post-Soviet states-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Ukraine-as well as in focus groups in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Although many Russians have emigrated from the Central Asian countries, and some from Belarus and Ukraine, those who have stayed do not fit the common assumption that Russians are a potential fifth column who favor interference by Moscow and view Russia as their external \"homeland.\" There is, instead, a great deal of heterogeneity among these ethnic Russians. Whether they identify Russia or their current country of residence as their homeland depends powerfully on where they were born and how long they have lived in their current country of residence. Those Russian-born Russians who have chosen their current state of residence as their homelands tend to score high on pride in their country of residence, have confidence in its political institutions, and show a commitment to remain in the country. Even those Russian-born Russians who consider Russia to be their homeland do not look positively on the Russian Federation's intervention in local affairs. The results suggest that while the motherland may be calling, Russians who remain in the near abroad are not answering the call.
Journal Article