Journal Article

Unfall, Design, Evolution? Warum Neuseeland 1993 sein Wahlsystem reformierte

Heer, Sebastian

2008

Overview

In 1993, New Zealand's voters raised a political shockwave: In a binding referendum, a majority decided to replace the first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP) and to introduce a mixed-member-proportional system (MMP), as used in Germany, instead. Bearing in mind the traditionally stable character of electoral systems, the question arises whether the New Zealand electoral reform can be best explained as accident, product of constitutional design or the result of a long-term evolutionary process. Of these three, the evolutionary model offers a wide range of plausible reasons for this reform. It best explains this exceptional process of institutional learning and maintains plausibility in other cases as well. Nevertheless, the New Zealand example also makes clear that electoral reforms often prove to be a combination of the elements of accident, design and evolution.

• Publisher: NOMOS Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
• Subject: AUFSÄTZE