Challenging the wisdom on preferential proportional representation
| Author | Carol Mershon |
| DOI | 10.1177/0951629819892334 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Journal of Theoretical Politics
2020, Vol.32(1) 168–182
ÓThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0951629819892334
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Challenging the wisdom on
preferential proportional
representation
Carol Mershon
Department of Politics, Universityof Virginia, USA
Abstract
The conclusion to the special issue takes stock of both the first and the second generations of
research on preferential proportional representation (PR) and electoral personalism. The article
uses this appraisal in order to locate this project’s achievements within extant scholarship. It
argues that the project not only reevaluates but also challenges the wisdom on preferential PR. In
challenging the canon, the project enriches the study of electoral institutions, political parties, leg-
islative politics, comparative politics, and political science more broadly.
Keywords
Electoral institutions;proportional representation; preferencevoting; electoral personalism; politi-
cal parties
The contributors to this special issue deliver on the promise to reassess the canon
on preferential proportional representation (PR) and electoral personalism
(Cheibub and Nalepa, 2017). As I reflect on that reevaluation, I argue that we not
only reevaluate but also challenge the wisdom on preferential PR. At the same time
that the project points to conceptual, theoretical, and empirical limits in current
work on preferential PR and electoral personalism, it points to avenues for future
scholarship. The challenge we issue thus enables us to offer new insights to the
study of electoral institutions, comparative politics, and political science more
broadly.
1
Corresponding author:
Carol Mershon, Departmentof Politics, University of Virginia, PO Box 400787,Charlottesville, VA 22904,
USA.
Email: cam6m@virginia.edu
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