The vast majority of PR countries have enjoyed stable and efficient governments. But the record of PR use in dozens of European countries over many decades shows only a few instances-Italy being one of them-where instability has been a serious problem. They maintain that if this problem were common, you would expect to see it in most countries that use proportional representation. They note that multiparty coalitions are usually quite stable, and that scholars have found no widespread or systematic evidence of persistent instability in countries that use proportional representation voting. First they admit that multiparty majorities are somewhat more likely to breakup than single-party majorities, but they argue that the instability of these coalitions has been greatly exaggerated by critics of PR. Proportional representation proponents have several responses to this criticism. They often cite Italy as the classic case of this problem it was plagued for decades by coalitions that were continually falling apart and reforming. Critics maintain that these multiparty coalitions may be quite fragile, breaking apart due to squabbles between the parties over policy issues. The more parties elected, the more likely it is that one party will not win the majority of seats and that the legislature will have to be ruled by a coalition of major and minor parties. This accusation is based on the tendency of PR elections to produce multiparty legislatures. Probably the most common criticism of proportional representation is that as it increases the representativeness of government it also increases its instability. PR Encourages Unstable Coalitions and Legislative Gridlock Therefore, it is important to look at their criticisms of PR and to evaluate how accurate those criticisms actually are. In particular, champions of our current voting system often do not deny that it has serious disadvantages (wasted votes, inaccurate party representation, lower voter turnout, gerrymandering, poor representation of women and minorities, etc.), but argue that our system is still the most desirable because PR would be worse. One of the reasons it is important to take a look at the case against PR is that these criticisms play a crucial role in the debate between supporters of PR and supporters of winner-take-all systems. But no voting system is perfect, and you will find below a description of the major criticisms that are often made about PR – followed by the responses to these criticisms that are made by proponents of PR. Most of the information on this site deals with the considerable advantages of PR over winner-take-all systems.
Common Criticisms of PR and Responses to Them Common Criticisms of PR and Responses to ThemĪny objective and thorough analysis of proportional representation must take into account both its political advantages and its political disadvantages.
0 kommentar(er)
