Patrick Emmenegger

The Party Politics of Electoral System Choice explores the strategic manipulation of electoral systems by political actors to maintain access to power. It delves into how electoral systems are more than mere governance tools; they are pivotal instruments that shape power dynamics. The book shows that the choice of an electoral system is one of the most consequential decisions in any democracy. The authors develop a 'neo-Rokkanian' theory of electoral system choice, arguing that incumbent parties try to contain electoral threats through district design and electoral alliances. When successful, incumbent parties resist electoral reform. However, this strategy leads to growing seat-vote distortions, which is why disadvantaged parties demand proportional representation. In the absence of any exogenous shock, however, disadvantaged parties will struggle to overcome the incumbent parties' resistance to electoral reform. If incumbent parties cannot resort to containment measures, for example because the electoral geography is not suitable, they support the adoption of proportional representation. In this response, incumbent parties opt for a more inclusive electoral system that allows them to limit their seat losses in the face of a rapidly growing electoral threat that they cannot neutralize. Through a comprehensive analysis of first-wave democracies and a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the authors reveal the broader patterns of strategic behaviour of political actors seeking to optimize their positions through electoral reform. This comprehensive study is essential for understanding the politics of electoral system choice, offering new insights into electoral geography, district design, electoral alliances, and party preferences for electoral reform. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Faget offentlig politik er studiet af, hvordan og hvorfor politiske aktører forfølger bestemte politiske mål. Bogen Offentlig politik giver en indgående introduktion til fagets væsentligste elementer. Herunder hvordan regeringer kan forfølge et givent mål, fx forbedre miljøet, skabe mere økonomisk vækst eller mindske kriminaliteten. For at forstå sådanne spørgsmål er det for det første nødvendigt at vide noget om, hvilke policy-instrumenter der findes. For det andet er det også nødvendigt at se på, hvordan man måler forandring i den offentlige politik. Hertil kommer, at man må vide, hvorfor regeringer forfølger bestemte mål. Hvorfor har vi fx en meget aktiv miljøindsats i Danmark? Hvorfor har vi en stor velfærdsstat? Hvorfor ingen ret til aktiv dødshjælp? Bogen forklarer en række teorier og tilgange, der tilbyder forklaringer på denne type spørgsmål. At foretage gode analyser af offentlig politik kræver et solidt overblik over eksisterende teorier, men også en forståelse for, at virkeligheden ikke altid passer til de teoretiske forventninger. Analyser af offentlig politik er et håndværk – og denne bog giver en introduktion til det. Offentlig politik er redigeret af Christopher Green-Pedersen, Carsten Jensen og Peter Nannestad, Institut for Statskundskab, Aarhus Universitet.

This first comparative-historical analysis of the regulations that restrict the managerial capacity to dismiss employees and use temporary forms of employment addresses four puzzles that have long troubled the comparative political economy literature. Who is the driving force behind the extension of dismissal protection? Why is statutory dismissal protection particularly extensive in continental Europe? How can the uneven temporal development of job security regulations be explained? And what are the causes of the two-tier labour market reforms in recent decades? Analysing the historical development of job security regulations in Western Europe from the establishment of freedom of contract in the 19th century until the peak of two-tier labour market reforms in the 2000s, this book contributes to resolving these puzzles by emphasising the important role of trade unions, their preference for institutional control, and the strategic choices they make.