Cambridge University Press Ideological Representation: Achieved and Astray: Elections, Institutions, and the Breakdown of Ideological Congruence in Parliamentary Democracies (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)

Ideological congruence is the term generally used in comparative politics for the representative relationship between the general preferences of citizens and the perceived and stated position of government. This study provides a systematic comparative assessment of success and failure in achieving ideological congruence in nineteen developed parliamentary democracies from 1996 through to 2017. It then deconstructs the processes through which elections can connect citizens and governments into the three major stages: citizens' votes in parliamentary elections; the conversion of those votes into legislative representation; the election of prime ministers by their parliaments and the appointment of cabinet ministers. Analyzing these three stages shows that average distance from the median citizen increases at each stage, with only a few remarkable recoveries once congruence begins to go astray. Book Description Traces, explains and evaluates processes of democratic ideological representation from voter choices, through election laws, to the formation of parliamentary governments. About the Author G. Bingham Powell, Jr is the Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester, New York. He served as President of the American Political Science Association from 2011 to 2012 and as Managing Editor of the American Political Science Review from 1991 to 1995. He is the co-author and co-editor of the leading undergraduate comparative politics text, Comparative Politics Today (2014).