Daniel Weinstock (McGill), Against Proportionality
Channel: Radio-CRÉ
Date: 2017-11-23

Discussant: Aberdeen Berry

Daniel Weinstock
Against Proportionality

It is received wisdom among electoral systems theorists that fairness of representation in electoral schemes favours systems of proportional representation. These systems apportion representation in legislatures in proportion to votes received. While other kinds of systems, such as single-member plurality, may rank better with respect to other values, such as stability and accountability, fairness is seen as univocally pointing to proportional representation. In this paper, I want to take aim at this received wisdom. I will argue that the morally appropriate conception of proportionality connects proportions of votes not with seats, but with potential power, and that the logic of coalition-building in proportional representation systems risks providing parties with potential power quite disproportionate to votes and seats. I will examine various ways in which this problem can be addressed within PR systems, to do for example with rules constraining how coalitions are formed.

Caméra et montage: Marc-Antoine Plouffe