This book looks at the link between voters and political party systems in Asian democracies, focusing on India, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines. It discusses this link in terms of three distinct elements: the formation of voters preferences, the translation of preferences into votes, and the translation of votes into seats. The book goes on to discuss how far the general rules of political party systems and their underlying causal mechanisms such as strategic voting are apparent in these Asian democracies. In particular, it explores the extent to which electoral rules and social structural variables affect the process of transforming preferences into a political party system within the context of Asian politics.The extensive areas covered by the book overcome the traditional sub-regional division of Asia, namely, East, Southeast and South Asia.
Part 1: Society, Institutions and Party Systems: Institutionalism vs. Political Sociology 1. Issues and Approaches in the Literature on Party Systems of Asia 2. Social Structure, District Magnitude, and Parliamentary Party Systems: Indonesia 3. Social Structure, Institutions, and Presidential Party Systems: the Philippines Part 2: Translation of Preferences into Votes 4. Strategic Voting in Presidential Elections: Korea 5. Strategic Voting in Parliamentary Elections: India 6. Theorizing of Strategic Coalition: India Part 3: New Issues and Perspectives 7. Institutional Interaction in Mixed Electoral Systems: Korea 8. A New Innovative Perspective on the Party System: A Critique of Institutional Determinism
Biography
Jungug Choi is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Konkuk University, in Seoul, Korea. He is the author of Governments and Markets in East Asia (Routledge, 2006).