This volume conceptualizes the dynamics underlying electoral politics in ethnically divided societies, providing empirical evidence and analysis of recent elections in such societies on a comparative and single-case basis, including case studies of Macedonia, Slovakia, Belgium, Malaysia, Singapore, Rwanda, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Free and fair elections are one of the most fundamental characteristics of democratic systems. In ethnically divided societies, elections and the rules and regulations on which they are based assume special importance because they provide important levers to guarantee, or prevent, adequate representation of different communal groups in the key institutions of the state. Hence not only are elections contested vigorously, but also the electoral systems according to which they are conducted.
This book was previously published as a special issue of Ethnopolitics.
Introduction: The Ethnopolitics of Elections. Electoral Systems and Good Governance in Divided Countries. Electoral System Design and Minority Representation in Slovakia and Macedonia. The Adaptation of the Electoral System to the Ethno-Linguistic Evolution of Belgian Consociationalism. Multiracialism Engineered: The Limits of Electoral and Spatial Integration in Singapore. Playing The (Non)Ethnic Card: The Electoral System and Ethnic Voting Patterns in Malaysia. Democratization and Ethnic Politics: Rwanda’s Electoral Legacy. Exceptional Victories: Multi-Racialism in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
Biography
Florian Bieber is Lecturer in East European Politics at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. He is also Senior Non-Resident Research Associate with the European Centre for Minority Issues.
Stefan Wolff is Professor of Political Science at the University of Nottingham in England, United Kingdom. He is founding editor of the journal Ethnopolitics (Routledge), co-chair of the Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics of the Political Studies Association of the UK, and a member of the advisory board of the Minorities at Risk project.
