Electoral competition

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Political competition is defined as one minus the share of votes received by the largest party. Political Competition, OWID.svg
Political competition is defined as one minus the share of votes received by the largest party.
Political competition is one minus the share of the winning party's votes in a national election. It provides a measure of the winning party's dominance in the election. Political competition, OWID.svg
Political competition is one minus the share of the winning party's votes in a national election. It provides a measure of the winning party's dominance in the election.

Electoral competition, political competition or electoral competitiveness describes the amount of competition in electoral politics between candidates or political parties, usually measured by the margin of victory. [1] The Polity data series includes a measure of political competition. [2] Political competitiveness can be affected by the proportionality between votes and seats, which can be represented by Gallagher index. [3]

Contents

Roemer model of political competition

The Roemer model of political competition is a game between political parties in which each party announces a multidimensional policy vector. Since Nash equilibria do not normally exist when the policy space is multidimensional, John Roemer introduced the concept of party-unanimity Nash equilibrium (PUNE), which can be considered an application of the concept of Nash equilibrium to political competition. It is also a generalization of the Wittman model of political competition.

Effect on corruption

Political competitiveness can affect the level of political corruption. [3]

By country

In American federal elections, races for U.S. Senate tend to be more competitive than those for U.S. House of Representatives. [4] Even in wave election years, the vast majority of U.S. House members keep their seats, with little pressure from the opposing party. [5] Competition in U.S. House races has been in decline since at least the 1960s. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Roemer model of political competition is a game between political parties in which each party announces a multidimensional policy vector. Since Nash equilibria do not normally exist when the policy space is multidimensional, John Roemer introduced the concept of party-unanimity Nash equilibrium (PUNE), which can be considered an application of the concept of Nash equilibrium to political competition. It is also a generalization of the Wittman model of political competition.

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References

  1. Klarner, Carl; Berry, William; Carsey, Thomas; Jewell, Malcolm; Niemi, Richard; Powell, Lynda; Snyder, James (2013). "State Legislative Election Returns (1967-2010)". doi:10.3886/ICPSR34297.v1.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. https://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/p5manualv2018.pdf Marshall, Monty G., and Ted Robert Gurr. "Polity5: Political regime characteristics and transitions, 1800-2018." Center for Systemic Peace 2 (2020).
  3. 1 2 Alfano, Maria Rosaria; Baraldi, Anna Laura; Cantabene, Claudia (2013). "The role of political competition in the link between electoral systems and corruption: The Italian case". The Journal of Socio-Economics. 47: 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2013.07.005.
  4. Nice, David (1984). "Competitiveness in house and senate elections with identical constituencies". Political Behavior. 6 (1): 95–102. doi:10.1007/BF00988231. S2CID   154349012.
  5. "How Do We Make Elections More Competitive?". Prospect.org. 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  6. Abramowitz, Alan I; Alexander, Brad; Gunning, Matthew (2006). "Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Decline of Competition in the U.S. House Elections". The Journal of Politics. 68 (1): 75–88. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.177.798 . doi:10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00371.x. S2CID   18783205.