Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T23:34:09.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Strategic Voting Under Conditions of Uncertainty: A Re-Evaluation of Duverger's Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2007

EMILY CLOUGH
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of North Texas

Abstract

Political scientists have long recognized that the number of parties in a country influences the way that interests are represented in that country. One explanation for the number of parties in a system relies on the idea of strategic voting, i.e. voters may not want to ‘waste a vote’ by voting for a third party. However, work in this area does not address the role of an important factor that may affect party systems through strategic voting: information. Without polls, how could voters know which parties were likely to win, and hence how to vote strategically? Using an agent-based model, this article assesses the role that information plays in shaping the party system through strategic voting. The results of this model demonstrate that, contrary to Duverger's Law, more than two parties may emerge in single-member plurality systems, even when all voters are strategic.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)