Electoral systems are significant in determining the structure of electorates

Analysing a vast database of district level election results, Gudio Tiemann shows the political consequences of electoral systems at the district level, concentrating on the effects of (local) district magnitudes on the fragmentation of (local) electorates and the con­text-dependency of electoral system effects. The straightforward focus on the district level addresses where the causal forces behind Duverger’s law actually operate and exploit rich datasets that have only recently been made available for empirical analyses.