Majority Decisions : Principles and Practices

Jon Elster

ISBN 10: 1107054095 / ISBN 13: 9781107054097

Published by Cambridge University Press Jun 2014, 2014

About this Item

Neuware - This book presents the most complete set of analytical, normative, and historical discussions of majority decision making to date. One chapter critically addresses the social-choice approach to majority decisions, whereas another presents an alternative to that approach. Extensive case studies discuss majority voting in the choice of religion in early modern Switzerland, majority voting in nested assemblies such as the French Estates-General and the Federal Convention, majority voting in federally organized countries, qualified majority voting in the European Union Council of Ministers, and majority voting on juries. Other chapters address the relation between majority decisions and cognitive diversity, the causal origin of majority decisions, and the pathologies of majority decision making. Two chapters, finally, discuss the counter-majoritarian role of courts that exercise judicial review. The editorial Introduction surveys conceptual, causal, and normative issues that arise in the theory and practice of majority decisions.

Seller Inventory # 9781107054097

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Majority Decisions : Principles and Practices
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Jun 2014
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1107054095
• ISBN 13: 9781107054097
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 231W x 152H x 20D millimeters 231 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 20 millimeters depth
• Weight: 476 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book presents the most complete set of analytical, normative, and historical discussions of majority decision making to date. One chapter critically addresses the social-choice approach to majority decisions, whereas another presents an alternative to that approach. Extensive case studies discuss majority voting in the choice of religion in early modern Switzerland, majority voting in nested assemblies such as the French Estates-General and the Federal Convention, majority voting in federally organized countries, qualified majority voting in the European Union Council of Ministers, and majority voting on juries. Other chapters address the relation between majority decisions and cognitive diversity, the causal origin of majority decisions, and the pathologies of majority decision making. Two chapters, finally, discuss the counter-majoritarian role of courts that exercise judicial review. The editorial Introduction surveys conceptual, causal, and normative issues that arise in the theory and practice of majority decisions.

About the Authors

Stéphanie Novak serves as a Roman Herzog Research Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance (Berlin). She is the author of La Prise de décision au Conseil de l´Union européenne: Pratiques du vote et du consensus (2011) and the recipient of the Prix Fondation Saint-Simon and Prix Dalloz for her dissertation from Sciences Po Paris.

Jon Elster is Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. The author of 23 monographs, translated into 18 languages, his recent books include Securities against Misrule (Cambridge University Press, 2013), Alexis de Tocqueville: The First Social Scientist (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Explaining Social Behavior (Cambridge University Press, 2007).