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Social Choice in the Real World II: Cyclical Preferences and Strategic Voting in the Finnish Presidential Elections
Author(s) -
Lagerspetz Eerik
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1997.tb00184.x
Subject(s) - voting , presidential system , preference , relevance (law) , positive economics , politics , presidential election , political science , social choice theory , continuation , economics , microeconomics , law , computer science , programming language
The empirical relevance of the theoretical results of social choice theory is still unclear. The most radical thesis, put forth by William Riker, is that politics is a highly unstable process, characterized by preference cycles and strategic voting. This article ‐ a continuation of an earlier article published in this journal ‐ examines the Finnish presidential election in 1925, 1931, 1937 and 1982. The conclusion is that preference cycle and strategic voting have had a significant impact in the discussed cases. The relevancy of the social choice approach and its relation to historical research are discussed.