Open AccessThe perils of plurality rule in democratic presidential systems: A replication and extension
Author(s) -
Joshua Holzer
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262026
Subject(s) - democracy , human rights , presidential system , political science , government (linguistics) , order (exchange) , public administration , presidential election , law , law and economics , sociology , politics , economics , philosophy , linguistics , finance
Recent research suggests that country-years where presidents won their previous election with an absolute majority are more likely to be associated with high government respect for human rights, in comparison to country-years where presidents won their previous election by a mere plurality. With this follow-up article, I replicate these findings with a greatly expanded dataset, and I explore whether country-years where presidents have been elected using a majoritarian system are more likely to be associated with high government respect for human rights, in comparison to country-years where presidents have been elected using a non-majoritarian system. Ultimately, I find that not only are presidents elected with a plurality associated with comparatively lower levels of human rights respect, but so are presidents elected via a non-majoritarian system. These findings suggest that policymakers seeking to improve human rights practices may want to consider directing their efforts towards promoting electoral reform with an emphasis on mandating a minimum of a majority in order to win an election.