Libsyn Directory

3.1 Electoral Systems with Professor David Farrell

Release Date: 09/17/2017

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I talk with Anouch Toranian, the Deputy Mayor of Paris, Yves Dejaeghere, the Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy, Europe and Claudia Chwalisz, leader of innovation in citizen engagement with the OECD about the design and establishment of the Paris Citizens' Assembly.

3.8 New Zealand's Electoral System with Therese Arseneau

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

I'm speaking with Therese Arseneau about the introduction of a mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. Therese talks about the background to the referendum which led to the introduction of MMP in New Zealand [1:20], how voters view the impact of MMP [13:20], the reality of MMP and coalition governments [21:20], the impact of MMP on women's representation [28:10], its wider impact [34:00] and Maori representation generally and the impact of MMP [39:30].

3.7 Electoral systems in Australia with Antony Green

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I’m talking with Antony Green about the Australian electoral system and Vote Compass, a tool which allows voters to explore how their views align with the major parties.

3.6 Reforming democracy, democratic legitimacy and majority bonuses with Dr Camille Bedock

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I’m talking with Dr Camille Bedock about her book Reforming Democracy: Institutional engineering in Western Europe, 1990 - 2010 and also about her more recent research with Sophie Panel on citizen conceptions of how democratic their democracy is and with Nicolas Sauger on how electoral systems with majority bonuses affect electoral competition.

3.5 Electoral Integrity with Pippa Norris

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I am speaking with Professor Pippa Norris about her work on electoral integrity.

Bonus Ep10 Deliberation Culture Context - John Dryzek

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Dryzek about his ARC Laureate Fellowship, his reflections on the Conference generally, how we might establish global deliberative processes and directions for future research in this area.

Bonus Ep9 Deliberation Culture Context - Quinlan Bowman

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I’m speaking with Dr Quinlan Bowman about his reflections on the Conference Deliberation, Culture and Context.

Bonus Ep8 Deliberation Culture Context - John Parkinson

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Parkinson, who is currently a Professor of Social and Political Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University, The Netherlands.

Bonus Ep7 Deliberation Culture Context - Ian O'Flynn

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In this bonus episode I’m speaking with Dr Ian O'Flynn about his work on deliberation in divided societies.

Bonus Ep6 Deliberation Culture Context - Stephanie Lawson

Real Democracy Now! a podcast

In bonus episode 6 I’m speaking with Professor Stephanie Lawson, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the Macquarie University about her paper ‘Consensus Politics and Democracy in the Pacific Islands: A Critique’ which she presented at the Deliberation, Culture and Context conference.

More Episodes

Thank you for joining me in episode 1 of Season 3 of Real Democracy Now! a podcast. Season 3 of the podcast is looking at Elections, electoral systems, electoral reform and alternatives. As you can imagine this is a huge area to cover and I would like to thank Anika Gauja from the University of Sydney who helped me develop a broad structure for this Season.

I’m going to start looking at a few areas at a high level before moving into more detail in areas such as electoral systems around the world, negative campaigning and populism, compulsory vs voluntary voting, the various institutions and actors involved and alternatives to elections, where I’ll look at sortition and digital democracy.

In today’s episode, I’m talking to Professor David Farrell. David is a Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University College Dublin. He is a specialist in the study of parties, elections, electoral systems and members of parliament. His current research focuses on the role of deliberation in constitutional reform processes.

I asked David

How would you define the term ‘electoral system’? [1:45]

How do you approach comparing so many different approaches to electoral systems around the world? [4:20]

How do you characterise different families of electoral systems? [5.00]

Could you provide an overview of the key elements of different electoral systems? [6:00]

How can everyday people evaluate the different options? [15:05]

Are there electoral reforms that warrant serious consideration that are still only theoretical i.e. they haven’t been used anywhere? [20:25]

What do you think about the idea of using sortition to select a house of review? [22:15]

If you were asked to re-design the Irish electoral system what would it look like? [25:25]

Thank you for joining me today. In next week’s episode I’ll be talking to Emeritus Professor Arend Lijphartabout his lifetime’s work. [29:40]

I hope you’ll join me then.

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