The International Almanac is the only up to date source for the history of election results in the Western world from their origins to the present. It provides clear and authoritative information for 25 different countries, ranging alphabetically from Australia to the USA, and geographically across four continents, including Japan and new Mediterranean democracies as well as old Anglo-American and Scandinavian democracies. Each chapter gives a comprehensive list of all parties that have contested one or more elections, its vote at each election and percentage share of the poll, and the number of seats won in the national assembly. The results have been checked from original sources in more than 15 languages. The new edition of the Almanac brings election results up to date and incorporates fresh materials from historical research, while retaining the features that have made the volume the authoritative book on elections.

Publisher Description

This book explores and presents the influence of contextual factors on the choice of electoral systems for parliamentary elections in both democracies and non-democracies around the world. Taking a macroscopic approach, the author focuses on structural explanations, with an emphasis on general patterns rather than country specific explanations. Drawn from a wealth of data, the book presents the frequency of the adoption of each electoral formula and system in the postwar era and is followed by a theoretical elaboration of electoral system choice. The author then draws on rational, cultural/historical and institutional theories which are systematically analyzed by means of sophisticated bivariate and multivariate techniques. Lundell demonstrates that few electoral systems have been chosen from rational considerations and the impact of the cultural and historical setting is tremendous; colonial legacy, regional influence and temporal trends largely explain the cross-national variation in electoral systems. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, electoral politics and comparative politics.

This book provides a concise and accessible account of the historical experience of European parliaments – why different electoral systems were adopted, how they have functioned, how they have affected the development of political parties, and in what respects they have been found over time to be either suitable or unsatisfactory. The book begins with a summary of the main electoral systems, analysing and re-assessing each in the light of historical experience. The core of the book, however, is a country-by-country account of the systems which have operated in each of the main West European countries, in the context of their own constitutional, political and social developments.

"This is a book that all scholars of electoral systems or electoral history will need to read, and most will want to own. Much of the historical material reported is not available anywhere else in English, and much of it appears to be first-time reports of primary materials. Quite readable and very well-organized." -Cambridge Univ. Press referee

Get thousands of facts right at your fingertips with this updated resource. The World Almanac® and Book of Facts is America's top-selling reference book of all time, with more than 82 million copies sold. Published annually since 1868, this compendium of information is the authoritative source for all your entertainment, reference, and learning needs. Praised as a “treasure trove of political, economic, scientific and educational statistics and information” by The Wall Street Journal, The World Almanac® contains thousands of facts that are unavailable publicly elsewhere—in fact, it has been featured as a category on Jeopardy! and is routinely used as a go-to, all-encompassing guide for aspiring game show contestants. The 2013 edition of The World Almanac® and Book of Facts will answer all of your trivia questions—from history and sports to geography, pop culture, and much more.