Equilibria with Unrestricted Entry in Multi Member District Plurality (SNTV) Elections

Extending Duverger's Law to electoral districts of arbitrary district magnitude would imply just one "extra" candidate running in each race. In this paper we analyze equilibrium properties (possible equilibrium configuration and then existence) of a plurality electoral system returning more than one legislator per district. We look at sincere Downsian voters and strategically behaving candidates (who can change their policy platforms at no cost, while new candidates can enter the race). In Part II we find empirical evidence in favor of the implications of this analysis in the performance of actual SNTV electoral systems, such as the one in Japan and Taiwan

The Ouroborous of Political Institutions: Party Rules in Institutional Context

Political parties are essential elements of the political landscape in most of the world and their role is essential as they connect citizens to policy change. Though precisely because they do so much and mean so much there is little agreement among scholars on how they should be studied or understood. Indeed, despite the centrality of parties, the comprehensive large-N analysis of institutions and politics inside rather than among them is yet to be attempted. Instead, cross-national data collection efforts are mostly driven by theories that take party structures as given and focus on systems of parties and competition among parties in those systems. The basic question of why parties look like they do and how their organizational features affect political outcomes is left unasked. We believe that advancing scholarship demands that political scientists address the increasingly salient questions of source and purpose of the design of the formal and informal rules that define party organization— intraparty institutions—and (further down the line) of the effects they have on politics and political outcomes. In this paper we introduce a theory-driven approach for empirically examining variation in internal party organization (i.e., rules) in cross-national as well as country-specific context. The gist of our measurement strategy is to trace the degree of centralization in intraparty resource flows

Ethnic Heterogeneity, District Magnitude, and the Number of Parties

Recent events leading to the importation of democratic ideas and ideals by previously totalitarian states increase our interest in the ways in which electoral institutions influence party systems. However, even if we restrict our attention to Eastern Europe or the successor states of the Soviet empire, we encounter a range of social diversity – ethnic heterogeneity - that is as great as those in the set of countries examined in earlier studies that seek to identify the influence of electoral laws (c.f., Rae, Lijphart, and Taagepera and Shugart). Curiously, though, these earlier studies fail to ascertain whether and to what extent electoral laws mediate the influence of this heterogeneity. Hence, to develop a more pragmatic understanding of electoral institutions, we adopt the view of electoral laws as intervening structures and, using the data of these earlier analyses, we reconsider the role of one institutional parameter - district magnitude - that some researchers regard as the most important characteristic of an electoral system. Aside from the usual caveats about the limitations of our data, our primary conclusion is that district magnitude is not merely an important determinant of the number of parties that compete in a political system, but that it can offset the tendency of parties to multiply in heterogeneous societies

If Hamilton and Madison Were Merely Lucky, What Hope Is There for Russian Federalism?

Just as the two-headed eagle of imperial and contemporary Russia looks in two different directions, this essay has two objectives: to evaluate, on the basis of the American experience, the prospects for stable democratic federalism in Russia, and to reconsider the insights into federalism offered by Madison and Hamilton in The Federalist. The swirl of events in Russia make it difficult if not impossible to confidently render conclusions about the future direction of events and the prospects for meaningful federal domestic relations. However, some theoretical perspective can be gained by looking at the theory of federalism offered in The Federalist Papers, with special attention to Madison and Hamilton's failure to appreciate fully the role political parties would play in the eventual integration of American political institutions so as to establish, in Madison's words, a "properly structured" federation. Looking as well at the early history of parties in the U.S. we see, in addition to the usual constitutional provisions associated with federalism, the importance of those things that structure political competition within states. Properly designed, these things encourage the development of political parties that mirror federal relations, and integrate regional and national political elites so as to avert center-periphery conflict. Unfortunately, a review of the provisions currently in place for Russia reveals that electoral practices and regional and republic constitutions and proposals are unlikely to encourage parties of the sort that facilitate a stable federal system. This fact, in conjunction with several other trends (notably, corruption and the political instincts of political elites in Moscow) lead to the conclusion that a "federation" of the type currently observed in, say, Mexico is a better scenario of the future for Russia than is a federation that imitates the U.S., Australia, Germany, or Switzerland

Transformation of Political Communication Functions in the Regional Political Process (Evidence from the Tyumen Oblast)

The relevance of the policy areas reflected in this scientific article stems from the essential and peculiar fact that the entire international community increases interest in political communication because of its functionality and flexibility. The transformation of communication functions of a political nature considered within the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is vital for each of the spheres of State administration. It is the multifaceted nature of the topic that determines its importance in both academic and policy circles. A literate and intensive study of the development of political communication makes it possible to conclude the multifaceted influence of the historical era on the political structure of both the country as a whole and the subjects in particular. This aspect shows the diversity of communication functions in the State's political life and the likelihood of their lasting transformation. This article aims to give qualitative consideration to the various functions of political communication, using the example of the Tyumen region as an essential subject of the Russian Federation. The primary method of investigation of this problem was the analysis of scientific works of leading political scientists, philosophers and sociologists. Thanks to these works, the authors were able to trace the relationship between an era, type of the State, its social orientation and the development of political communication functions in terms of regional forms. The functions of political communication in the regional process of the Tyumen Oblast are directly dependent on institutional and functional groups and lobby associations, which are common in all regions. Knowing the dependency of functions on the well-defined aspects of political organization in an article helps to predict, or at least track, the likelihood of new functional diversity in political communication and steer it in the right direction

Party Fragmentation and Presidential Elections in Post-Communist Democracies

Theory: Despite its controversial status as a stable governmental form, many of today’s societies attempting to make the transition to democracy have or will, for a variety of reasons, choose presidentialism. Meanwhile, the evidence suggests that the combination of presidentialism and multipartism is especially dangerous for democratic stability (Mainwaring 1994). The question this essay addresses, though, is whether presidential elections themselves serve to encourage a fragmented party system, at least in the initial stages of democratization. Hypothesis: In transitional political systems presidential elections encourage party fragmentation, but in a way different from that of highly proportional purely parliamentary mechanisms. Specifically, parties proliferate to support the presidential aspirations of political elites. Methods: Multivariate regression analysis on cross-sectional aggregate electoral data, supported by extensive outliers diagnostics and assessments of the role of country-specific effects. A nested model is used to discriminate among the secondary hypotheses. Controls include: parliamentary election rules (district magnitude, threshold for representation, adjustment districts, ballot structure), relative timing of presidential and parliamentary elections, and basic societal cleavage structure. Results: Using as our data source the recent experiences of Central Europe and the European part of the former Soviet Union, we show that presidential elections consistently significantly increase party fragmentation. At the same time, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that presidentialism does encourage the overall consolidation in party systems through voters’ abandonment of some parties, akin to Duverger’s ‘psychological effect'

Ethnic Heterogeneity, District Magnitude, and the Number of Parties

Recent events leading to the importation of democratic ideas and ideals by previously totalitarian states increase our interest in the ways in which electoral institutions influence party systems. However, even if we restrict our attention to Eastern Europe or the successor states of the Soviet empire, we encounter a range of social diversity – ethnic heterogeneity - that is as great as those in the set of countries examined in earlier studies that seek to identify the influence of electoral laws (c.f., Rae, Lijphart, and Taagepera and Shugart). Curiously, though, these earlier studies fail to ascertain whether and to what extent electoral laws mediate the influence of this heterogeneity. Hence, to develop a more pragmatic understanding of electoral institutions, we adopt the view of electoral laws as intervening structures and, using the data of these earlier analyses, we reconsider the role of one institutional parameter - district magnitude - that some researchers regard as the most important characteristic of an electoral system. Aside from the usual caveats about the limitations of our data, our primary conclusion is that district magnitude is not merely an important determinant of the number of parties that compete in a political system, but that it can offset the tendency of parties to multiply in heterogeneous societies

Remodeling of arterial tone regulation in postnatal development: focus on smooth muscle cell potassium channels

Maturation of the cardiovascular system is associated with crucial structural and functional remodeling. Thickening of the arterial wall, maturation of the sympathetic innervation, and switching of the mechanisms of arterial contraction from calcium-independent to calcium-dependent occur during postnatal development. All these processes promote an almost doubling of blood pressure from the moment of birth to reaching adulthood. This review focuses on the developmental alterations of potassium channels functioning as key smooth muscle membrane potential determinants and, consequently, vascular tone regulators. We present evidence that the pattern of potassium channel contribution to vascular control changes from K(ir)2, K(v)1, K(v)7 and TASK-1 channels to BK(Ca) channels with maturation. The differences in the contribution of potassium channels to vasomotor tone at different stages of postnatal life should be considered in treatment strategies of cardiovascular diseases associated with potassium channel malfunction

TWIK-related acid-sensitive potassium channels (TASK-1) emerge as contributors to tone regulation in renal arteries at alkaline pH

Aim: TASK-1 channels are established regulators of pulmonary artery tone but their contribution to the regulation of vascular tone in systemic arteries is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that TASK-1 channel functional impact differs among systemic vascular beds, that this is associated with differences in their expression and may increase with alkalization of the extracellular environment. Therefore, we evaluated the expression level of TASK-1 channels and their vasomotor role in mesenteric and renal arteries. Methods: Pulmonary, mesenteric and renal arteries from male Wistar rats were used for TASK-1 channel mRNA (qPCR) and protein content (Western blotting) measurements. The functional role of TASK-1 channels was studied by wire myography using the TASK-1 channel blocker AVE1231. In some experiments, the endothelium was removed with a rat whisker. Results: Expression levels of both mRNA and protein of the TASK-1 channel pore-forming subunit were highest in pulmonary arteries, lowest in mesenteric arteries and had an intermediate value in renal arteries. Blockade of TASK-1 channels by 1 µM AVE1231 increased U46619-induced contractile responses of pulmonary arteries but did not affect basal tone and contractile responses to methoxamine of mesenteric and renal arteries at physiological extracellular pH (pHo = 7.41). At alkaline extracellular pH = 7.75 (increase of NaHCO3 to 52 mM) AVE1231 evoked the development of basal tone and increased contractile responses to low concentrations of methoxamine in renal but not mesenteric arteries. This effect was independent of the endothelium. Conclusion: In the rat systemic circulation, TASK-1 channels are abundant in renal arteries and have an anticontractile function under conditions of extracellular alkalosis