A Comprehensive Analysis of Malapportionment around the World: Situation, Causes, and Consequences

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26285032
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Kasuya Yuko 慶應義塾大学, 法学部, 教授 (50383972)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 和田 淳一郎 横浜市立大学, 国際マネジメント研究科, 教授 (30244502) ; 松田 憲忠 青山学院大学, 法学部, 教授 (30405550) ; 福元 健太郎 学習院大学, 法学部, 教授 (50272414) ; 鷲田 任邦 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 助教 (50744893) ; 白鳥 浩 法政大学, 公共政策研究科, 教授 (70285477) ; 鎌原 勇太 横浜国立大学, 教育人間科学部, 講師 (70710268) ; 東島 雅昌 早稲田大学, 高等研究所, 助教 (10756349)
• Research Collaborator: HORIUCHI Yusaku ; HIROI Taeko
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 選挙制度 / 一票の格差 / 投票価値の平等

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project analyses the situation, causes, and consequences of legislative malapportionment around the world. It has three research components: (1) measuring the degree of malapportionment, (2) investigating the causes of malapportionment, and (3) analyzing the its consequences. The first part yielded the database that compiles the degree of lower chamber malapportionment for 140 countries. Several papers were written on the causes of malapportionemnt. The main findings are that the degree of malapportionment increases as the electoral competition becomes more competitive, and decreases as the degree of executive constraints (such as the presence of independent judiciary). As for the consequences, members of this project found that malapportionment harms economic development of overrepresented districts in the case of Brazil. In the context of electoral authoritarianism, it reduces the electoral violence.

Free Research Field

政治学