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Analytical Theory of Democracy

History, Mathematics and Applications

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Andranik Tangian

    1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Düsseldorf, Germany

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  • Proposes alternative voting and election methods for political representatives
  • Studies the evolution of the notion of democracy in the history of political thought
  • Develops a computational approach aimed at finding optimal compromises
  • Includes applications to real-world electoral experiments in areas such as finance and traffic control

Part of the book series: Studies in Choice and Welfare (WELFARE)

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Table of contents (22 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. History

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2
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    2. Athenian Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 3-43

    3. Echoes of Democracy in Ancient Rome

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 45-66

    4. Revival of Democracy in Italian Medieval City-Republics

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 67-106

    5. Enlightenment and the End of Traditional Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 107-173

    6. Modernity and Schism in Understanding Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 175-260

  3. Mathematics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 261-262
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    2. Direct Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 263-315

    3. Dictatorship and Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 317-351

    4. Representative Democracy

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 353-403

    5. Policy Representation Across the Political Spectrum

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 405-446

    6. Election Method to Enhance Policy Representation

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 447-497

    7. Concluding Discussion

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 499-508

  4. Applications

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 509-510
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    2. Simple Applications

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 511-526

    3. Analysis of the 2013 German Bundestag Election

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 527-579

    4. Constructing the 2013 German Political Spectrum

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 581-608

    5. The 2016 Third Vote Experiment: Heuristic Test

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 609-653

    6. The 2017 Third Vote Experiment: Choice of Questions

      • Andranik Tangian
      Pages 655-691
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Keywords

About this book

This book operationalizes the idea of political representation, which is fundamental to modern democracies. Both individual representatives and representative bodies are evaluated using the indices of popularity (the average percentage of the population whose opinion is represented on topical policy issues) and universality (the percentage of issues for which the prevailing public opinion is represented). Viewed as objective functions, these indices can aid in the search for optimal representatives and representative bodies. By replacing the consistency analysis of the social choice axioms with the calculation of the best compromises, the paradoxes of social choice, such as those of Condorcet and Arrow, can be overcome. These indices also form the core of an alternative election method that is aimed at enhancing policy representation — a recent concept of political representation, which is not supported by the conventional voting systems shaped during the American and French Revolutions. This method is tested in a series of election experiments that focus on implementation details. In addition, non-societal applications such as MCDM, finance or traffic control are considered, where the objects that reflect the properties or behavior of other objects are regarded as their “representatives.” Given its scope, the book will appeal to political scientists, economists and operations researchers, as well as to politicians interested in improving democratic performance and electoral system design.

Reviews

“I strongly recommend this book to mathematicians along with social scientists, who want to do research in common domain of democracy, social choice theory, voting theory, and mathematics.” (Santanu Acharjee, zbMATH 1511.91001, 2023)

“It is a product of profound, multi-disciplinary scholarship that will no doubt benefit many a cohort of future students and instructors of welfare economics, economic policy, political science, constitutional law and political philosophy.” (Hannu Nurmi, Journal of Economics, Vol. 130, 2020)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Andranik Tangian

About the author

Andranik Tangian is Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 
Institute of Economics, Germany.

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