Electoral Systems, 2: First Past the Post – No Longer Fit for Purpose?

Posted on 29 October 2013 by Professor Roger Awan-Scully

This Blog Post is the second in a mini-series I am running on Electoral Systems. In the first I briefly described the main systems currently used, or proposed for use, in Wales. The remaining posts in the series, starting with this one, will look at these systems rather more critically. I start with ‘First Past
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Electoral Systems and Welsh Elections, 1: An Introduction

Posted on 23 October 2013 by Professor Roger Awan-Scully

An important feature of elections in Wales as elsewhere, but one often overlooked, is the Electoral System. This post is the first of a series which will examine the electoral systems we currently use, as well as some that might potentially be used, for elections in Wales. This initial post will concentrate simply on describing
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The History of One-Party Dominance in Wales, Part 3. 1999-2011: Hegemony Under Challenge?

Posted on 15 October 2013 by Professor Roger Awan-Scully

‘A predominant party can cease, at any moment, to be predominant’ (Giovanni Sartori). The political party system in Wales in 1997 already differed substantially from that in England. In Wales there were four significant, established parties, compared to only three in England. And there were much more long-standing differences in the patterns of party politics
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The History of One-Party Dominance in Wales, Part 2: Labour Hegemony

Posted on 9 October 2013 by Professor Roger Awan-Scully

This is the second of three Blog Posts looking at the long history of one-party dominance in Welsh elections. In one respect, party politics in Wales in the years after 1945 proved wholly consistent with the previous sixty years. Conservative weakness persisted. Although, across Britain as a whole, the Conservative party enjoyed periods of considerable
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The History of One-Party Dominance in Wales, Part 1: the Rise and Fall of the Liberals

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Professor Roger Awan-Scully

This is the first of three posts on the history of electoral politics in Wales, which focus on the lop-sided nature democracy has tended to take here. Vaguely modern political parties in Britain emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century. As elsewhere, in Britain the development of parties was inextricably linked to mass
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