Describe and define the various different types of voting systems we have read about. Which one do you think is most representative?

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Please answer both of the following questions. Answers should be between one and two pages long for each question. They should be double-spaced, in 12-point font (Times, Times New Roman, Cambria, or Calibri) with 1.25” margins. Answers should be based on class lectures and readings. The most successful essays will make reference (with footnotes, according to the Chicago Manual of Style) to course readings. (You should include a bibliography at the end of the essay, using Chicago Style.) Essays are to be submitted on Canvas at Noon on Friday, November 9. Any historical examples should be carefully chosen and footnoted. Students are forbidden to use the U.S. as an example. I do, however, encourage you to consider the country you are writing your paper on for your examples. All historical examples should be from the post-Cold War era (in other words, after 1989).

  1. Describe and define the various different types of voting systems we have read about. Which one do you think is most representative?
  2. What is authoritarianism? What are some of the different types of authoritarian regimes? Give historical examples from at least 3 different countries.

main textbook :

Patrick O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics (Sixth Edition). (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2018)

O’Neil, Chapter 5: Democracies ( electoral systems)

Authoritarianism(s): an introduction : 

  • – O’Neil, Chapter 6: Authoritarianism
  • – Freedom House, “The Worst of the Worst 2012: The World’s Most Repressive Societies.” Available at http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf

The Economist. “The Trouble with Democracy – and Dictatorship.” Available at http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/08/china-and-america (Links to an external site.)