Democracy, Parliament and Electoral Systems

The contributors to this volume examine the importance of democracy as a system of goverment. Exploring various forms of democractic government throughout the world, they assess how democracy works in theory and in practice.Chapters cover how to improve democracy using case studies from the Caribbean and Spain; how to make parliaments more effective, looking at issues such as technology and the structure of parliamentary bodies; the comparative benefits of different electoral systems; finally, the contributors examine problems thrown up by various recent elections including the American election in 2000, Sri Lanka, Poland and various African experiences.