SB wrote in part-
Thanks for your informative comments on Hilter's rise. I am learning as we go.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the German PR system based on the
PLURALITY of votes received by each party, where the ballot listed the parties
rather than the individual candidates?
---
D- I *believe* the 1919 Germany (Weimer) Constitution ONLY specified that
some sort of p.r. was to be used. The details were all statutory (subject to
machinations). I *believe* a form of party list p.r. was used ---
party seats = total seats x party votes
----------------------------
total votes
The nazis NEVER got a majority of the votes or seats in any of the 1919-1932
p.r. elections for the German Parliament (Reichstag).
Backing up -- the genetic lunacy of Kaiser Wilhelm II helped cause World War
I in 1914.
Germany in 1919 was devastated due to the horrific World War I (and the
collapse in Nov. 1918 of the monarchy/ oligarchy killers that had waged such
war).
P.R. had been used in various other nations in Europe to get *real*
representation of various groups in such nations -- especially in Norway and
Sweden - I *believe*.
If anything -- I would suggest it was the parliamentary regime form of
government (mixed legislative and executive powers in the same persons) that
caused the various problems in Germany in 1919-1933 (greatly compounded by
the insane demands of the French government for huge war damage payments from
the young and very fragile *democratic* German government -- producing things
like the super- super - hyper inflation in Germany in 1922-1923 -- i.e. the
economic destruction of the German middle class).
There likely are some short histories of Germany on the internet with more
details of German politics in 1918-1933.
Hitler and his nazi gang used all the loopholes in the 1919 German
Constitution to destroy Democracy in Germany in 1933-1934 which was revived
in West Germany after World War II (1939-1945) with its MMP p.r. system in
1949 -- with the result that German politics has been rather calm since then
-- moderate leftwing/ rightwing governments come and go peacefully.
--------
For more info about proportional representation, see --
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/prlib.htm
A source of information on proportional representation elections --
including beginning readings, in-depth articles by scholars and
activists, an extensive bibliography, and a guide to related Web sites.
----
See also Prof. Amy's new book--
Behind the Ballot Box
A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems
By Douglas J. Amy
Praeger Paperback. Westport, Conn. 2000. 248 pages
LC 00-029841. ISBN 0-275-96586-4. B6586 $19.95
Available (Status Information Updated 4/26/2001)
A cloth bound edition is available: 0-275-96585-6, $65.00
** Table of Contents **
-- Preface
-- Introduction
-- What Are Voting Systems and Why Are They Important?
-- Criteria for Evaluating Voting Systems
-- Plurality-Majority Voting Systems
-- Proportional Representation Voting Systems
-- Semi-Proportional Voting Systems
-- Voting Systems for Single-Office Elections
-- Making Your Final Choice
-- Appendixes
-- Selected Bibliography
-- Index
** Author **
DOUGLAS J. AMY is Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College [in MA]
Greenwood Publishing Group
88 Post Road West
Westport CT 06881
(203) 226-3571
