Peter Emerson – författare

This book examines the development of party politics in the region of Western Balkans, describing party politics and analyzing inter-ethnic or inter-party cooperation and competition.

Beginning with a thematic overview of the electoral systems and their link to the party systems, the authors consider the legacy of socialist/communist parties; compare the nationalist parties in the region; and explore opportunities for the national minorities. The book then provides detailed country case studies on Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania that:

Bringing together a range of specialist experts on the Balkans, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of party politics, comparative European politics, post-communist politics, nationalism, Southern European and Western Balkan politics.

This book examines the development of party politics in the region of Western Balkans, describing party politics and analyzing inter-ethnic or inter-party cooperation and competition.

Beginning with a thematic overview of the electoral systems and their link to the party systems, the authors consider the legacy of socialist/communist parties; compare the nationalist parties in the region; and explore opportunities for the national minorities. The book then provides detailed country case studies on Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania that:

Bringing together a range of specialist experts on the Balkans, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of party politics, comparative European politics, post-communist politics, nationalism, Southern European and Western Balkan politics.

This book provides a practical guide to how groups of people, everywhere, from the local village council to the United Nations Security Council, can best make collective decisions. By comparing the many voting procedures used in democratic decision-making, it explains why win-or-lose binary voting can be inaccurate and divisive, while the more inclusive preferential points system of voting can be so much more accurate and, therefore, more democratic; indeed, it is a win-win methodology. The text, essential reading for anyone interested in fair and participatory collective decision-making, also compares the most common electoral systems.

This book discusses multiple ways of voting in a democratic system and explains the basis of more consensual politics. Without delving into too much technical argument or too many mathematical examples, it aims to

The book is written not just for academia, or for the politicians and journalists, or for other specialists; it is for the general public: for students still at school, for voters in society at large, and for activists in umpteen NGOs.

“…the West''s relentless pursuit of binary voting… has been a cause of countless tragedies. This book is brilliant: political controversies should rarely if ever be ''resolved'' by majority vote.”

Arend Lijphart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

“[for] those who do not believe in a black-or-white world… a very important and extremely timely contribution…”

Věra Stojarová, Associate Professor of Political Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

“Peter’s challenge to the binary “win-lose” approach is urgently necessary, as is his proposal for an eminently more reasonable, accountable, and participatory system.”

Dr. Valery Perry, Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo

“…the preferential points vote… would be the more accurate way to make decisions, and the consequences far more peaceful.”

Lord Boyce, House of Lords

“He builds a case for a specific version of preferential procedure, not only for elections, but for decision making as well.”

Hannu Nurmi, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Turku, Finland

“A particularly strong plea in favour of voting procedures… which go far beyond the usual ''yes or no'' ballots. [He uses] an alert prose and a wealth of illuminating and easily graspable examples.”

Maurice Salles, Emeritus Professor, Université de Caen Normandie

This book discusses voting procedures in collective decision-making. Drawing on well-established election processes from all over the world, the author presents a voting procedure that allows for the speedy but fair election of a proportional, all-party coalition. The methodology - a matrix vote - is accurate, robust and ethno-color blind. In the vote, the counting procedure encourages all concerned to cross the gender as well as any party and/or sectarian divides.  While in the resulting executive each party will be represented fairly and, at best, with the consensus of parliament, every minister will be the one most suited to his/her new portfolio. By using preferential voting and thus achieving consensus, the matrix vote will be fundamental to the resolution of conflicts.

The matrix vote can also be used when:

•   two or more parliamentary parties elect a coalition government

•   one parliamentary party elects a government or shadow cabinet, or organizations in civil society elect their governing boards or executive committees

•   any group chooses a fixed number of individuals to form a team in which each member carries out a different function

Democracy is for everybody, not just a majority. This book describes the voting procedures by which majority rule may be replaced by a more consensual system of governance. In a word, such an inclusive polity can be achieved by asking the voters or, more usually, their representatives in councils and parliaments, to state their preferences, so to facilitate the identification of that option which gains the highest average preference score. The first part of the book describes three different voting procedures, the Modified Borda Count, the Quota Borda System and the Matrix Vote, and gives a number of hypothetical examples, all clearly depicted in tables. In the second part, the voting mechanisms are discussed against the background of the theory of voting, social choice theory, human rights and mediation practice. The book includes a foreword by Sir Michael Dummett and contributions by Elizabeth Meehan, Hannu Nurmi and Maurice Salles, among others.