Electoral systems, political career paths and legislative behavior: evidence from South Korea's mixed-member system

Hae-Won, Jun and Hix, Simon (2010) Electoral systems, political career paths and legislative behavior: evidence from South Korea's mixed-member system. Japanese Journal of Political Science, 11 (2). pp. 153-171. ISSN 1468-1099

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Abstract

A growing literature looks at how the design of the electoral system shapes the voting behavior of politicians in parliaments. Existing research tends to confirm that in mixed-member systems the politicians elected in the single-member districts are more likely to vote against their parties than the politicians elected on the party lists. However, we find that in South Korea, the members of the Korean National Assembly who were elected on PR lists are more likely to vote against their party leadership than the members elected in single-member districts (SMDs). This counterintuitive behavior stems from the particular structure of candidate selection and politicians' career paths. This suggests that any theory of how electoral systems shape individual parliamentary behavior needs to look beyond the opportunities provided by the electoral rules for voters to reward or punish individual politicians (as opposed to parties), to the structure of candidate selection inside parties and the related career paths of politicians.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJourna...
Additional Information:	© 2010 Cambridge University Press
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2024 11:14
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2024 01:27
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124768

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