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The Institute is named after Jean-Charles de Borda, and hence the well-known voting procedure, the Borda Count BC; but Jean-Charles actually invented what is now called the Modified Borda Count, MBC - the difference is subtle:
In a vote on n options, the voter may cast m preferences; and, of course, m < n.
In a BC, points are awarded to (1st, 2nd ... last) preferences cast according to the rule (n, n-1 ... 1) {or (n-1, n-2 ... 0)} whereas,
in an MBC, points are awarded to (1st, 2nd ... last) preferences cast according to the rule (m, m-1 ... 1).
The difference can be huge, especially when the topic is controversial: the BC benefits those who cast only a 1st preference; the MBC encourages the consensual, those who submit not only a 1st preference but also their 2nd (and subsequent) compromise option(s). And if (nearly) every voter states their compromise option(s), an MBC can identify the collective compromise.
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DECISION-MAKER
Inclusive voting app
https://debordavote.com
THE APP TO BEAT ALL APPS, APPSOLUTELY!
(The latest in a long-line of electronic voting for decision-making; our first was in 1991.)
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FINANCES
The Institute was estabished in 1997 with a cash grant of £3,000 from the Joseph Rowntree Charitabe Trust, and has received the occasional sum from Northern Ireland's Community Relations Council and others. Today it relies on voluntary donations and the voluntary work of its board, while most running expenses are paid by the director.
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A BLOG
"De Borda abroad." From Belfast to Beijing and beyond... and back. Starting in Vienna with the Sept 2017 TEDx talk, I give lectures in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Tehran, Beijing, Tianjin, Xuzhou, Hong Kong and Taiwan... but not in Pyongyang. Then back via Mongolia (where I had been an election observer in June 2017) and Moscow (where I'd worked in the '80s).
I have my little fold-up Brompton with me - surely the best way of exploring any new city! So I prefer to go by train, boat or bus, and then cycle wherever in each new venue; and all with just one plastic water bottle... or that was the intention!
In Sept 2019, I set off again, to promote the book of the journey. After the ninth book launch in Taipei University, I went to stay with friends in a little village in Gansu for the Chinese New Year. The rat. Then came the virus, lockdown... and I was stuck.
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The Hospital for Incurable Protestants The Mémoire of a Collapsed Catholic This is the story of a pacifist in a conflict zone, in Northern Ireland and the Balkans. Only in e-format, but only £5.15. Available from Amazon. |
The director alongside the statue of Jean-Charles de Borda, capitaine et savant, in l’École Navale in Brest, 24.9.2010. Photo by Gwenaelle Bichelot.
Here's the YouTube, the PowerPoint, and the text of the speech (more or less).
Monday, November 11, 2019 For PSAI: (a) China, on https://politicalreform.ie and (b) https://politicalreform.ie/2019/10/15/decisions-decisions-binary-or-multi-option-and-or-preferential-votes-by-peter-emerson-director-de-borda-institute/
For the RSA: (c) https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2019/11/general-election-binary/
Friday, November 1, 2019 Majority Voting as a Catalyst of Populism (Springer, Heidelberg), was launched in:
i) Brighton: on 10th Sept. during the Conflict Research Society conference;
ii) Belfast: on 26th in the de Borda Institute;
iii) Leiden: on 10th Oct in Oranjerie;
iv) Brussels: on 14th in the European Environment Bureau;
v) Sarajevo: on 24th in the Network for Building Peace;
vi) Tbilisi: on 6th Nov in the Caucasus International University;
vii) Moscow: on 18th in HSE University, in the International Laboratory of Decision Choice and Analysis; and
viii) Xuzhou: on 15th Dec. in CUMT University.
That's 8 book launches for 2019. To be continued: see 2020-5.
Friday, November 1, 2019 A presentation in the Senat (the Czech House of (elected) Lords) on 15th Sept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGWBJiZ-xY
And here's the corresponding talk and power-point presentation.
Friday, November 1, 2019 https://politicalreform.ie
Decision, decisions. Binary or multi-option and/or Preferential Votes.
Friday, October 4, 2019 The Economist: Open Future Festival, Manchester. IF THE PROBLEM ISN’T BINARY, DON’T USE BINARY VOTING Some questions can be pretty silly. If I ask.....
Wednesday, October 2, 2019 https://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783030202187
Majority Voting as a Catalyst of Populism is based on my journey from Belfast to Beijing and beyond, Sept. 2017 to Sept '18, and it talks of how majority voting and binary majority rule have been part of the problem, pretty well everywhere: in conflict zones like Belfast and the Balkans; in 'stable democracies' like the UK, as in Brexit; and even in communist countries like Russia - after all, the very word 'bolshevik' means 'member of the majority'.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019 http://www.scirp.org/Journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=94818 has just been published in the Beijing Law Review.
Monday, August 19, 2019 Sir, – The Irish and British electoral systems are very different: PR-STV (a British invention) is one of the best. First-past-the-post (FPTP) is its extreme opposite. But we both have the same decision-making system: binary voting, one of the worst.
Friday, July 5, 2019 https://pbnetwork.org.uk/what-is-democracy-anyway-why-voting-systems-matter-in-participatory-budgeting/
