DeBorda Institutehttp://www.deborda.org/home/en-GB2010-07-31T06:59:58ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)QBShttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/7/28/qbs.htmlDeborda2010-07-28T10:05:25ZProportionality without Transference: the merits of the Quota Borda System (QBS) is in the latest copy of Representation, Vol 46 No 2, July 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2010.485820

]]>Coalition governmenthttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/5/13/coalition-government.htmlDeborda2010-05-13T19:24:19ZExciting times, and the Guardian published this letter on 11th May.

]]>Scottish referendumhttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/2/27/scottish-referendum.htmlDeborda2010-02-27T13:37:50ZThe de Borda submission is here.

]]>Designing an All-Inclusive Democracyhttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/2/20/designing-an-all-inclusive-democracy.htmlDeborda2010-02-20T17:21:57ZDesigning an All-Inclusive Democracy, ed. Peter Emerson, Springer, 2007.

Don Saari has written a review for Social Choice and Welfare: it is on

http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/0530263282623016/fulltext.pdf

]]>Party Politics in the Western Balkanshttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/2/19/party-politics-in-the-western-balkans.htmlDeborda2010-02-19T16:26:51ZThe above book, jointly edited by Věra Stojarová and Peter Emerson, is published by Routledge.

]]>Decision-making on the webhttp://www.deborda.org/home/2010/2/19/decision-making-on-the-web.htmlDeborda2010-02-19T16:23:17ZOur latest work, the result of an experiment on decision-making conducted entirely - both debate and vote - on the web, is published by EPS. More details on

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/eps/journal/v9/n1/abs/eps200940a.html

A synopsis of the trial is on the following openDemocracy webpage.

]]>The GOAT is a GNU. An experiment in electing an all-party coalition.http://www.deborda.org/home/2009/9/6/the-goat-is-a-gnu-an-experiment-in-electing-an-all-party-coa.htmlDeborda2009-09-06T14:36:28ZOn 7.10.2009, the de Borda Institute hosted an open public meeting in Dublin, to see if the Dail could elect a power-sharing cabinet, with TDs choosing not only those who would serve in government, but also the particular department in which each successful Minister would serve. The original invitation is here.

Participants were split into various groups, one each to represent FF, FG, Labour, Independents, GP and SF. And each group was given a fixed number of ballot papers, in proportion to current party strengths in the Dail: 20, 14, 5, 2, 2 and 1 respectively, a total of 44 ballots. The matrix vote is based on QBS and the MBC. So it was to everyone's advantage to submit a full ballot - i.e., to cast all their preferences - and to do so on a cross-party basis. Thus, in the simulation, groups planned strategies amongst themselves, and then negotiated deals with others.

The outcome was as follows: FF 6, FG 5, Lab 2, Ind 0, GP 1, SF 1 - a proportional, all-party, power-sharing coalition cabinet, a GNU. In other words, the matrix vote is indeed a robust voting procedure, and it all works without any resort to party labels. A full report along with the results are here.

]]>Open letter to Michael Wills MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Jucticehttp://www.deborda.org/home/2009/6/23/open-letter-to-michael-wills-mp-minister-of-state-ministry-o.htmlDeborda2009-06-23T10:03:15ZIn the wake of the expenses scandal, many are the calls for reform of the system of governance: inter alia, there are campaigns for changes to the electoral system and reform in the House, but few if any are suggesting reform of our decision-making processes, the 2,500-year-old majority vote, the most inaccurate measure of collective opionion ever invented. Hence this open letter to the Minister

]]>Government of National Unityhttp://www.deborda.org/home/2009/4/30/government-of-national-unity.htmlDeborda2009-04-30T14:46:51ZThe peole elect the parliament, by PR; and the parliament elects the government, by PR. Otherwise you get those crazy consequences of majoritarianism: the US Republicans hoping that Obama will fail; the UK Labour Party producing a budget of debt deisgned for only one year.

In Ireland, too, the need for parliamentary collective responibility is obvious. Hence this letter in The Irish Times, published on Wed. 22nd April.

]]>Election of Green Party Cathaoirleach - an analysis of the MBChttp://www.deborda.org/home/2009/4/30/election-of-green-party-cathaoirleach-an-analysis-of-the-mbc.htmlDeborda2009-04-30T14:22:37ZIrish Political Studies has just published an interesting analysis of the Modified Borda Count (or preferendum) vote, which was used in the 2007 election by the Irish Green Party/Comhaontas Glas when they elected their Cathaoirleach/chairperson. It was written by John Baker of Equality Studies in UCD, and here it is.

]]>