Nigel S. Roberts

The constitutional structures and electoral systems of Pacific Island States

This article complements the country-specific studies by providing an analytical survey of the constitutional and electoral system arrangements of 22 polities across the Pacific. As elsewhere, the design of national institutions in the Pacific has provoked debate and controversy, with constitutional arrangements reflecting both colonial experiences and indigenous cultures. This article covers choices of presidential or parliamentary models, unitary or federal structures, and electoral systems. It examines methods of selection of presidents, governors and heads of state, and methods of election to lower and upper houses.

The New Zealand electoral referendum and general election of 1993

Abstract The combined general election and electoral referendum held in New Zealand on 6 November 1993 was an unprecedented opportunity for voters to decide not only the fate of an incumbent government but also of the first-past-the-post electoral system under which it, like its predecessors, had won office. The potentially far-reaching results were an unusual mix of continuity and change: the government held office, but by the narrowest of margins, while the referendum unambiguously endorsed proportional representation as the countrys new method for electing Members of Parliament.

Political Intolerance and the Structure of Mass Attitudes A Study of the United States, Israel, and New Zealand

This article examines the patterns of tolerance and intolerance characterizing the publics of three countries: Israel, New Zealand, and the United States. Beyond the level of tolerance, we study the extent to which the tolerant and intolerant segments of each nations population are intense in their attitudes, and their degree of agreement about the targets of their intolerance. We find the United States to be characterized by a pattern of “pluralistic intolerance,” Israel by “focused intolerance,” and New Zealand by “pluralistic tolerance.” We then explore the potential of translating these attitudes into intolerant actions and conclude that, given this structure of public opinion, this potential is highest in Israel and lowest in New Zealand.

Why did New Zealand adopt German‐style proportional representation?

Public cynicism with politics and politicians led ultimately to New Zealands referendums on electoral systems.

The New Zealand electoral referendum of 1992

Abstract The New Zealand electoral referendum of 19 September 1992 produced an overwhelming vote in favour of a change to the method used lor electing Members of Parliament. The result moved New Zealand one step closer towards the new electoral system recommended in 1986 by a Royal Commission, in a report identified by Arend Lijphart in this journal as ‘unusually significant and interesting not only to New Zealanders but to students of electoral systems and, more generally, of comparative democratic politics everywhere’. 1

Success, swing and gender: The performance off women candidates for parliament in New Zealand, 1946–87

Abstract New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote, and it has a higher proportion of women as Members of Parliament than any of the other Anglo‐American first‐past‐the‐post democracies. An examination of the vote‐pulling powers of women candidates for Parliament in all the general elections in New Zealand since the end of the Second World War finds that female candidates for the Labour Party have done statistically significantly better than their male counterparts, but for National Party candidates the reverse is the case — men perform better than women. Various reasons for these findings are canvassed, including the possibilities that Labour in New Zealand is benefitting from its initiatives with respect to womens affairs, and from the female equivalent of an ‘old boys’ network.

Legislative organization in MMP The case of New Zealand

How do electoral systems affect legislative organization? The change in electoral systems from Single Member District plurality (SMD) to Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) in New Zealand can illuminate how electoral incentives affect the distribution of cabinet positions. Because in SMD the outcome of individual local districts determines the number of seats a party wins collectively, New Zealand parties deploy cabinet posts in order to shore up the electoral fortunes of individual members. In MMP, the total number of seats a party receives is determined by the votes in the proportional representation (PR) portion for the party, which eliminates the incentives to reward electorally unsafe members with cabinet positions. We show that strong cabinet members, measured through experience as prior terms in the cabinet position, are still likely to be retained.

Plus ça change … ? Anti-Party Sentiment and Electoral System Change: A New Zealand Case Study

Anti-party sentiment tends to be seen as a relatively recent problem for the worlds democracies. Evidence from our case study, however, suggests that all its familiar symptoms were present years ago, and that they tend to fluctuate with time and chance. Therefore, while institutional reform may help to alleviate what is essentially a chronic problem punctuated by acute episodes, it is unlikely to offer a cure. Both the proponents and opponents of electoral system change in other Commonwealth countries are likely to find that it probably will not make things worse, but it may not make them very much better.

Grand Designs: Parliamentary Architecture, Art, and Accessibility

The phrase ‘grand designs’ is used in political science and international relations, as well as in architecture. The buildings that house parliaments and legislatures are often appropriately grand, for they represent the highest aspirations of their states. While many legislatures use updated versions of ancient Greek and Roman architectural styles, there are instances of striking new parliamentary buildings, such as Oscar Niemeyer’s Congress buildings in Brasilia, Louis Kahn’s Parliament buildings in Dacca, and the refurbished Reichstag in Berlin. There are also pertinent examples of indigenous architecture in the legislatures of countries such as Fiji and Samoa. Some states attempt to incorporate the principles of democracy — including transparency and accessibility — in their public buildings, but others do not. In this regard, it is significant that American, Australian, Canadian, and Scandinavian legislatures are far more accessible and open than the New Zealand Parliament.

Enthusiasm and entropy: New Zealand's experience with proportional representation

Assessment of New Zealands new Additional Member/Mixed Member voting system one year after the first MMP election suggests that while parliament is more diverse politically and socially, parliamentary politics remains highly adversarial.