Do democratic systems differ in the extent to which parties fulfill their electoral mandates? This question was the subject of Tom Louwerse’s dissertation, which he recently defended. He focused his research on the Dutch and British cases and compared six elections and parliaments in each country. While Britain has a majoritarian political system in which one party usually controls a parliamentary majority, the Netherlands is characterized by consensual politics, in which there are a large number of diverse political parties; thus, a need for coalition formation arises. Louwerse's study focused not only on the comparison between countries, but also on the development of mandate fulfilment over time. His study has resulted in a number of surprising findings, which he will discuss in his talk.

Website dr. Tom Louwerse

Willem van der Does gave his presentation in Dutch.

• The abstract of 'Waarom Wilders won (in Dutch)

• Website professor Willem van der Does