Santiago Lago-Peñas co-authors a new article on district magnitude and party systems
Santiago Lago-Peñas has co-authored a new article in the international journal Political Research Quarterly, together with Ignacio Lago.
The paper, “Beyond the Average: Revisiting How District Magnitude Shapes Party Systems,” examines how the size of electoral districts influences the number of political parties competing in elections. The study goes beyond the traditional focus on average district magnitude and highlights the importance of variation in district magnitude across districts within the same country.
The authors identify two mechanisms through which district magnitude shapes party systems: district permissiveness, which affects incentives for electoral coordination within districts, and variation in district magnitude across districts, which can have broader effects on party competition. The analysis shows that when district magnitude varies within countries, larger districts tend to sustain a greater number of parties. The success of smaller parties in these more permissive districts can subsequently encourage them to compete in smaller districts, weakening electoral coordination across the electoral system.
Reference:Lago, I., & Lago-Peñas, S. (2026). Beyond the Average: Revisiting How District Magnitude Shapes Party Systems. Political Research Quarterly.
