Tally Room mail - my reads of 2024 (Patreon)

I've spent a bit of time over the summer break reading, and it made me think that I could dust off this Patreon newsletter to post about some of the most interesting reading I did in 2024 that were psephological in nature. I'm not always reading psephological books and journal articles, but through the year I've read a few things.

Why Cities Lose, by Jonathan A. Rodden

This was a fascinating read about the evolution of the urban-rural divide in the USA and other anglosphere countries (including Australia), and how that divide has tended to disadvantage the left under the single-member majoritarian electoral systems that dominate in most of these countries. The book did a great job of telling the story of how these cities evolved, while also analysing the impact of geography on election results.

The Coalitions Presidents Make, by Marcus Mietzner

This book was really useful for my understanding of Indonesian politics in the lead-up to the Indonesian election early last year. Marcus was a guest on my podcast after the election, and in this book he explores how Indonesian presidents build alliances and create broad coalitions of support using their power.

Patterns of Democracy, by Arend Lijphart

This is a classic for comparative political science. Lijphart identified ten different elements of democratic systems which can be clusted into two different groups of five. These elements sit on two different spectrums from majoritarian democracy to consensus democracy, and he then explores how those elements affect how a democracy works, and rates how each country sits on these spectrums. It gives a good sense of the range of democratic design decisions across the democratic world.

Letterboxes and Loudspeakers, by Chris Monnox

This journal article explores how electoral campaigning techniques changed in the early 20th century in the context of the introduction of compulsory voting. I really enjoy Chris' historical analysis, and Chris came on the podcast last year to discuss the results of the ACT election.

Thinking in Papua New Guinean terms, by Jon Piccini

One of the first journal articles I read in 2024 looked at a political fight in the lead-up to PNG's independence in 1972. At the time, plans were advancing to move much of the archives of the Australian colonial administration to Australia, away from the reach of the new institutions of PNG government. A political campaign from the library association and nationalist elites in PNG ended up forcing the Australian government to back down, keeping the archives in PNG. A really interesting political moment.

The Single Transferable Vote and ethnic conflict: the evidence from Northern Ireland, by Paul Mitchell

I read this quite late in the year, and it looked into theory around how electoral systems impact on jurisdictions with deep ethnic conflict, and how it has worked in Northern Ireland. The part I found most fascinating was how the rate of voters preferencing across the sectarian divide went up after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In at least one case, it led to an SDLP candidate defeating an anti-agreement unionist on the back of preferences from pro-agreement unionists. It also saw the SDLP and Sinn Fein starting to exchange preferences whereas there had been very little preference exchange in the previous election in 1982. It's a useful reminder that the dynamics of an electoral system change as the political context changes.