P.J. Emerson

The fundamental concepts in this book are that elections between binary choices are a false dilemma, and that majority rule is not really democracy. These concepts are very important, and I wish it were more widely available and more widely read.

He connects his antimajoritarianism to real-world conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Balkans, claiming that these were started (or at least escalated by) binary majoritarian elections, but doesn't make a super convincing case for these claims. Would they really have been prevented by the use of more inclusive voting methods? Maybe.

His proposed solution of using modified Borda count is misguided, since it's so vulnerable to strategic voting, but many of his arguments apply equally well (if not more so) to voting methods based on cardinal utility.

His descriptions of actual decision-making processes are pretty dry, but that's ok.… (meer)