How does representative democracy work in the modern age? Examining 21 post-war democracies, this strikingly innovative approach by two world-class scholars demonstrates how the voter in the middle--the median elector--empowers the centre party in parliament to translate political preferences into public policy.

• Part 1: The Mandate Process


• 1: Choosing Governments or Identifying Preferences? The Role of Elections in Democracy


• 2: Mandate Theories: Government and Median


• 3: Communicating Preferences: The Public Policy Space


• 4: Research Questions for Comparative Investigation


• Part 2: The Electoral Process


• 5: Choices Parties Offer


• 6: Mandates Without Obvious Majorities


• 7: Representing the Meidan Voter


• Part 3: The Governing Process


• 8: Who Controls Short-Term Policy Making?


• 9: From Declared to Actual Policy: Short-Term Influences on Government Policies


• Part 4: The Democratic Process


• 10: Long Term Policy Regimes: Incrementalism Put in Context


• 11: Fluctuating Political Forces


• 12: Politics and Policy Regimes: Setting a Long Term Equilibrium


• 13: Unifying Theories of Democracy Through the Median Mandate