opportunity to institute a specific electoral system. Recent regime changes in
Afghanistan and Iraq also provide opportunities to design governments with
democracy in mind. The results of this study show that countries can, in fact,
determine their own destiny. If achieving a democratic government is indeed
a goal, the choice of an electoral system may be among the most important.
The findings of this study indicate that the degree to which a country is democratic
can be determined by the number of political parties and, to a greater
extent, by the electoral system of that country.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Dr. Ross E. Burkhart and Lou Ann H