Political Choices in One Dimension

This chapter focuses on applications of majority rule processes for choice of a single alternative from a set of alternatives that can be regarded as locations in one-dimensional space (a line), where the voters who must choose among these alternatives can themselves be viewed as having a most preferred location on this line. In particular, it considers applications of one-dimensional spatial models in areas such as legislative voting, party competition, and coalition formation. The chapter concentrates on results for the proximity model of voting, where utility for the voter falls off with distance from each voter’s ideal point, but it also briefly considers a threshold model of changes in voter turnout across elections as a function of election importance.