Representing a democratic constituency in negotiations : delegation versus ratification
Abstract
We consider negotiations where one of the parties is a group that must send a representative to the bargaining table. We examine the trade-offs that the group faces in choosing between two different regimes for this representation: (i) Delegation where the representative is granted full authority to reach an agreement, and (ii) Ratification, where any agreement reached by the representative requires a posterior ratification vote. We show that when the group has flexibility—to select the delegate or to set the majority threshold for ratification—the majority of the group favors delegation. Only when the flexibility is limited or delegates are (sufficiently) unreliable will the majority of the group prefer ratification.
Citation
Cardona , D & Ponsatí , C 2015 , ' Representing a democratic constituency in negotiations : delegation versus ratification ' , Social Choice and Welfare , vol. 45 , no. 2 , pp. 399–414 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-015-0895-2
Publication
Social Choice and Welfare
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0176-1714Type
Journal article
Rights
(c) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015. this is the author's version of this work. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00355-015-0895-2
Description
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through grant SGR2009-1051, and from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through grants ECO2009-08820 and ECO2012-34046Collections
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