Penrose's square-root rule and the EU Council of Ministers: significance of the quota
| Abstract | In a two-tier decision-making system such as the EU Council of Ministers, if the number of constituencies (member-states) is sufficiently large (say, 15 or more), Penrose’s Square-Root rule can be implemented to a high level of approximation by a simple weighted decision rule at the top level (the Council) with any given quota q smaller than the total weight. This leaves one degree of freedom: the value of q as a free parameter, to be determined by some additional condition. I propose to survey and discuss critically the most important considerations for fixing this value – some of which have actually been used by theoreticians or practitioners: efficiency, transparency, sensitivity (total voting power of citizens), mean majority deficit, giving certain ‘privileged’ coalitions blocking status. Some of these considerations are reasonably compatible; others less so. Some kind of compromise is clearly needed. But which? This is essentially a political matter; but a political decision ought to be made in a theoretically enlightened way. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,679 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. Try with proxy. Try with proxy. Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Only published papers are available at libraries |
Similar books and articlesPao-Li Chang, Vincent C. H. Chua & Moshé Machover, L S Penrose's Limit Theorem: Tests by Simulation.
Claus Beisbart, Luc Bovens & Stephan Hartmann (2005). A Utilitarian Assessment of Alternative Decision Rules in the Council of Ministers. European Union Politics 6 (4):395-419.
Stephan Hartmann, Claus Beisbart & Luc Bovens (2005). A Utilitarian Assessment of Alternative Decision Rules in the Council of Ministers. European Union Politics 6 (4):395-419.
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2010-07-25Total downloads1 ( #274,830 of 549,087 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
