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Lessons from the Past : Some Historical Cases of Weighed Vote and Their Limits

Democracy
Political Participation
Political Theory
Representation
Voting
Henri-Pierre Mottironi
Université de Lausanne
Henri-Pierre Mottironi
Université de Lausanne

Abstract

When it comes to practical implementation of weighed vote (“proportional stake-voting” , plural voting, etc.), the recent literature in political theory seems either a bit evasive or tend to resort to (overly) sophisticated mathematical demonstrations (e.g. Fleurbaeys & Brighouse, 2010; Fleurbaeys, 2008; Posner & Weyl, 2014). Behind the apparent novelty of the practices and ideas explored by the contemporary literature, weighed vote has a long history of concrete implementations. Based upon the recent literature in corporate governance history and history of suffrage, this paper aims at clarifying some theoretical problems and implications of weighed vote in a democratic system under the light of historical evidences. This paper focuses in particular on three long term experiences and the question they pose for political theory. We shall start with 1) "saniority" principle in medieval ecclesiastic elections and the problem of establishing a legitimate set of criteria to weigh votes. Then, 2) we delve into 18th and 19th century property voting in Europe in order to show some normative problems raised by the the implementation of weighed voting systems. Finally, 3) we explore the reasons which led to the prevalence of the “one vote per share” principle in corporations, as they raise some concerns about the analogy between shareholding and citizenship upon which contemporary reflections on plural voting often rests.