ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the research and applies some of its insights to the study of the relationship between electoral institutions and policy outcomes. It also discusses a mechanism not directly connected to the small-group literature, but still related to diversity: how electoral institutions affect a society's capacity to handle what call elite extraction. Decades of research show that electoral institutions influence many areas of politics. The core of this research establishes that electoral institutions influence the character and nature of party systems. This section discusses two specific mechanisms identified in that research, which can be applied to the causal system. The first mechanism, that diversity can enhance policy innovation, is based on the small-group finding that diversity is beneficial to decision-making because it enhances creativity and innovation. The second mechanism, that diversity counteracts pandering, is derived from the small-group finding that diversity and especially dissent can counteract several tendencies that can negatively affect decision-making.
