ABSTRACT
This chapter deals mainly with the recent history of voting systems in France, Germany and Italy. It is not part of the plan of this book to explain any electoral system fully in its political context: this could only be done by a different kind of study, and the references to these three countries here are necessarily superficial. It is, however, essential to include them, as the future of free elections in Western Europe (and therefore in the world, perhaps) depends largely on the success or failure of these political experiments, and on the world’s estimate of their ethical standing. The questions raised are deep and difficult ones.
