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Matthew ShugartProfessor of Political Science UCSD, IR/PS, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0519 Office #1311 Phone: (858) 534-5016 Fax (858) 534-3939 Email: mshugart@ucsd.edu Professor Shugart is an authority on issues of constitutional design and electoral rules around the world. His current research focuses on how democratic political institutions affect the quality of governance. Related to this theme, he has projects underway on how electoral systems affect the relationship between representatives and their constituents, judicial reform in developing countries and the politics of constitutional replacement in Latin America. His research agenda has developed in parallel with his role as an adviser to several constitutional or electoral-law drafting committees, including those in Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Eritrea, Estonia, and Fiji. Shugart's most recent book is a volume entitled Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? (Oxford, 2001). In this volume, Shugart and his collaborators assess the increasingly common mixed-member system, whereby some legislators are elected in Anglo-American single-seat districts and others by proportional representation. In another recent publication, "Constitutional Change in Colombia: Policy Adjustment through Institutional Change," (1999), Shugart has applied his expertise on constitutional and electoral matters to the crisis in Colombia, and argued that Colombia needs fundamental electoral reform before its democracy will be able to function better. He is also the co-author or co-editor of five books: Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems, Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics, Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America (edited with Scott Mainwaring), and Executive Decree Authority: Calling Out the Tanks or Just Filling Out the Forms?, as well as the volume on Mixed-Member Electoral Systems. Shugart joined IR/PS in 1989.
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