Condorcet criterion
Definition
The Condorcet criterion is a principle in voting theory that states the candidate who would win a one-on-one election against each of the other candidates should be the overall winner. This candidate is known as the Condorcet winner.
5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test
- A voting method satisfies the Condorcet criterion if it always selects the Condorcet winner when one exists.
- Not all voting methods satisfy the Condorcet criterion; for example, plurality and Borda count do not always select the Condorcet winner.
- The existence of a Condorcet winner is not guaranteed in every election; there can be situations with no clear Condorcet winner due to cycles (Condorcet paradox).
- The Schulze method and ranked pairs are examples of voting systems that satisfy the Condorcet criterion.
- The concept is named after Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, an 18th-century French philosopher and mathematician.
Review Questions
- Which voting methods are known to satisfy the Condorcet criterion?
- What happens in an election if there is no Condorcet winner?
- Who was Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat?
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Related terms
Plurality Method: A voting system where the candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of whether they have a majority.
Borda Count: A rank-based voting system where points are assigned based on position in each voter's ranking.
Condorcet Paradox: A situation in which collective preferences are cyclic, meaning no clear winner emerges according to pairwise comparisons.
