Alternative Approach Book

The aggressively cited book where modern social choice theory began. I decided to see what's actually in it.

It's in two parts. The first consists of Black's own ruminations on a theory of elections, and the second is a historical overview of the field to date. I think it's fair to say that the first is of absolutely no value to anyone today. It introduces single-peaked preferences, makes some obvious observations about them, argues unconvincingly in favour of Black's rule, and discusses problems of extending the theory to proportional representation and diplomacy. It is the second where the value lies. We get an overview of the works of Borda, Condorcet, and Laplace on the subject, a few words on Nanson and Galt, and an extensive treatment of Dodgson. Dodgson's pamphlets are reprinted in the appendix, so that's probably the only place you will find them. As Black is one of the few people that tried to make sense of what Condorcet meant, this is a good place to start, if you don't fancy making sense of the Marquis yourself.