THE DE BORDA INSTITUTE

AIMS

The de Borda Institute seeks to promote inclusive voting procedures on all occasions of social choice, be it the resolution of a dispute or the election of representatives. Such voting procedures ensure that everybody contributes to the outcome in such a way that no one faction wins a victory but everyone gains the best possible compromise.

PURPOSES

The purposes of the Institute are sevenfold:

i) to promote the development and use of inclusive decision-making processes such as the modified Borda count, MBC, (subject if need be to a Condorcet count) whenever there are matters of controversy to be resolved by groups consisting of two or more persons;
ii) to offer advice as to the advantages of the MBC over other decision-making voting methodologies;

and notwithstanding the Institute's declared bias in favour of the MBC,
iii) to facilitate any group wishing to use any decision-making voting procedure in common usage.

Given that the election of representatives is often crucial to any decision-making process, the Institute also seeks:
iv) to promote the quota Borda system, QBS, and matrix vote as fair electoral systems;
v) to demonstrate how these electoral systems are superior to most others;
vi) to offer advice as to which electoral system should be used on which occasion;

and again, notwithstanding the Institute’s declared bias in favour of the above fairer systems,
vii) to facilitate any group wishing to use any decision-making voting procedure in common usage.

BACKGROUND

The Institute

The de Borda Institute was established as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Belfast in 1997. Its main work is in Ireland, North and South, but it is also involved in various projects in the Balkans, the Caucasus and East Africa. It has conducted interviews and/or given demonstration lectures of the Borda methodologies and/or published articles in newspapers, magazines and/or books in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain and the Ukraine.

Patrons

Prof. Angela Mickley Potsdam Dr. Murat Dizdarević Sarajevo
Prof. Arend Lijphart California Dr. John Robb Belfast
Prof. Elizabeth Meehan Belfast Dr. Judith Stephens Belfast
Prof. Maurice Salles Caen Irina Bazileva Moscow
Prof. Sir Michael Dummett Oxford John Baker Dublin
Prof. Paul Arthur Magee Alisen Chelaite MP Kenya
Prof. Lyudmila Harutyunyan Yerevan Trevor Sargent TD Dublin

HISTORICAL NOTE

Le Chevalier Jean Charles de Borda

Jean Charles de Borda was born on 4th May, 1733. At the age of 23, he was elected to the Paris Académie des Sciences, though mainly for his work in fluid dynamics. In the years which followed, he proved himself to be not only a brilliant scientist but also an accomplished naval officer.

The latter half of the eighteenth century was a period of great social change in both Europe and the Americas, and there were many on both sides of the Atlantic who longed to create an inclusive, idealistic democracy.

Only in France, however, did les philosophes try to devise a more accurate voting procedure, and both M. de Borda and Le Marquis de Condorcet proposed their two different systems. In 1784, the Académie adopted the Borda count and it worked well. Alas, in 1801, a new member of the Académie, not best known for his democratic idealism, threw it out. His name was Napoleon.