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| | {{Case Study | | {{Case Study |
| − | |Organizationtype=Independent film producer
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| | |Mainurl=http://www.followingalexiswest.com | | |Mainurl=http://www.followingalexiswest.com |
| | |Author=Brian Boyko | | |Author=Brian Boyko |
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| | |Country=New Zealand, United States | | |Country=New Zealand, United States |
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| − | The documentary film Following Alexis West chronicles the effects that New
| + | test this thing out |
| − | Zealand’s switch to a proportional representation voting system has had on its
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| − | culture and politics since 1996. Mirroring the journey taken by French political
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| − | theorist and lawyer Alexis de Tocqueville to America to examine the workings
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| − | of democracy in the early nineteenth century, which culminated in the writing
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| − | of De la démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America), the film’s producer
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| − | Brian Boyko travels to New Zealand from the United States to document the
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| − | country’s political and cultural achievements. The documentary examines
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| − | the way in which New Zealand’s reconfigured voting structure may serve to
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| − | prevent ‘gerrymandering, negative campaigning, civic disengagement, and
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| − | undue influence of powerful lobbies, as well as taking a look at problems
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| − | with democracy in New Zealand that [are believed not to exist] in America,
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| − | like restrictions on satire and film classification.’ (www.blogphilo.com/
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| − | main/?page_id=9) Interviews are conducted with prominent New Zealand
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| − | politicians, political scientists, media figures, bloggers, and ‘just plain old folks
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| − | in the pub,’ with a view to gaining insights into the success of the proportional
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| − | representation voting structure, and ultimately what the relationship is between
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| − | NZ’s parliamentary system and its people.
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