2026 Rein Taagepera: Political Science Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Political Science	46	316	281	181	153	193	12856

Rein Taagepera publication distribution in Political Science in 2026

The chart shows the distribution of publications by all Research.com ranked scientists in the field of Political Science in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Rein Taagepera sits on this spectrum.

36 publications 333+

This scientist: 193 publications — 78th percentile

78% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 333 publications or more.

Rein Taagepera D-index placement in Political Science in 2026

The chart shows the D-index (discipline H-index) distribution of Political Science scientists ranked by Research.com in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Rein Taagepera sits on this spectrum.

20 D-Index 62+

This scientist: 46 D-Index — 85th percentile

85% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 62 D-Index or more.

Research.com Recognitions

2008 - Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science For his profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy.

Overview

Rein Taagepera is affiliated with the University of California, Irvine in the United States. Their research spans several fields within the social sciences, with a particular focus on sociology, political science, environmental engineering, and interdisciplinary areas such as renewable energy, sustainability, and astronomy and astrophysics.

Their scholarly work covers a variety of topics, including:

Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Income, Poverty, and Inequality
Health disparities and outcomes

Taagepera's recent academic papers illustrate the range of their research interests. These include:

"World population growth over millennia: Ancient and present phases with a temporary halt in-between" (2023), published in The Anthropocene Review
"Predicting Party Systems from Electoral Systems" (2020), featured in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics
"Lead and Lag Times of Countries in a Gentler World" (2020), published in Social Indicators Research (co-authored with Oliver Nahkur)
"Lack-of-Corruption Goes with Liberal-Egalitarian Features of Democracy" (2023), published in Comparative Sociology (co-authored with Peet Kask)
"Index" (2024), included in Cambridge University Press eBooks

Taagepera has frequently published in venues such as The Anthropocene Review, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Social Indicators Research, Comparative Sociology, and Cambridge University Press eBooks.

Co-authorship has been an element of Taagepera's scholarly activity. Regular collaborators include:

Miroslav Nemčok (23 publications)
Oliver Nahkur (2 publications)
Matthew Søberg Shugart (1 publication)
Peet Kask (1 publication)
Marek M. Kamiński (1 publication)

The scientist has contributed to academic literature through book publications as well. Notably, a book titled More People, Fewer States was published in 2024 by Cambridge University Press, which has received citations in academic circles.

Among the awards conferred upon Taagepera is the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, awarded in 2008 for analysis related to the function of electoral systems in representative democracy.

Best Publications

“Effective” Number of Parties: A Measure with Application to West Europe

Markku Laakso;Rein Taagepera

5526
Citations
The Baltic States: Years of Dependence - 1940-1990

Romuald J. Misiunas;Rein Taagepera

754
Citations
Predicting party sizes: the logic of simple electoral systems

Rein Taagepera

393
Citations
Corruption, Culture, and Communism

Wayne Sandholtz;Rein Taagepera

350
Citations
PREDICTING THE NUMBER OF PARTIES: A QUANTITATIVE MODEL OF DUVERGER'S MECHANICAL EFFECT

Rein Taagepera;Matthew Soberg Shugart

301
Citations
Rethinking Duverger's Law: Predicting the Effective Number of Parties in Plurality and PR Systems – Parties Minus Issues Equals One

Rein Taagepera;Bernard Grofman

247
Citations
Estonia: Return To Independence

Rein Taagepera

235
Citations
The Number of Parties As a Function of Heterogeneity and Electoral System

Rein Taagepera

162
Citations
Size and duration of empires: Systematics of size

Rein Taagepera

146
Citations
The Baltic States

Rein Taagepera

143
Citations
Nationwide threshold of representation

Rein Taagepera

142
Citations
Mapping the Indices of Seats–Votes Disproportionality and Inter-Election Volatility:

Rein Taagepera;Bernard Grofman

132
Citations
The Baltic States, years of dependence, 1940-1980

Romuald J. Misiunas;Rein Taagepera;Georg von Rauch

125
Citations
Arend Lijphart's Dimensions of Democracy: Logical Connections and Institutional Design:

Rein Taagepera

115
Citations
The size of national assemblies

Rein Taagepera

108
Citations
Effective number of parties for incomplete data

Rein Taagepera;Rein Taagepera

108
Citations
Making social sciences more scientific : the need for predictive models

Rein Taagepera

107
Citations
The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1980–1986

Romuald J. Misiunas;Rein Taagepera

97
Citations
Effective Magnitude and Effective Threshold

Rein Taagepera

96
Citations
A Generalized Index of Concentration

Rein Taagepera;James Lee Ray

90
Citations
Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia

Rein Taagepera

87
Citations
REFORMULATING THE CUBE LAW FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION ELECTIONS

Rein Taagepera

79
Citations
Predicting Party Sizes

Rein Taagepera

34
Citations
Making social sciences more scientific

Rein Taagepera

34
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Matthew Soberg Shugart University of California, Davis

Bernard Grofman University of California, Irvine

Wayne Sandholtz University of Southern California

Arend Lijphart University of California, San Diego

Henry E. Hale George Washington University

Peter Selb University of Konstanz

External Links

Personal website of Rein Taagepera

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