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Democratization Boost or Bust? Electoral Turnout After Democratic Transitions
[journal article]
Abstract
How do democratization processes affect voter turnout in new democracies? Existing work points to an expected boost in electoral turnout after democratization as newly democratic citizens are euphoric to exert newly democratic freedoms or because they developed new political attitudes and behaviours... view more
How do democratization processes affect voter turnout in new democracies? Existing work points to an expected boost in electoral turnout after democratization as newly democratic citizens are euphoric to exert newly democratic freedoms or because they developed new political attitudes and behaviours by mobilizing for democracy. While intuitive and normatively appealing, these explanations have not been theoretically nor empirically scrutinized within the literature. This paper develops and tests novel theoretical expectations on the processes and legacies of democratization that impact voter turnout in new democracies. Using electoral turnout data from 1086 national elections between 1946 and 2015, and turnout survey data of over 1 million respondents between 1982 and 2015, we find that the boost in voter turnout (1) exists only for the first election after transition, (2) its effect depends on the life cycle during which individuals experienced the transition and (3) it is less dependent on transition type.... view less
Keywords
democracy; election; voter turnout; change of government; transition; regime; political attitude; mobilization; Eurobarometer; ISSP; democratization; non-aggression; conflict situation
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
CSES; ISSP 2002-2013; Eurobarometer 1979-1995
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 1-32
Journal
Comparative political studies (2023) Online First
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140231194922
ISSN
0010-4140
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed