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Economic development and democracy : An electoral connection

Knutsen, Carl Henrik ; Gerring, John ; Skaaning, Svend Erik ; Teorell, Jan LU orcid ; Maguire, Matthew ; Coppedge, Michael and Lindberg, Staffan I. LU (2019) In European Journal of Political Research 58(1). p.292-314
Abstract

Scholars continue to debate whether economic development affects regime type. This article argues that a clear relationship exists between development and the electoral component of democracy, but not – or at least less so – between development and other components of broader understandings of democracy. This is so because development enhances the power resources of citizens and elections provide a focal point for collective action. The theory is tested with two new datasets – Varieties of Democracy and Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy – that allow us to disaggregate the concept of democracy into meso- and micro-level indicators. Results of these tests corroborate the theory: only election-centred indicators are robustly associated... (More)

Scholars continue to debate whether economic development affects regime type. This article argues that a clear relationship exists between development and the electoral component of democracy, but not – or at least less so – between development and other components of broader understandings of democracy. This is so because development enhances the power resources of citizens and elections provide a focal point for collective action. The theory is tested with two new datasets – Varieties of Democracy and Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy – that allow us to disaggregate the concept of democracy into meso- and micro-level indicators. Results of these tests corroborate the theory: only election-centred indicators are robustly associated with economic development. This may help to account for apparent inconsistencies across extant studies and shed light on the mechanisms at work in a much-studied relationship. Further analysis shows that development affects electoral democracy by reducing electoral fraud, election violence and vote buying.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
democracy, democratisation, economic development, elections, modernisation
in
European Journal of Political Research
volume
58
issue
1
pages
23 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85060104008
ISSN
0304-4130
DOI
10.1111/1475-6765.12282
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c0f9155a-239c-4cb3-a0c2-6bdf4dc663d0
date added to LUP
2019-01-28 13:04:15
date last changed
2025-10-14 10:03:51
@article{c0f9155a-239c-4cb3-a0c2-6bdf4dc663d0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Scholars continue to debate whether economic development affects regime type. This article argues that a clear relationship exists between development and the electoral component of democracy, but not – or at least less so – between development and other components of broader understandings of democracy. This is so because development enhances the power resources of citizens and elections provide a focal point for collective action. The theory is tested with two new datasets – Varieties of Democracy and Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy – that allow us to disaggregate the concept of democracy into meso- and micro-level indicators. Results of these tests corroborate the theory: only election-centred indicators are robustly associated with economic development. This may help to account for apparent inconsistencies across extant studies and shed light on the mechanisms at work in a much-studied relationship. Further analysis shows that development affects electoral democracy by reducing electoral fraud, election violence and vote buying.</p>}},
  author       = {{Knutsen, Carl Henrik and Gerring, John and Skaaning, Svend Erik and Teorell, Jan and Maguire, Matthew and Coppedge, Michael and Lindberg, Staffan I.}},
  issn         = {{0304-4130}},
  keywords     = {{democracy; democratisation; economic development; elections; modernisation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{292--314}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Political Research}},
  title        = {{Economic development and democracy : An electoral connection}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12282}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1475-6765.12282}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}