Increasingly unequal turnout in Eastern European new democracies: Communist and transitional legacies versus new institutions

Abstract

Unequal turnout, namely that educated citizens are more likely to vote, has been a longstanding pre-occupation of scholars of political participation and has been shown to exist across established democracies in varying degrees. Using pooled cross-sectional individual level data covering the period from 1990 to 2007 across 12 post-communist new democracies, this paper examines the applicability of existing explanations for unequal turnout in the Eastern European context. The paper shows that while voting procedures explain some cross-national variation in unequal turnout, turnout inequality is likewise shaped over time by processes related to the transition from communism, primarily the fading of initial excitement with democratic elections. The mechanism of learning among mature voters rather than generational replacement dominates the latter process.

Lojalnost, glas ili izlazak: izborna participacija i potpora novim strankama u Hrvatskoj

“…Obrazo vaniji građani imaju i viši socijalnoeko nomski status, što povećava važnost političke participacije kao mehanizma utjecaja na politiku i zaštite vlastito ga ekonomskog statusa i pravâ. Slabije obrazovani građani politički su nesofi sticiraniji i nezainteresiraniji za politiku te, u sklopu ekonomske politike koja je uvelike depolitizirana i koju kontroliraju transnacionalne organizacije, ne osjeća ju da sudjelovanjem u izborima mogu utjecati na javne politike i poboljšati svoj ekonomski položaj (Schäfer 2013;Offe 2013 Veći broj studija pokazuje da je član stvo u sindikatima posebno važna vari jabla koja utječe na vjerojatnost izborne participacije na individualnoj razini (Goerres 2007;NorthmoreBall 2016;Allen 2017;Schäfer 2013;Grass 2014). Sindikati imaju mehanizme da politički mobiliziraju svoje članove, smanje in formacijske i organizacijske troškove te članovima omoguće aktivno sudjelova nje u društvenima, a često i u specifič nima političkim aktivnostima.…”

Dictators and Their Subjects: Authoritarian Attitudinal Effects and Legacies

“…This approach, which is the primary focus of three of the four articles in this special issue, as well as of a small but rapidly growing literature on authoritarian attitudinal legacies, has the advantage of being able to address the crucial question of legacy durability. Several existing studies have established the existence and the durable impact of authoritarian regimes on a variety of attitudes including lower support for and satisfaction with democracy (Neundorf, 2010; Pop-Eleches & Tucker, 2014, 2017), demand for democracy (Mattes & Bratton, 2007), support for the previous regime (Mishler & Rose, 2007), the emergence of political trust (Mishler & Rose, 2001), attitudes toward markets and welfare states (Alesina & Fuchs-Schündeln, 2007; Pop-Eleches & Tucker, 2014, 2017), as well as behavior, including lower civic and political participation (Bernhard & Karakoç, 2007; Ekiert & Kubik, 2014; Northmore-Ball, 2014; Pop-Eleches & Tucker, 2014).…”