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.
Measuring Polyarchy Across the Globe, 1900–2017 Teorell, Jan; Coppedge, Michael; Lindberg, Staffan ...
Studies in comparative international development,
03/2019, Letnik:
54, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This paper presents a new measure polyarchy for a global sample of 182 countries from 1900 to 2017 based on the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) data, deriving from an expert survey of more than 3000 ...country experts from around the world, with on average 5 experts rating each indicator. By measuring the five components of Elected Officials, Clean Elections, Associational Autonomy, Inclusive Citizenship, and Freedom of Expression and Alternative Sources of Information separately, we anchor this new index directly in Dahl’s (
1971
) extremely influential theoretical framework. The paper describes how the five polyarchy components were measured and provides the rationale for how to aggregate them to the polyarchy scale. We find that personal characteristics or ideological predilections of the V-Dem country experts do not systematically predict their ratings on our indicators. We also find strong correlations with other existing measures of electoral democracy, but also decisive differences where we believe the evidence supports the polyarchy index having higher face validity.
Costly Signals? James Scott; Allegra Hernandez
The Age of human rights,
12/2021
17
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Developed states increasingly turned to democracy assistance strategies as the Cold War came to an end. A number of recent studies conclude that such aid positively affected democratization in ...recipients. But, like foreign aid, democracy assistance allocations are subject to change, sometimes dramatically. In foreign aid, sudden, sizable reductions – or aid shocks (e.g., Nielsen et al. 2011) – can have severe consequences, precipitating conflict in the recipient state. How do democracy aid shocks affect recipient states? This analysis examines the effects of sudden withdrawals of democracy aid – or democracy aid shocks – by the U.S. on recipient regime behavior, specifically, their treatment of citizens and civil society groups. We argue that democracy aid shocks trigger repressive action by recipients resulting in harmful human rights practices by the regime. Examining U.S. democracy aid to the developing world from 1982-2013, we find that, after controlling for other relevant factors likely to affect the human rights practices of a regime, democracy aid shocks are associated with subsequent repression of human rights in the recipient state. Our analysis thus sheds light on an external factor affecting human rights practices within states, as well as an important element of the consequences of democracy aid decisions. We conclude by assessing the implications for democracy promotion strategies and human rights behavior.
This paper has as general objective to analyze the democratization process of post-Soviet Uzbekistan, seeking, within the scope of specific objectives, to understand the democratic trajectory during ...Islam Karimov’s administration (1991-2016). In this sense, the research argues that, contrary to what substantial part of the existing literature argues, the difficulties faced in the country’s democratization process may be in the understanding of the very concept of democracy, of a series of domestic and external factors, in addition to completely new aspects for the debate. In the development of the article, the first goal is to present the theoretical and conceptual aspects used to carry out the study, as well as a historical contextualization of the region and the recent history of Uzbekistan. Then, the democratic indicators of the Karimov government will be analyzed, identifying their particularities and the challenges that exist in the country’s democratic process.
Writing Centers and Programs Waigandt, Diana Mónica; Castagno, Fabiana; Lizarriturri, Sonia Gabriela ...
The Writing center journal,
12/2021, Letnik:
38, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Within a framework of democratization policies, universities in Argentina are confronted with the challenge of offering educational support to all students, traditional and nontraditional, to help ...them enculturate in chosen disciplines and graduate from college. In this collaboratively authored article, we describe some of the conditions and processes that led higher education institutions to acknowledge the strategic role that teaching reading, writing, and oral communication play, to foster not only the students' learning process, but also inclusion and quality for the democratization of higher education. We also describe initiatives carried out by five Argentinean universities to address the development of academic literacies in Spanish-medium curricula, including the establishment of writing programs and/or writing centers on our campuses. We refer to tutoring practices, culturally specific genres and pedagogies, teaching and research initiatives, power dynamics within the different organizational and institutional contexts, and the paramount role of collaboration in shaping future initiatives. Finally, we identify similarities and differences between the five institutional experiences.
Abstract We develop an account of societal democratization that synthesizes cultural sociology and deliberative democracy. Cultural sociologists emphasize the symbolic inclusion of marginalized ...groups into the civil sphere. Deliberative democrats stress growth in the deliberative capacity of society. We argue that democratization entails the co-evolution of culture and reason. The basis of co-evolution is the performative construction of an inclusive demos, which requires a deliberative background but is also a source of the moral emotions that motivate deliberation. Since moral emotions can also sweep people up and make them do reckless things, they must in turn be redeemable in inclusive deliberation. This synthesis sharpens a normative position for the evaluation of episodes of inclusion, extends current accounts of the place of emotion in cultural sociology and deliberative democracy, and provides a frame for comparative analyses of democratization. We illustrate with an examination of the exclusion and inclusion of Indigenous Australians.
The 2015 general election marked the end of the two-party system that had existed in Spain since the restoration of democracy. Two new parties, 'Podemos' and 'Ciudadanos', entered the national arena ...for the first time and together obtained 34.6 per cent of the vote. This paper describes this election's context and electoral results by analysing the individual determinants behind the change to the Spanish party system. The results indicate that economic factors predominantly explain the votes for the traditional parties, the PP and PSOE. On the other hand, political factors help distinguish why some voters remained 'loyal' to the traditional parties and others switched to the new formations. While Podemos switchers were mainly politically disaffected left-wing voters, electoral support for Ciudadanos came from younger and ideologically moderate voters who had lower levels of political trust.
In the academic literature, Hungary and Poland are often cited as paradigmatic cases of democratic backsliding. However, as the backsliding narrative gained traction, the term has been applied to the ...rest of the post-communist region, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We suggest that this diagnosis is in part based on conceptual stretching, and set out to rescue the concept as an analytical tool. We then assess the extent of backsliding in the four Visegrád countries, explaining backsliding (and the relative lack of it) in terms of motive, opportunity, and the strength or weakness of opposing or constraining forces. We conclude that the situation is not as desperate as some commentators would have it: democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland was contingent on a few exceptional factors, and EU leaders therefore need not be paralysed by the fear of contagion when they contemplate forceful action against backsliding member states.
PurposeBlockchain is expected to have a significant impact on Systems of Innovation as the new General Purpose Technology. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Blockchain can revolutionise ...the Systems of Innovation by investigating its overall structure, actors and relationships.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the systematic mapping method to explore and integrate the Blockchain and Systems of Innovation literature for the creation of a new conceptual model of Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation. In that scope, 37 Blockchain-related and 32 Systems of Innovation-related papers, besides two major books in the field of Blockchain, have been reviewed and then integrated based on the Systems Thinking approach.FindingsThe key findings for Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation are that there is (1) an increased distribution of networks and collaborations, (2) increased trust through the use of reputation systems, (3) an emerging new nature of platform characteristics, (4) a democratisation of entrepreneurship by the new funding landscape and (5) an increased significance of technological drivers, such as energy.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows new Systems of Innovation-related research implications. Accordingly, a new type of actor, relationship and attribute has been introduced where the boundaries of the role definitions are blurred and more distributed. This is where larger organisations can expect to lose their central position. The different types of actors are replaced by a network of actors as a result of the distributed new Blockchain-based system. The threshold for the Bottom of the Pyramid is expected to be reduced, leading to a more democratised innovation system.Practical ImplicationsBlockchain appears to reduce the effects of distrust in collaborative innovation practices with its consensus mechanisms and the new Blockchain-enabled Systems of Innovation is expected to revolutionise the interactions in the future.Originality/valueThere are very few studies that have been found to integrate innovation management practices with Blockchain. This is the first Blockchain-based Systems of Innovation study enabling the fundamental revision of its structure, types of relationships and actors.
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