Contesting the Status Quo- A comparative study of democratic electoral outcomes in electoral authoritarian regimes
Author
Summary, in English
There has recently been an increased interest among academic scholars on the importance of elections per se as promoters for democratic change in semi-democratic contexts. This study positions itself somewhat on the side of this debate asking; when do elections in electoral authoritarian regimes result in democratic consequences?
Recognising that elections can be as well a tool for democratic empowerment as authoritarian legitimisation, the study tries to avoid an obviously democratic bias and seeks the causes for as well democratic improvements as erosion in connection with elections.
Using a quantitative method with a global population of 283 elections in the period 1973-2004, the sample of the study is significantly larger than previous investigations on this subject.
The main findings of the analysis is that while most of the theories laid out in the theoretical literature do not stand the test of a large scale quantitative analysis, a high number of demonstrations preceding the election and a larger historical experience of previous elections, is important for the democratic electoral outcome.
Recognising that elections can be as well a tool for democratic empowerment as authoritarian legitimisation, the study tries to avoid an obviously democratic bias and seeks the causes for as well democratic improvements as erosion in connection with elections.
Using a quantitative method with a global population of 283 elections in the period 1973-2004, the sample of the study is significantly larger than previous investigations on this subject.
The main findings of the analysis is that while most of the theories laid out in the theoretical literature do not stand the test of a large scale quantitative analysis, a high number of demonstrations preceding the election and a larger historical experience of previous elections, is important for the democratic electoral outcome.
Department/s
Publishing year
2008
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper
Topic
- Political Science
Keywords
- authoritarianism
- comparative
- demonstrations
- democracy
- multiple regression analysis
- elections
Conference name
Annual Meeting of the Swedish Political Science Association, 2008
Conference date
2008-09-26 - 2008-09-26
Conference place
Uppsala, Sweden
Status
Published