14 research outputs found
The politics of voter presence
By focusing only on the composition of representative bodies, the traditional âpolitics of presenceâ approach has inadvertently diminished the value of participation for representation. It overlooks that there exist âelite votersâ who reinforce discrimination against abstainers at the policy level and create obstacles for improving the lives of the marginalized. We offer a remedy to persisting patterns of political exclusion by arguing in favour of a âpolitics of presenceâ at the polls. This requires high and socially diverse turnout that will make representation more inclusive, broader and qualitatively different; it will be more descriptive, not of group characteristics, but of the interests, opinions and ideas of voters. Our alternative is a fusion of descriptive and substantive representation âdescriptive responsivenessâ.Anthoula Malkopoulou, Lisa Hil
Compulsory voting and right-wing populism: mobilisation, representation and socioeconomic inequalities
Puzzling evidence on voter turnout
In this empirical analysis of voting patterns in five countries on days when one or more national referenda were held, voter turnout appears to decline in the number of concurrent referenda, in contrast to standard theoriesâ predictions and regardless of method used to hold constant the quality of the referenda. Multiple concurrent referenda imply âquantity discountsâ as one may vote on more ballots in one visit to the polling station. They should also draw more voters due to the wider range of interests attracted when more issues are up for vote. Yet, none of this seems to happen in the data. More recent developments, such as rule-utilitarian and information-based theories of voting, fare similarly poorly in light of the evidence presented in this article; a social theory of voting does better.In this empirical analysis of voting patterns in five countries on days when one or more national referenda were held, voter turnout appears to decline in the number of concurrent referenda, in contrast to standard theoriesâ predictions and regardless of method used to hold constant the quality of the referenda. Multiple concurrent referenda imply âquantity discountsâ as one may vote on more ballots in one visit to the polling station. They should also draw more voters due to the wider range of interests attracted when more issues are up for vote. Yet, none of this seems to happen in the data. More recent developments, such as rule-utilitarian and information-based theories of voting, fare similarly poorly in light of the evidence presented in this article; a social theory of voting does better.Peer reviewe