Voter Turnout and Abstention in Context: A Multi-level Analysis of the Factors Affecting Voter Turnout and Abstention in Systems of Multi-Level Governance

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[This proposal is part of a funded CRP from the EuroCORES HumVIB competition.]Can electoral institutions overcome the political consequences of social exclusion and poverty? What role did political parties play in incorporating the working classes into the electorates of European democracies? And, why are so many Americans, particularly the working and lower middle people, still alienated from participation in their countrys electoral processes? This research begins with the premise that these questions reflect different perspectives on the same political phenomenon: The context of electoral competition especially the rules governing legislative elections and their interactions with the geographic distribution income shapes the incentives of political actors to mobilize and incorporate low-income and working-class citizens. The proposed research contributes to a recommended Collaborative Research Proposal from the EuroCORES HumVIB competition. Earlier accounts of the relationship redistributive policy emphasize a stark division between multimember district (MMD) electoral rules and single-member district (SMD) rules (e.g., Iversen & Soskice 2006, Persson & Tabellini 2000). These accounts, however, miss the important modifying effect of electoral context - specifically, the geographic distribution of citizens of different types - on the effect of electoral rules in structuring legislators' policy-making incentives. The intellectual merits of this proposal lie, therefore, in the recognition that given the national context in which elections are held - in particular, the geographic distribution of income - the electoral institutions of contemporary democracies may undermine the opportunities for those societies to achieve their democratic ideals.As part of a European Science Foundation Collaborative Research Scheme (EUROCORES), the proposed research will contribute to a broadly collaborative and highly integrated project that is motivated by questions about voter turnout. The proposed research will contribute to the theoretical development and data collection exercises of this larger project.