The political economy of democratic backsliding. A discussion of theories on the erosion of democracy
| dc.contributor.advisor | Bohn, Frank | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kok, Dominic | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019-09-16 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The gradual erosion of liberal democracy referred to as democratic backsliding, is a relatively new phenomenon. Recently, some theories on the causes and dynamics of democratic backsliding have appeared. Most notably, those of Svolik (2018), Nalepa, Vanberg and Chiopris (2018) and Luo and Przeworski (2019). These papers are analysed, criticised and generalised in this thesis with the aim to investigate their theoretical strength. The major themes in the papers are the relations between polarisation, uncertainty and democratic backsliding. Voters are theorised to be faced with a trade-off between policy preferences and democracy, polarisation causes this trade-off to tip more in favour of policy preferences. Consequently, politicians who want to backslide are faced with less opposition and can more easily erode democracy. As backsliding is often hidden behind a legal façade, voters are analysed as uncertain about the motivations of politicians. We find the analyses involving uncertainty to be unconvincing, their focus on the role of beliefs is however promising. We conclude by arguing that all three papers provide important methodological and conceptual contributions to the study of democratic backsliding. We also note opportunities for future research into the role of ‘backsliding enabling devices’ and belief formation in the backsliding process. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/8415 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.thesis.faculty | Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen | en_US |
| dc.thesis.specialisation | Economics, Behaviour and Policy | en_US |
| dc.thesis.studyprogramme | Master Economics | en_US |
| dc.thesis.type | Master | en_US |
| dc.title | The political economy of democratic backsliding. A discussion of theories on the erosion of democracy | en_US |