7fecf68bba6f63d6…

Preprint
ID: 5da2042122a841001202811f2,682 bytesFirst seen Jun 24, 20261 collection

Fields

NameValue
abstractDo norms have a causal impact on the decline of democratic institutions? I use a dyadic analysis that draws on data from the European and World Values Survey and Polity IV. I find that popularly held norms do not matter, but that the norms of economic elites do. There are two theoretical points driving these findings. One, the decisions of political elites is disproportionately influenced by voters wealthier than the median. The resources commanded by economic elites make them more important than the average citizen, and accordingly, their interests and values are also more important. In effect, the selectorate is considerably smaller than the full voting population. Two, wealthy elites have historically been opposed to democratic concessions. Due to greater levels of income inequality, elites’ opposition to democracy, along with their relative power, has increased. Therefore, their normative attitudes are increasingly likely to translate into democratic decline.
abstractViews1290
approvedDate2019-10-21T13:37:07.616Z
assetFileNameSchafer_Do Popular Norms Matter.pdf
assetFileSizeBytes428698
assetMimeTypeapplication/pdf
assetUrlhttps://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5da2042122a841001202811f/original/do-popular-norms-matter-for-democratic-backsliding.pdf
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contentTypeWorking Paper
contentTypeId5ce663395846762193c9c430
doi10.33774/apsa-2019-45m69
doiUrlhttps://doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2019-45m69
engageUrlhttps://www.cambridge.org/engage/coe/article-details/5da2042122a841001202811f
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keywords["democratic backsliding","democratic decline","norms","democratic norms","selectorate","inequality","elites","distributional conflict theory","democracy","economic elites"]
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publishedDate2019-10-21T13:37:07.631Z
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statusDate2019-10-21T13:37:07.631Z
subjectId5e68cb1bd1f19d49ce3ac752
submittedDate2019-10-19T19:18:09.978Z
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titleDo Popular Norms Matter for Democratic Backsliding?
version1
vornull
webLinks[]

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Appears in 1 collection

cambridge-up/open-engage1 version · Jun 24, 2026

Full hash:7fecf68bba6f63d6121429b097411557a712177957e13e1a190a75a1631b9bce