Scholars of social capital are still exploring and debating which type of social capital plays what kind of role in shaping economic development and government performance in different economic and political systems at various levels. To contribute to this important exploration and debate, this...

Recent work from the U.S. has demonstrated positive effects of internet use on individuals' levels of sociability which have in turn been linked to the development of democratic behaviors and norms. This paper extends this research by examining the links between internet use, social capital and...

This paper represents an initial attempt to discover whether Christian and Muslim communities in sub-Saharan Africa produce more social capital than secular associations and whether certain types of Christian and Muslim communities generate more social capital than others. The results indicate...

The recent rise and stability in macropartisanship has focused interest upon the long-term dynamics of party bases. Commentators cite immigration and youth as forces which will produce a natural Democratic advantage in the future while conservative writers highlight the importance of high...

We show evidence of prejudiced voting in the 2008 presidential election. We then go deeper to test if black threat theory explains some of this behavior. The theory finds empirical support, especially in the south. We also show that black concentration in an area works interactively with the...

While officials involved in graft, bribery, extortion, nepotism, or patronage typically like to keep their deeds private, the fact that corruption can have serious effects in democracies is no secret. Numerous scholars have brought into the limelight the impact of corruption on a range of...

The Finnish National Election Study of 2003 revealed that in Finland most voters do not identify with parties and are self-described as independents. In this article it is asserted that partisan attachments affect Finnish parties’ optimal positions despite the large amount of independents. To...

Following the 2006 post-electoral crisis, important changes were made to the Constitution and several secondary laws in Mexico. Unfortunately, this new legislation has at least three drawbacks: (1) a weakening of electoral institutions, (2) a reduction in freedom of speech and access to the...

Legislators trade influence to attain approval of their most preferred bills. The classical example is found in pork barrel politics with concentrated benefits and diffuse costs where logrolling agreements involving two (or more) legislators can load costs onto legislators excluded from the...

We propose a mechanism explaining how elections may legitimize autocratic government even if they are undeniably not free and not fair. We advocate the concept of elections as a mechanism to manipulate public beliefs about the true popularity of an autocratic government. Instead of being...