A Theory of Electoral Competition in Developing Democracies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6396145 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zuheir Desai (0000-0001-5958-0351, The Ohio State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 000-000 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3816 • E-ISSN: 1468-2508 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/735459 |
| OpenAlex | W4407733674 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 34 |
Elections in developing democracies often involve the politicization of social cleavages, whereas the economic dimension seems politically insignificant. How does economic development affect this state of affairs? I show that development-led economic mobility structures voting behavior around policy but can aggravate campaigning on the social cleavage. A preponderance of poor voters leads the Right to adopt a platform that is nearly identical to that of the Left and to campaign more on the social dimension. Development increases policy polarization, thereby increasing the significance of the economic dimension. However, its effect on campaigning on the social dimension depends on the nature of the social cleavage. Development promotes divisive campaigning in a primordial majority–minority cleavage and has a moderating effect only under relatively optimistic assumptions. The results provide a structural explanation for the apparent unimportance of the economic dimension in developing democracies and outline conditions under which development exacerbates the politicization of social divisions.
Competition (biology · Economic system · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Taxation and Compliance Studies
Hindu Nationalism
Why the poor do not expropriate the rich
On the Salience of Ethnic Conflict
Elections with platform and valence competition
Ideology and Identity
Votes and Violence
Religion, Violence, and Local Power-Sharing in Nigeria
Political Change in Post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia
The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India
Economics and Identity
Cross-Border Media and Nationalism
Identity voting
Blowback
Polarization of What? A Model of Elections with Endogenous Valence
Polarization and Campaign Spending in Elections
On the Nature of Competition in Alternative Electoral Systems
From the Politics of State-Building To Programmatic Politics
India's Watershed Vote
Religious Practices among Indian Hindus
Economic Development, Democratic Experience, and Political Parties’ Linkage Strategies
Does Religion Distract the Poor
The Effect of Inequality and Social Identity on Party Strategies
Can Descriptive Representation Help the Right Win Votes from the Poor? Evidence from Brazil
The Class Element in the 2014 Indian Election and the BJP’s Success with Special Reference to the Hindi Belt
Voting after war
Sectarian Violence
A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy
Some Social Requisites of Democracy
Class voting and Left-Right party positions
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |