Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Does Electoral Democracy Boost Economic Equality?
Abstract
Inequalities seem ubiquitous, despite the spread of electoral democracy and what were, until recently, positive rates of economic growth. These seemingly mismatched trends should not surprise us. The advance of democracy entails a decrease in political inequality but does not guarantee decreases in inequalities of other sorts. Economic (and other) inequalities have historically followed their own dynamic, independent of whether electoral democracy exists. The same generalization holds for electoral democracy and poverty. Collective action challenges mean that rising economic inequalities will not be easily reversed. This may harm the quality of contemporary democracies, but is unlikely to cause massive collapse.
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Any effect of inequality on democratic transitions and breakdowns was more powerful in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries than in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
“subsequent research suggests that any effect of inequality on democratic transitions and breakdowns was more powerful in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries than in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries”
From Unwelcome Change: Coming to Terms with Democratic Backsliding (2018) · cites this paper as Bermeo 2009
The most likely reason democratic transitions took place amid high inequality is that international market forces largely constrained avowedly leftist governments from embarking on massive redistributive projects.
“The most likely reason is that international market forces have largely constrained avowedly leftist governments from embarking on massive redistributive projects”
From Unwelcome Change: Coming to Terms with Democratic Backsliding (2018) · cites this paper as Bermeo 2009
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Unwelcome Change: Coming to Terms with Democratic Backsliding
Waldner, D., & Lust, E. (2018) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-050517-114628 · Cited by 889 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bermeo, N.
- Corresponding author
- Bermeo, Nancy
- Venue
- Journal of Democracy
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2009-10
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 21-35
- ISSN
- 1045-5736 (ISSN-L)
- 1086-3214
- OpenAlex
- W2092951950
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 6.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of democracy (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Keywords
- electoral democracy, economic inequality, poverty, political inequality, collective action, quality of democracy, economic growth
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