In more and more Western democracies, voters face the following dilemma: Should one vote for a democratically minded candidate with whom one disagrees politically, or for a candidate from one’s own party who threatens democracy? New research shows that most voters prioritize party loyalty over democratic principles and thus accept undemocratic behavior from their own political camp, posing one of the greatest challenges to our democracies today. This review article provides a systematic overview of the burgeoning research literature on why voters act as they do, how they perceive their own behavior, and what interventions can increase the willingness to uphold democratic principles – even when it comes at a political cost. The article thus equips the reader to reach a better understanding of why undemocratic leaders in Western democracies can break one democratic rule after another without being punished at the ballot box.
The Liberal Democrats emerged from the 2024 election with their largest parliamentary party since 1923. The 2026 elections saw further progress in English local government and Scottish parliamentary elections, with support consolidating in areas of strength. But membership is falling and the leadership is being criti...
D. Howarth· Political quarterly (London....· 0 citations
Widespread intraparty reforms empower party members and create coprincipalship with party voters. This alters the structure of democratic delegation and may lead to policy drift and ineffective accountability. Existing research is vague on how voters see this arrangement, and we therefore ask, What leads voters to ac...
A. Kölln, H. Pedersen· Perspectives on Politics· 0 citations
Abstract:In competitive authoritarian and autocratic contexts, political parties win elections more frequently by running as public unity coalitions. However, in eroding democracies, voters are often highly polarized. The incumbent often won because the main opposition party was disliked by a plurality or majority of v...
This book gathers a series of studies by scholars who have dedicated these last few years to research in the field of participatory democracy. Their purpose is precisely to engage in a theoretical discussion about the value of participatory democracy in the 21st century. Part I deals with the challenge of antipolitics....
What is the position of Marxists on elections promoted by bourgeois democracy? This question certainly does not have a single answer. There is a long-standing debate on this subject, with understandings and positions varying from era to era, from one situation to another. This article analyzes a specific historical cas...
Crises often call for swift and far-reaching government action that depends on broad public acceptance to be effective. While political disagreement is commonly seen as undermining support, its actual impact on public attitudes remains contested. This study examines public opinion during the COVID-19 pandemic in German...
F. Graf, Alexa Lenz, Christian Adam· Party Politics· 0 citations
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