This paper analyses the role of peaceful and violent protest in the democratization process. We interpret the democratization process as a sequence of phases so as to allow citizens' and elites' preferences for democracy to vary according to the particular phase that a country is experiencing. By doing so we jointly model the probability of protest and of moving through different phases of democracy taking into account time-constant and time-varying unobserved heterogeneity. In particular, we develop a multivariate finite mixture model that introduces a latent variable to capture unobservable factors. On a sample of 171 countries from 1971 to 2010, we provide evidence that protest matters in all phases of democratization, especially peaceful citizens’ demonstrations. On the contrary, violent protest has ambiguous consequences, as it favours initial democratic transitions but at the cost of threatening democratic consolidation. We also find that, after conditioning for economic and institutional controls, there is evidence of time-varying unobserved heterogeneity.

Marino M., Li Donni P., Bavetta S., Cellini M. (2020). The democratization process: An empirical appraisal of the role of political protest. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, 63 [10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101881].

The democratization process: An empirical appraisal of the role of political protest

Li Donni P.;Bavetta S.;
2020-01-01

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of peaceful and violent protest in the democratization process. We interpret the democratization process as a sequence of phases so as to allow citizens' and elites' preferences for democracy to vary according to the particular phase that a country is experiencing. By doing so we jointly model the probability of protest and of moving through different phases of democracy taking into account time-constant and time-varying unobserved heterogeneity. In particular, we develop a multivariate finite mixture model that introduces a latent variable to capture unobservable factors. On a sample of 171 countries from 1971 to 2010, we provide evidence that protest matters in all phases of democratization, especially peaceful citizens’ demonstrations. On the contrary, violent protest has ambiguous consequences, as it favours initial democratic transitions but at the cost of threatening democratic consolidation. We also find that, after conditioning for economic and institutional controls, there is evidence of time-varying unobserved heterogeneity.
2020
Marino M., Li Donni P., Bavetta S., Cellini M. (2020). The democratization process: An empirical appraisal of the role of political protest. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, 63 [10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101881].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
1-s2.0-S017626802030029X-main.pdf

Solo gestori archvio

Tipologia: Versione Editoriale
Dimensione 775.98 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
775.98 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/468090
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 10
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 7
social impact