On his current European tour, President Barack Obama has been making the affirmative case for democracy — a pretty magnanimous gesture given that his own party was just voted out of office. But under what conditions do citizens of a nation lose faith in this form of government, and perhaps become tempted to try something else?
Timely new research provides a clear answer: high levels of income inequality.
“Income inequality drives the gap in satisfaction with democracy between electoral winners and losers,” write Michigan State University political scientists Sung Min Hanand Eric C.C. Chang.
They argue in the journal Electoral Studies that, when there is a large disparity between rich and poor, winning becomes more important in the eyes of partisans on both sides, and losers become more discontent with the political system.
[For more of this story, written by Tom Jacobs, go to https://psmag.com/income-inequ...6ad62df8e#.dktoqt24m]
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