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Effective Parties and Political Violence in 18 Developed Democracies
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Effective Parties and Political Violence in 18 developed
Democracies
1
Daniel Norton
Binghamton University
Department of political science
## email not listed ##
Abstract: We often conceive of democratic governments as being conducive to peace and stability. This conception is often justified, particularly when compared to non-democratic regimes. However, within the family of democracies there is certainly evidence that suggests even stable democracies suffer from their fair share of political unrest. Moreover, it seems that some democratic systems are better able to channel dissent through the legitimate political process, while some are more prone to violent political behavior on the part of its citizenry. The goal of the current paper is to sort out, within the family of established democracies, what factors lead to more or less political violence. Others studying this question have turned to the electoral system for answers. What they have found is that presidential systems seem more likely to experience political violence. I also turn to the electoral system for answers but I delve deeper. I argue that the electoral system influences the amount of political violence only so far as it influences the number of effective parties. I argue that with more effective parties there is greater opportunity to participate in the legitimate political process by voting for one of the many parties. With greater opportunity to participate in the legitimate political process there will be less demand to participate in violent political behavior. In essence I argue that the number of effective parties is the key variable in understanding political violence within democracies, and that as the number of parties increase violent political behavior will be reduced. Using Poisson regression to analyze the number of riots and demonstrations within a state I find support for my claims.
1. Introduction
1
This is a working paper, results are preliminary. Contact the author with any questions or comments.
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1
Effective Parties and Political Violence in 18 developed
Democracies
1
Daniel Norton
Binghamton University
Department of political science
## email not listed ##
Abstract: We often conceive of democratic governments as being conducive to peace and
stability. This conception is often justified, particularly when compared to non-
democratic regimes. However, within the family of democracies there is certainly
evidence that suggests even stable democracies suffer from their fair share of political
unrest. Moreover, it seems that some democratic systems are better able to channel
dissent through the legitimate political process, while some are more prone to violent
political behavior on the part of its citizenry. The goal of the current paper is to sort out,
within the family of established democracies, what factors lead to more or less political
violence. Others studying this question have turned to the electoral system for answers.
What they have found is that presidential systems seem more likely to experience
political violence. I also turn to the electoral system for answers but I delve deeper. I
argue that the electoral system influences the amount of political violence only so far as it
influences the number of effective parties. I argue that with more effective parties there
is greater opportunity to participate in the legitimate political process by voting for one of
the many parties. With greater opportunity to participate in the legitimate political
process there will be less demand to participate in violent political behavior. In essence I
argue that the number of effective parties is the key variable in understanding political
violence within democracies, and that as the number of parties increase violent political
behavior will be reduced. Using Poisson regression to analyze the number of riots and
demonstrations within a state I find support for my claims.
1. Introduction
1
This is a working paper, results are preliminary. Contact the author with any questions or comments.
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