When people think about threats to democracy they think about attacks on the media, freedom of expression, human rights, free and fair elections. They think about the core democratic institutions and how to protect them. And they are right. Human rights, the rule of law and the integrity and fairness of elections come increasingly under pressure in democracies across the globe fuelled by dissatisfaction with the political system and right-wing populist rhetoric.
But: What is often missing in the analysis is the role of social and economic insecurities people face that drive their dissatisfaction. Democratic dissatisfaction is very much an economic story as well. People do have worries about their current and future personal prospects. We think it is thus paramount if we care to protect democratic institutions we need to look at economic conditions of what makes people dissatisfied. Asking the economic question is what our work in Inequality & Democracy is about.
Elections and parliaments are the heart of democracies. In elections we exercise our right to vote to figure out who should govern us and what direction and policies our societies should undertake. We elect our representatives who sit in parliament and deliberate on how to weigh the preferences and interests of their constituents. This right to vote was hard-earned over the course of history. But more and more people do not exercise their right to vote anymore. Who are the non-voters? Are they simply disinterested in politics or do they no longer believe it matters what they say and who they elect?
In comparative reports, we look at the general trends of non-voting and representation in democracies of the OSCE region. We gather comparative data that allows us to compare countries with each other and delve into the general developments of how our elemental democratic process of voting and representation have evolved over the years.
In country reports, we dive deeper into country-specifics, providing original analyses and formulate concrete policy recommendations.
In Who does (not) vote? we look at voter turnout trends in 30 OSCE countries over time. We harmonize existing data sources since 1970 and made them comparable across gender, age groups, social classes and levels of education.
Voter turnout has declined across Western democracies. However, this decline happens unequally. It is primarily the young, members of lower social classes and people with a low level of education that increasingly stay at home across all countries. This shows that it is the disenfranchised that democracy no longer reaches. Note that we did not even look at the vast groups of people in society that can not vote because of a lack of citizenship. The decline is especially pronounced in Anglo-Saxon and Eastern European countries, followed by Southern and Central European countries with the highest turnout and thus lowest voter differences in Scandinavia.
Tell me you your occupation and we know if you vote. This is an exaggeration of course but contains more than a grain of truth. Voter turnout is the most unequal between social classes. Unskilled or semi-skilled drive the voter turnout decline and are much less likely to vote than upper social classes.
Voter turnout is especially low among the youngest of voters (under 30 years old). The class participation differences are even more pronounced among the very young.
Wenker, Jonas
Voter turnout trends in 30 European and North American democracies / by Jonas Wenker. - Vienna : FES Regional Office for International Cooperation è Democracy of the Future, Februar 2024. - 15 Seiten = 920 KB, PDF-File. - (Study). - (Unequal democracies)Einheitssacht.: Wer geht (nicht) wählen? . - Electronic ed.: Vienna : FES, 2024ISBN 978-3-98628-515-9
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Elsässer, Lea; Schäfer, Armin; Wenker, Jonas
Voter turnout trends in the OSCE region since 1970 : A translation of the German orginal "Wer geht (nicht) wählen?" / by Lea Elsässer, Armin Schäfer and Jonas Wenker. - Wien : FES Regional Office for International Cooperation, Juni 2022. - 18 Seiten = 580 KB, PDF-File. - (Study). - (Democracy and human rights)Einheitssacht.: Ungleiche Demokratien: wer geht (nicht) wählen? . - Electronic ed.: Wien : FES, 2022ISBN 978-3-98628-157-1
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Explore the corresponding data & graphs here.
In Who does (not) have a seat in parliament? we look at how representative the current parliaments of United Kingdom, France, Spain, Poland and Turkey are across four socio-economic parameters gender, age, social class and levels of education.
This is a primary data study where information on representatives were single-handedly collected by the project team and verified. For classifying the social classes, we use Daniel Oesch’s class scheme system based on 4 main classes: working class, small business owners, lower-grade service class, and upper service class. Those four main social classes can be further differentiated into 16 classes in total based on to different work logics within social classes.
Underrepresentation of women is much higher in Poland, Turkey and United Kingdom compared to France and Spain. The only age groups where women are in the majority are aming the under-30s in the United Kingdom and Spain; they are in the minority in all other age groups in all five countries. .
Only 1-2% of MPs in all five countries are under 30 years old. In all countries, most MPs are between 46-60. Spain has significantly fewer MPs who are over 60 than the other four countries.
Diploma democracy refers to the overwehlming majority of MPs with university degrees and the disappearance of representatives who perform manual work. This increasing disproportion of highly educated MPs leads to an increasing homogeneity widening the representation gap. The dominance of 'career politicans' among the upper service class MPs at the expense of other technical expertise and perspectives narrows the diversity in parliaments even further.
All three lower social classes - small business owners, the lower-grade service and working class - are in significant minority in all parliaments even if combined. This misrepresentation is especially stark for the working class who constitute a much higher share of the (working) populations in these countries.. Working class MPs amount to only 2% in the UK, 1% in Turkey, 4,5% in Spain and France and 7% in Poland. Note that in Poland, France and United Kingdom the majority of working-class MPs belong to the centre or radical right while in Turkey and Spain most working-class MPs are from the left.
Elsässer, Lea; Schäfer, Armin
The social composition of Parliaments in five OSCE countries : A translation of the German orginal "Wer sitzt (nicht) im Parlament?" / by Lea Elsässer and Armin Schäfer. - Vienna : FES Regional Office for International Cooperation, June 2022. - 18 Seiten = 160 KB, PDF-File. - (Study). - (Democracy and human rights)Einheitssacht.: Ungleiche Demokratien: wer sitzt (nicht) im Parlament? . - Electronic ed.: Vienna : FES, 2022ISBN 978-3-98628-159-5
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In the country reports we look closer at specific country cases. The reports introduce novel data sets, specific analyses of voters and non-voters and include specific policy recommendations what could be done to counter the effects of inequalities on our democratic processes. The reports either look at voting or representation.
In 2024 15 reports are scheduled to be published covering 9 countries.
Die Entwicklung der Wahlbeteiligung im OSZE-Raum seit 1970 / Lea Elsässer, Armin Schäfer und Jonas Wenker. - Wien : FES Regionalbüro für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Juni 2022. - 21 Seiten = 570 KB, PDF-File. - (Studie). - (Demokratie und Menschenrechte)Electronic ed.: Wien : FES, 2022ISBN 978-3-98628-158-8
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Die soziale Zusammensetzung der Parlamente in fünf OSZE-Ländern / Lea Elsässer und Armin Schäfer. - Wien : FES Regionalbüro für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Juni 2022. - 18 Seiten = 170 KB, PDF-File. - (Studie). - (Demokratie und Menschenrechte)Electronic ed.: Wien : FES, 2022ISBN 978-3-98628-160-1
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Wahlbeteiligungstrends in 30 Demokratien Europas und Nordamerikas / Jonas Wenker. - Wien : FES Regionalbüro für internationale Zusammenarbeit - Demokratie der Zukunft, Februar 2024. - 15 Seiten = 950 KB, PDF-File. - (Studie). - (Ungleiche Demokratien)Electronic ed.: Vienna : FES, 2024ISBN 978-3-98628-514-2
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+43 (0) 1 890 3811 305democracy.vienna(at)fes.de
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Michael Jennewein • Das Feuilleton
Unequal Democracies Lithuania • 10 September 2024 • Vilnius
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