Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- The Authors
- Introduction
- 1 Confronting the Puzzles of Voter Turnout
- 2 A New Approach to the Calculus of Voting
- 3 The Role of Generational Replacement in Turnout Change
- 4 Rational Responses to Electoral Competition
- 5 Explaining Turnout Change in Twenty-Two Countries
- 6 The Character of Elections and the Individual Citizen
- 7 Understanding Turnout Decline
- 8 The Turnout Puzzles Revisited
- APPENDICES
- Bibliography
- Author Index
- Subject Index
3 - The Role of Generational Replacement in Turnout Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- The Authors
- Introduction
- 1 Confronting the Puzzles of Voter Turnout
- 2 A New Approach to the Calculus of Voting
- 3 The Role of Generational Replacement in Turnout Change
- 4 Rational Responses to Electoral Competition
- 5 Explaining Turnout Change in Twenty-Two Countries
- 6 The Character of Elections and the Individual Citizen
- 7 Understanding Turnout Decline
- 8 The Turnout Puzzles Revisited
- APPENDICES
- Bibliography
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
In Chapter 2 we established a rationale for the voting act that would make it plausible to assume that people are influenced by electoral context when deciding whether to vote, thereby laying the groundwork for resolving several of the puzzles outlined in Chapter 1. This context changes from election to election, depending on something we have called the character of elections – primarily their competitiveness. But we asserted in Chapter 1 that the context of the election has more impact on some cohorts (newer cohorts) than others (older cohorts). Before we can proceed to an analysis of the effects of the changing character of elections on turnout, therefore, we need to address the question of why and to what extent cohorts differ in their responsiveness to the changing character of elections. Until we have done so we will not be able to properly specify any model of turnout change.
The idea that generational replacement plays a role in turnout change is one that has not been extensively explored in the literature. Newly enfranchised individuals are known to be particularly open to recruitment by new parties and to be largely responsible for such changes as occur in the support for existing parties (Campbell et al. 1960; Butler and Stokes 1974; Nie, Verba, and Petrocik 1978; Inglehart 1977, 1990, 1997; Rose and McAllister 1990; Franklin et al. 1992; Miller and Shanks 1996).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945 , pp. 59 - 90Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
- 1
- Cited by