Scholars, however, have shown what everyone in politics knows instinctively: Unions are also political organizations that, under the right circumstances, can powerfully channel the working-class vote. And unions have been profoundly weakened by changes in the American economic structure, and by decades of assaults against them by the Republican Party.
A classic study on this subject was done by the sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset. In the post-World War II era, one in three American workers belonged to a union; now it’s down to one in 10.
As the figure shows, within Africa, there is little evidence that wealth and poverty are correlated with levels of electoral integrity.
Thus, failed contests include oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, along with poor Burundi, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
If development is the root cause of the problem, then electoral malpractices such as coercion, vote-buying and fraud can be expected to be particularly severe in the poorest societies in Africa. It gathers assessments from over 2,000 experts to evaluate the integrity of all 180 national parliamentary and presidential contests held between July 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015 in 139 countries worldwide, and it generates an overall 100-point Perceptions of Electoral Integrity (PEI) index.
Contests are further classified into flawed contests (those scoring 40-49 on the 100-point scale) and failed elections (those scoring less than 40).
March’s elections were not the worst recent ones on the African continent, by any means.
Rigged elections are important because they can reinforce the legitimacy of corrupt and repressive leaders and solidify their hold on power.
Trump — if only the American labor movement weren’t a shell of its former self.
When we think about unions, what typically come to mind are interest groups concerned with wages, benefits and working conditions.
Comments The Lipset Thesis
View of Research Note Is the Lipset-Rokkan Hypothesis.
Indeed, I doubt that the Lipset-Rokkan hypothesis in the form stated by them is at all testable. I find only two ways of testing Lipset and Rokkan's thesis.…
The Impact of the Great Recession on Regime Change
Jul 1, 2015. This essay reports on the analyses of the political consequences of the global economic. interpretation of Lipset's thesis. These include the.…
The Controversy over Development and Democracy - CSD.
Democracy, this essay will be developed as follows First of all, I would discuss some key. thesis strongly rejects the modernization school and Lipset's.…
Economic Development Doesn't Always Lead to Democracy
Oct 31, 2016. Lipset was the first to offer a correlation between development and democracy. His thesis continues to guide our foreign policy but is often.…
Canada and the US What Makes Us Different? A Response to.
American functkxialism reasonably intellectually unscathed. Lipset's thesis is simplistic the basic organizing principles in Canada and the United States led to.…
Are poor societies stuck with dictators? - The Conversation
Apr 11, 2016. The so-called “Lipset thesis” argues that democracies and, by extension, electoral integrity flourish best in industrialized and postindustrial.…
Opinion The Decline of Unions and the Rise of Trump - The.
Aug 13, 2016. Though contemporary research has called aspects of Mr. Lipset's thesis into question it turns out that position in the class structure per se does.…
Consensus and Conflict Essays in Political Sociology.
Consensus and Conflict Essays in Political Sociology Seymour Martin Lipset on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The first of two volumes of.…
THE WORKING CLASS, AUTHORITARIANISM, AND THE.
And support for escalation in. Vietnam in 1964 as a means of addressing Lipset's thesis.2 According to Hamilton, Lipset's account would. 2 The exact items.…