Turnout in developed and developing countries

Abstract

The literature on political participation lacks a baseline model of electoral turnout. Various studies, which employ different sample sizes, time periods, cases and operationalisations of relevant independent variables, produce contradictory results. To shed light on these diverse findings, I evaluate whether different levels of development trigger different turnout functions. Not only do I find that highly developed countries have the highest levels of citizen participation in elections, but my results also illustrate that the turnout functions in high-income and low/medium-income countries are quite dissimilar. Compulsory voting and decisive elections have a different impact in the two universes of cases.