Political training as a pathway to power: the impact of participation in student union councils on candidate emergence

Martin Lundin (), Oskar Skans and Pär Zetterberg ()
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Martin Lundin: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Pär Zetterberg: Department of Government, Uppsala University, Postal: P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

No 2013:14, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: We test the hypothesis that political training (experiences of debates, negotiations, coalition-building, etc.) in voluntary associations increases the probability of becoming a candidate in public elections. We apply a regression discontinuity design, comparing bare winners and bare losers in student union (SU) elections, to data on 5,000 SU candidates at Swedish universities (1982–2005). This data is linked to information on all candidates in Swedish public elections (1991–2010). As hypothesized, students who were elected to the SU council, and thereby received political training, were 34 percent (6 percentage points) more likely to run for public office than SU council candidates who did not win a seat. The analysis contributes to political recruitment literature by identifying arenas outside of representative democratic institutions that facilitate the step into election processes. It also provides evidence to an increasingly contested issue within political participation research by showing that activities in associations increase political involvement.

Keywords: Political training; political recruitment; political participation; public elections; associations; regression discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2013-06-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
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Published as Lundin, Martin, Oskar Nordström Skans and Pär Zetterberg, 'Leadership Experiences Within Civil Organizations and Candidacy in Public Elections: Causal Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Approach' in Political Behavior, 2016, pages 433-454.

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2013_014

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