Social Mobility and Political Transitions

Bahar LeventoÄŸlu
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Bahar LeventoÄŸlu: Political Science from the University of Rochesterbahar.leventoglu@stonybrook.edu

Journal of Theoretical Politics, 2005, vol. 17, issue 4, 465-496

Abstract: I address the role of social mobility in political transitions. I develop a political economy model of regime transitions that incorporates social mobility as a key feature of the economy capturing the political attitudes toward redistribution. I show that social mobility facilitates democratization by reducing the conflict over redistribution between the rich and the poor. Furthermore, it facilitates democratic consolidation by reducing the likelihood of a coup under democracy. On the other hand, social mobility helps to keep an authoritarian regime stable by reducing the likelihood of mass movements against political elites.

Keywords: democratization; game theory; political transitions; social mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:17:y:2005:i:4:p:465-496

DOI: 10.1177/0951629805056897

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