Workers of the World, Unite! Franchise Extensions and the Threat of Revolution in Europe, 1820-1938

Toke Aidt and Peter Jensen

No 3417, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper tests the hypothesis that the extension of the voting franchise was caused by the threat of revolution, as suggested by Acemoglu and Robinson [Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 1167-1199, 2000]. We approximate the threat of revolution in a given country by revolutionary events happening in neighboring countries. We investigate the relationship between this new measure of the threat of revolution and measures of suffrage reform in two samples of European countries covering the period from 1820 to 1938. We find strong support for the ‘threat of revolution theory’. We also find some evidence that war triggered suffrage reform, whereas other theories of the extension of the franchise, including ‘modernization theory’, receive little support.

Keywords: the extension of the voting franchise; democracy; threat of revolution; suffrage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Workers of the world, unite! Franchise extensions and the threat of revolution in Europe, 1820–1938 (2014)
Working Paper: Workers of the World, Unite! Franchise Extensions and the Threat of Revolution in Europe, 1820-1938 (2011)
Working Paper: Workers of the world, unite! Franchise extensions and the threat of revolution in Europe, 1820-1938 (2010)
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