Exclusion by Elections
Inequality, Ethnic Identity, and Democracy

This book proposes a new theory of identity politics in elections, explaining why it is difficult for democracies to address rising inequality.

John D. Huber (Author)

9781107182943, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 May 2017

224 pages, 55 b/w illus. 12 tables
23.6 x 15.6 x 1.7 cm, 0.44 kg

Exclusion by Elections develops a theory about the circumstances under which 'class identities' as opposed to 'ethnic identities' become salient in democratic politics, and links this theory to issues of inequality and the propensity of governments to address it. The book argues that in societies with even modest levels of ethnic diversity, inequality invites ethnic politics, and ethnic politics results in less redistribution than class politics. Thus, contrary to existing workhorse models in social science, where democracies are expected to respond to inequality by increasing redistribution, the argument here is that inequality interacts with ethnic diversity to discourage redistribution. As a result, inequality often becomes reinforced by inequality itself. The author explores the argument empirically by examining cross-national patterns of voting behaviour, redistribution and democratic transitions, and he discusses the argument's implications for identifying strategies that can be used to address rising inequality in the world today.

1. Introduction
2. Why worry about inequality and ethnic politics? Part I. The Theoretical Argument: 3. Social structure and distributive politics in elections
4. A theory of social structure, electoral identities and party systems
5. Inequality, ethnic polarization and the democratic process
Part II. Empirical Evidence for the Argument: 6. Theory and causal identification
7. Income and voting behavior
8. Inequality, ethnic diversity and the ethnification of party systems
9. Social structure, redistribution and democratic transitions
10. Conclusion: inequality and the politics of exclusion.

Subject Areas: Political control & freedoms [JPV], Elections & referenda [JPHF], Comparative politics [JPB]