IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v6y2022i11p121-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unveiling the Peril of Protest Votes: An Enlightenment to Guide Political Behavior in Liberia

Author

Listed:
  • Dr. Ambrues Monboe Nebo Sr.

    (African Methodist Episcopal University and University of Liberia, Liberia)

Abstract

Considering the Liberian society as the contextual setting or background, this study interrogates protest votes as another form of political behavior. It employs the conceptual analysis approach categorized as one of the kinds of qualitative research methods. Using the frustration-aggression theory as its theoretical framework, the paper unveils the inherent peril or risk associated with protest votes unknown to registered voters. It sees protest votes as an emotional response due to the dissatisfaction with incumbent candidates to realize campaign promises. On the premise that frustration has the proclivity to affect logical reasoning, the paper equates dissatisfaction to frustration which has implications for protest votes. Based on this premise, which is empirical, the paper argues that evidenced by the clamor (“I am calling from the most abandoned district†, “2023 is coming†) ahead of the 2023 elections, the Liberian society might witness a cyclical or repeated phenomenon of previous election results prompting the increasing clamor. The paper concludes whether the argument proffered herein is empirical or not, it does not take away the fact that protest vote is an emotional decision of voters’ dissatisfaction. As an emotional response influenced by frustration, it has the proclivity to affect their judgment during elections. For this reason, the paper cautions those making the clamor to be mindful because the frustration behind the inclination may result in illogical judgment. And finally, the paper clarifies that this caution is not in any clever or smart way to support and endorse the reelection of the incumbent leadership or candidates.

Suggested Citation

  • Dr. Ambrues Monboe Nebo Sr., 2022. "Unveiling the Peril of Protest Votes: An Enlightenment to Guide Political Behavior in Liberia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(11), pages 121-129, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:6:y:2022:i:11:p:121-129
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-6-issue-11/121-129.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/virtual-library/papers/unveiling-the-peril-of-protest-votes-an-enlightenment-to-guide-political-behavior-in-liberia/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosenthal, Howard & Sen, Subrata, 1973. "Electoral Participation in the French Fifth Republic," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 29-54, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Battaglini, Marco, 2005. "Sequential voting with abstention," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 445-463, May.
    2. Francisco Arcelus & Gary Mauser & Z. Spindler, 1978. "The right to vote no: revising the voting system and resuscitating the F-Y voter," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 67-83, December.
    3. Alesina, Alberto & Rosenthal, Howard, 1996. "A Theory of Divided Government," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1311-1341, November.
    4. Peter C. Ordeshook & Langche Zeng, 1997. "Rational Voters and Strategic Voting," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 9(2), pages 167-187, April.
    5. Howard Rosenthal, 1975. "Viability, preference, and coalitions in the french election of 1951," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 27-39, March.
    6. Stephen Hansen & Thomas Palfrey & Howard Rosenthal, 1987. "The Downsian model of electoral participation: Formal theory and empirical analysis of the constituency size effect," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 15-33, January.
    7. Eric Dubois & Matthieu Leprince, 2017. "Do closeness and stake increase voter turnout? Evidence from election results in small French towns in Brittany," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 575-585, April.
    8. Cameron Guage & Feng Fu, 2021. "Asymmetric Partisan Voter Turnout Games," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 738-758, December.
    9. Barankay, Iwan, 2020. "Political activism when voters have a limited attention span," CEPR Discussion Papers 15089, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Maria Petrova & Ananya Sen & Pinar Yildirim, 2021. "Social Media and Political Contributions: The Impact of New Technology on Political Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2997-3021, May.
    11. Daniel Kselman & Emerson Niou, 2011. "Protest voting in plurality elections: a theory of voter signaling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 395-418, September.
    12. Christine Fauvelle-Aymar & Abel François, 2006. "The impact of closeness on turnout: An empirical relation based on a study of a two-round ballot," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 461-483, June.
    13. Maria Petrova & Ananya Sen & Pinar Yildirim, 2020. "Social Media and Political Contributions: The Impact of New Technology on Political Competition," Papers 2011.02924, arXiv.org.
    14. Thomas Palfrey & Howard Rosenthal, 1983. "A strategic calculus of voting," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 7-53, January.
    15. Jonathan Levin & Barry Nalebuff, 1995. "An Introduction to Vote-Counting Schemes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    16. Nattavudh Powdthavee & Paul Dolan, Robert Metcalfe, 2008. "Electing Happiness: Does Happiness Effect Voting and do Elections Affect Happiness," Discussion Papers 08/30, Department of Economics, University of York.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:6:y:2022:i:11:p:121-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.