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Rationalizing Democracy: The Perceptual Bias and (Un)Democratic Behavior

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  • KRISHNARAJAN, SUTHAN

Abstract

Democracy often confronts citizens with a dilemma: stand firm on democracy while losing out on policy or accept undemocratic behavior and gain politically. Existing literature demonstrates that citizens generally choose the latter—and that they do so deliberately. Yet there is an alternative possibility. Citizens can avoid this uncomfortable dilemma altogether by rationalizing their understandings of democracy. When a politician advances undesired policies without violating democratic rules and norms, people find ways to perceive the behavior as undemocratic. When a politician acts undemocratically to promote desired policies, citizens muster up arguments for considering it democratic. Original survey experiments in the United States, and 22 democracies worldwide, provide strong support for this argument. It is thus not deliberate acceptance, but a fundamentally different perceptual logic that drives the widespread approval of undemocratic behavior in today’s democracies.

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  • Krishnarajan, Suthan, 2023. "Rationalizing Democracy: The Perceptual Bias and (Un)Democratic Behavior," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 117(2), pages 474-496, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:117:y:2023:i:2:p:474-496_7
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    Cited by:

    1. Gilad, Sharon & Sulitzeanu-Kenan, Raanan & Levi-Faur, David, 2024. "Partisan Alignment and the Propensity to Choose a Job in a Government Ministry," SocArXiv ufzcj, Center for Open Science.
    2. Michael Barber & Hans J. G. Hassell & Michael G. Miller, 2024. "Illiberal attitudes among US state legislative candidates," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Olivier Marie & Thomas Post & Zihan Ye & Xiaopeng Zou, 2024. "From Two Heads to One: The Short-Run Effects of the Recentralization of Political Power in Rural China," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-040/V, Tinbergen Institute.

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