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Individual and Contextual Determinants of Electoral Participation
Author(s) -
Bühlmann Marc,
Freitag Markus
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1002/j.1662-6370.2006.tb00059.x
Subject(s) - voting , argument (complex analysis) , incentive , competition (biology) , action (physics) , multilevel model , social psychology , contextual design , variation (astronomy) , political science , psychology , positive economics , economics , microeconomics , computer science , law , politics , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , artificial intelligence , object (grammar) , astrophysics , biology
Individual‐level explanations of electoral participation typically argue that non‐voting is determined by a combination of facilitative and motivational factors. We advance the argument that, beyond individual characteristics, there are pivotal contextual features which enable or impede individual action through specific incentive structures. Thus, contextual factors influence the individual propensity to vote or to abstain. For the first time the data of Selects 2003 allows for the testing of contextual effects, at least on the cantonal level. Several multilevel analyses show that high party competition, compulsory voting, and strong Catholicism foster individual participation. The findings clearly indicate that an individual's propensity to vote is influenced by personal characteristics as well as by cantonal attributes.