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UID:0febb81e-6dc8-467c-b398-10ab9b2603f9@nexttoyou
DTSTAMP:20261106T175217Z
DTSTART:20261119T200000Z
DTEND:20261119T211500Z
SUMMARY:Alain Schläpfer — Why Do Voters Elect Authoritarians? How Scandal 
 Signals Independence from Elites
DESCRIPTION:Politicians who openly display anti-democratic traits can attr
 act substantial electoral support\, even among voters who value democracy
 . This paper argues that the very behavior that makes a politician object
 ionable can also reassure voters that the politician will remain independ
 ent of political elites. Voters whose preferred policies lie far from eli
 te interests worry that the candidates they elect will be captured by eli
 tes once in office. Because capturing a politician mired in scandal is co
 stly for elites\, scandalous behavior can credibly signal that a candidat
 e is beyond elite reach. Where elites are democratically committed\, disp
 lays of anti-democratic intent become an efficient way to generate such a
  scandal. Voters may elect these candidates even though they are more lik
 ely to manipulate elections once in office\, an outcome costly for voters
  and elites alike. Elites who can perfectly anticipate which politicians 
 will subvert elections have no credible way to communicate this to voters
 . A reanalysis of existing experimental data is consistent with the model
 's central prediction. Unlike existing accounts of anti-democratic voting
 \, this theory explains why citizens who value democracy may still elect 
 an anti-democratic candidate\, even when a democratically committed candi
 date offers the same policy platform.\n\nABOUT THE SPEAKER\n\nAlain Schlä
 pfer is a social science research scholar at Stanford University’s Center
  on Democracy\, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL)\, and a\n\nhttp:/
 /next-to-u.app/events/0febb81e-6dc8-467c-b398-10ab9b2603f9
URL:http://next-to-u.app/events/0febb81e-6dc8-467c-b398-10ab9b2603f9
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