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The recent financial crisis caused by corruption and opacity has led us to examine how the informal economy and other factors affect tax revenues using a three-pillar theoretical analysis. Empirical research has not thoroughly explored the shadow economy's impact on direct and indirect taxes, tax revenues, and the central bank's independence from the shadow economy and tax collection. This paper used 2010–2018 data from 129 countries. The shadow economy and tax revenues had a substantial negative relationship. The shadow economy also changed the fiscal authorities' policy mix by reducing direct taxes and increasing indirect taxes. Finally, the central bank's independence mitigated the shadow economy's negative effects on tax revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a new estimator of the Democracy Effect that overcomes selection effects. • It weighs the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population. • We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect. • Applications to two experiments find a significant effect in one but not the other. Dal Bó et al. (2010) show experimentally that the effect of a policy may be greater when it is democratically selected than when it is exogenously imposed. In this paper we propose a new and simpler estimation strategy that does not require information on the vote of subjects in the exogenous treatment. The new estimation strategy is based on calculating the average behavior under democracy by weighting the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population (and not conditional on the vote outcome). We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect and show it eliminates selection effects under certain conditions. We apply the new estimation strategy to the data in Dal Bó et al. (2010) and to the data from a new experiment for which we cannot use the previous estimation strategy as we do not have information on how subjects would have voted in the exogenous treatment. We find a significant democracy effect in the former but not on the latter application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the relation between democracy and income per capita over the period 1870–2010. • I use both cross-sectional and panel fixed effects regressions to explore how this relation changed over time. • Results show that democracy positively affects income per capita in the period post-1950, especially after 1990. • Yet, democracy has no significant effect in the period prior to 1950. • In the years before World War II, income per capita is mostly explained by prior income levels and education. Economists and political scientists have long investigated the effect of political institutions on economic development, mainly focusing on cross-sectional analyses for the years after World War II. This paper takes a historical perspective and studies whether this effect can be traced back to 1870 and how it changed over time. Using both cross-sectional and panel fixed effects regressions, I show that democracy positively affects income per capita in the post-1950 period. The effect increases as time passes and becomes especially larger after 1990, i.e. with the great democratization wave induced by the Fall of the Iron Curtain. Yet, I find no effect for the period before 1950, when the variation in income per capita is mostly explained by prior income levels, and in particular, by education. These findings are robust to accounting for income dynamics as well as to using different data sources to measure political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The election of corrupt politicians remains a crucial global problem, yet our knowledge regarding factors determining electorates' tolerance for corruption remains extremely limited. This paper explores individual characteristics and macroeconomic factors determining an individual's likelihood to (1) vote for her preferred political party even if that party was involved in a corruption scandal, and (2) abstain from voting even when an established non-corrupt party exists. I identify several individual characteristics, such as education and income levels, gender, employment status, political leaning, and trust in local media, and macroeconomic factors, such as income per capita, country-level corruption, and political rights, significantly influencing an individual's voting choice. A few implications emerge. Corruption can be self-sustaining and may undermine democracy by discouraging political participation. While education promotes political participation, it does not reduce citizens' tolerance for corruption by their preferred political parties. Corruption might widen income and gender inequality by lowering the political participation of the poor and women, and extreme political leaning can promote political corruption. • Politicians with corruption and criminal charges continue to get elected. • I study voting behaviors in response to an individual's preferred political party's involvement in corruption. • Voting behaviors vary significantly across different socioeconomic and demographic groups. • Political corruption can widen socioeconomic inequalitiies. • Political corruption might weaken democracy by discouraging political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a strategy for fostering digital citizenship at school that transcends the mere use of digital devices or instructional methods focused solely on their use. The core premise of this proposal rests on the need for an ethical-political debate concerning digitization in education. In addition, it emphasizes the need to cultivate a form of digital literacy that blends science and technology with the humanities, and erases the traditional boundaries between making and thinking. The proposed approach encapsulates two primary concerns: firstly, it asserts that digital literacy serves as a foundation for meaningful participation in digital societies; secondly, it underscores the importance of democratizing digital technologies by incorporating the perspectives, needs, and concerns of children. Drawing inspiration from the theories of pragmatism and responsible research and innovation (RRI), we present a conceptual framework for digital citizenship. To operationalize this approach, we adapt John Dewey's pragmatic model of inquiry as a method that can be applied within the school setting. This pragmatic methodology serves as a conduit for developing hands-on experience geared towards developing digital citizenship. The practical implementation of this methodology is illustrated through an actualized experience with 10- and 11-year-old children in a public primary school, regarding the issue of care robots. This paper advocates for a symbiotic relationship between theoretical understanding and practical application, and puts forward a concrete proposal for the integration of digital citizenship in schools in the form of a four-phase procedural model, based on the creation of what we term 'the encounter' between the educational community and the research and development community. • Democratization of technologies requires citizens' conditions of possibility. • "Digital citizenship" integrates the objectives of RRI and pragmatism. • The "encounter" implies a shared responsibility of education and technoscience. • Digital citizenship represents an alternative to neoliberal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increase in the use of renewable energy sources over recent years, which has led to a strand of literature examining the determinants of renewable energy consumption. However, most of the research used linear estimation models while reviewing the determinants of renewable energy consumption and ignored the indirect effect of democratic institutions on renewable energy consumption. With the use of a panel threshold model, this paper demonstrates that democratic institutions play a significant role in renewable energy consumption. In countries in which the democratic rights of people are preserved better, higher economic growth leads to increased use of renewable energy consumption; however, there is a negative association between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries. Increased trade openness leads to lower growth rates of renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries, while increases in real oil prices lead to increased renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries but play no significant role in more democratic countries. The findings of this paper suggest that democratic institutions are vital in channelling economic resources (economic growth) to renewable energy, and increased trade openness is associated with lower rates of renewable energy deployment in less democratic countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Our paper highlights how and why state capitalism impacts energy democracy and renewable energy deployment. • The timing of the paper is critical because state capitalism is attracting more power and attention around the world. • We conclude that the values of state capitalism contradict with the necessary conditions of creating energy democracy. • We expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewal energy deployment. The current paper highlights the interconnection between the state capitalist system and the concept of energy democracy. Both terms have attracted the attention of scholars because of significant economic, environmental, and political events. Our paper reviews the literature to show that state capitalism and energy democracy cannot exist together because the values of state capitalism contradict the necessary conditions to generate energy democracy. Moreover, globally, Western capitalist countries are failing in terms of their economies and political performance and yet, at the same time, economic performance is shifting toward state capitalism with less importance given to democratic actions. Therefore, we expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewable energy deployment. For state capitalism to generate geographical representation, it needs to use regulations and spread renewable energy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of legal central bank independence (CBI) on inflation volatility in developing countries. We discuss why CBI should curb inflation volatility, independently from its effect via lowering inflation levels. Empirical analyses in a sample of 96 developing countries between 1980 and 2014 show that CBI is directly and unconditionally associated with lower volatility. The magnitude of this effect is larger in more democratic countries even after accounting for the endogeneity of CBI and inflation. Our results are robust to alternative measurements of the main variables, different model specifications, and methodologies. • We discuss why central bank independence (CBI) should curb inflation volatility, independently from its effect via lowering inflation levels • With a sample of 96 developing countries (1980-2014) we find that CBI is directly and unconditionally associated with lower volatility • The magnitude of this effect is larger in more democratic countries even after accounting for the endogeneity of CBI and inflation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Area-based initiatives (ABIs) set out to improve livability and living conditions in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods by making use of extensive citizen participation. ABIs are often criticized for constituting a form of undemocratic tokenism; this creates the illusion that residents have a say over urban development because citizens are only given consultative power. This paper takes a different perspective. We follow the 'systemic turn' in democratic theory, which addresses how direct citizen participation can reduce problems of inclusion, communication, and collective action created by defects in representative democracy. We find evidence that our case, the Grønland-Tøyen ABI in Oslo, Norway, at its best, is able to include new, previously marginalized groups in formulating a collective will that eventually impact city government policy. We argue that these cases show the potential of ABIs to enhance government effectiveness, as the participatory process creates preferable solutions to those produced by city experts. We also argue that it is the narrow scope of the participation schemes, rather than the lack of power devolved to citizens, that limits the ABIs contribution to urban democracy. This hinders the ABI's ability to address social justice and puts the legitimacy of the participatory arrangements at risk. • The paper argues ABIs have the potential to enhance urban democracy by including marginalized groups in decision-making. • The Grønland-Tøyen ABI in Oslo includes marginalized perspectives in policy formulation through targeted recruitment. • The narrow scope of participation schemes limits ABIs' ability to address social justice issues. • The paper argues that this narrow scope, rather than limited citizen power, hinder ABIs contribution to democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how unemployment and democracy influence the relationship between youth bulges and political instability. A novel feature of our empirical analysis is that we examine the joint effect of labour markets and the level of democracy in the linkage between youth bulges and political instability. Using political instability data derived from the International Country Risk Guide we conduct a series of panel data analyses over one hundred countries and make use of several sub-samples for the years 1984–2019. We find that youth bulge alone enhances political instability, while high rates of unemployment further enhance its role. Interestingly, we find that moving towards democracy increases its effect upon political instability if greater percentages of youth population and unemployment persist in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Insurantial imaginaries' describes the shared structures of comprehension and action that establishes the social value of insurance and its practical influence. As insurance is a bricolage of economic, legal, political, cultural and moral elements that vary across time and space, for insurance to be intelligible and functional, these imaginaries render this dynamic complexity into stable and discrete forms. In this paper, we explore one such imaginary constituted through the intersection of housing and insurance norms, vis a vis house and contents insurance, in home-owning democracies. Drawing on the cases of Australia and the United Kingdom, we observe how a rise in renting in these countries is resulting in an increase in underinsurance, with renters less likely to insure their assets. This is refashioning a long-standing insurantial imaginary shaped by socio-cultural aspirations for home-ownership, liberal norms of individual autonomy, and links between home-ownership and democracy, including participation in voting. In observing that this imaginary valorises home-ownership and insurance, and problematises renting and underinsurance, we draw attention to the covert power of insurance in co-constituting everyday practices and identify a novel spatialised insurantial imaginary. In grounding our analysis within home-owning democracies, we also make a broader contribution to economic and financial geography by extending understanding of the complex spatial nature of financial mechanisms and processes, and how market-based economies appear to be reconfiguring democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land reallocations have been severely restricted in rural China since 1998. Nevertheless, land continues to be reallocated in some regions. Little is known about the forces behind the persistence of land reallocations. In this paper we argue that village self-governance rules affect the implementation of national laws and regulations, and that the election of village leaders and villagers' knowledge of relevant policies are major forces in the use of village self-governance rules for land reallocations. Estimation results based on primary data collected from 124 villages in four provinces in 2015 and 2016 provide evidence that both village democracy and households' knowledge of the Rural Land Contract Law (RLCL) positively affect the incidence of land reallocations. • We assess the impacts of village democracy and households' knowledge of relevant policies on land reallocations. • Democratic election of village leaders encourages land reallocations. • Households' knowledge of the Rural Land Contract Law (RLCL) positively affects the incidence of land reallocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Justice and democratization are highly important to consider in agri-food transitions. • We propose a deepened understanding of democracy based on four justice dimensions. • Just transitions entail distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative justice. • Democratizing the governance of agri-food transitions requires paradigm shifts. • We highlight six challenges of institutionalizing democracy in transition governance. In this paper, we explore the relation between democracy and justice in governing agri-food transitions. We argue that a deeper understanding of democracy is needed to foster just transitions. First, we present a multi-dimensional understanding of justice in transitions and relate it to scholarship on democratizing transitions. Then, we argue that three paradigm shifts are required to overcome current unsustainable dynamics: (1) from expert toward pluralist understandings of knowledge; (2) from economic materialism toward post-growth strategies; and (3) from anthropocentrism toward reconnecting human-nature relationships. We explicate what these paradigm shifts entail for democratizing transitions from distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative justice perspectives. Finally, we highlight six challenges to institutionalizing deep democratic governance. These entail balancing tensions between: multiple justice dimensions, democracy and urgency, top-down and bottom-up directionalities, local and global scales, realism and idealism, and roles of incumbent scientific systems. This requires thoroughly rethinking transition studies' normative and democratic ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When do electoral incentives encourage candidates to target immigrants with discriminatory rhetoric? I address this question through a novel dataset of refugee-related tweets by elites in Lebanon, the country hosting the most Syrian refugees per capita globally. I find that Lebanon's 2018 election, the first under a new set of electoral rules, precipitated an increase in anti-migrant tweets. However, the electoral campaign did not affect candidates' rhetoric uniformly, but rather fueled xenophobic discourses specifically among Christian candidates, whose voter base is particularly hostile towards refugees, and especially among Christians facing the fiercest electoral competition. This paper makes three contributions: theoretically, it elucidates the consequences of partisan competition for xenophobia; conceptually, it relaxes an assumption common in the ethnic institutions literature that ethnic composition is fixed over time; and empirically, it demonstrates how social media data can be harnessed for expanding a nascent literature on migration politics in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voting is essential to assure democracy. The voting process is supported by mission-critical systems that have among others functional, cybersecurity, and data privacy requirements. Comprehensive approaches are required to identify the requirements and technologies needed to design the solution. STPA is a method for identifying system safety requirements that have been extended to identify cybersecurity requirements. LINDDUN is a privacy threat modeling methodology that supports analysts in privacy-eliciting and mitigating threats in software architectures. Blockchain is a technology that uses a peer-to-peer computer network as a public distributed ledger. We propose an approach that uses STPA and its extensions to identify the cybersecurity and data privacy requirements, and incorporates the blockchain technology to design the solution for the mission-critical e-voting system. We built a proof of concept of the solution and performed cybersecurity and data privacy tests. The tests showed that the solution meets the critical cybersecurity and data privacy requirements. The major contributions of this paper include an approach that employs cybersecurity and data privacy threat modeling techniques to enhance the STPA analysis of a system, and the design of a Blockchain-based, verifiable e-voting system. • Secure voting upholds democracy via mission-critical systems. • STPA, enhanced by STRIDE, identifies cybersecurity needs. • LINDDUN aids privacy threat analysis in a software architecture. • Our approach designs a secure, privacy-focused voting system. • Blockchain technology underpins our system for enhanced cybersecurity. • We built a prototype to test cybersecurity and privacy. • Test showed that our solution meets crucial security and privacy needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophers now commonly reject the value free ideal for science by arguing that non-epistemic values, including personal or social values, are permissible within the core of scientific research. However, little attention has been paid to the normative political consequences of this position. This paper explores these consequences and shows how political theory is fruitful for proceeding in a world without value-neutral science. I draw attention to an oft-overlooked argument employed by proponents of the value free ideal I dub the "political legitimacy argument." This argument claims that the value-free ideal follows directly from the foundational principles of liberal democracy. If so, then the use of value-laden scientific information within democratic decision making would be illegitimate on purely political grounds. Despite highlighting this unaddressed and important argument, I show how it can be rejected. By appealing to deliberative democratic theory, I demonstrate scientific information can be value-laden and politically legitimate. The deliberative democratic account I develop is well suited for capturing the intuitions of many opponents of the value free ideal and points to a new set of questions for those interested in values in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 Planning Act introduced a new approach for determining large ('nationally significant') infrastructure projects in a new national process that would unify consent regimes and speed up decisions within fixed timescales outside of local planning. Major housing schemes have been excluded from this process, despite repeated attempts by recent UK governments to allocate more land for housebuilding through parallel reforms to the English planning system. This paper explores why Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) has not been used for housing schemes, using the example of housing to reflect on debates about potential democratic deficits in the NSIP process and the selective politicisation of infrastructure planning in England. In doing so, the paper makes a distinctive contribution to practice and research by linking together debates about the politics of planning for housing in England and international literature on democratic process in the delivery of critical infrastructure. • The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) regime in England currently excludes housing. • NSIP has the potential to make a contribution to addressing the housing delivery challenge in England. • Interest in the NSIPs for housing reflects the absence of a strategic approach to housing planning and delivery. • Bringing housing into the regime would be politically challenging because of the perceived democratic deficit of the NSIP regime. • This reveals wider insights into how infrastructure planning is insulated from prevailing democratic process, often linked to pro-development state strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains variation across countries in the effect of democratization on child mortality rates? Democratic transitions, on average, improve health outcomes but there is substantial variation across countries in whether democratization leads to lower-than-expected child mortality post-transition. As yet, there is no convincing quantitative explanation for this variation. In this paper, we argue that whether you have a protest-led or violence-led democratic transition alters the trajectory of child mortality post-transition. Our paper makes two contributions. First, we offer a more detailed account of how the type of resistance movement promoting regime change affects health post-transition. We also draw on novel data to categorise the movements producing democratic transitions as violent or peaceful, moving beyond earlier work which operationalised peaceful democratizations in terms of battle-related deaths. Second, we extend earlier research by examining whether the nature of the democratization movement constitutes a necessary cause of higher or lower-than-expected child mortality following democratization. Across 51 transitions, countries that have a protest-led transition have lower-than-expected child mortality rates after the transition to democracy than countries with other kinds of movements (β = −0.17, p = 0.003). Countries with violence-led transitions, meanwhile, have, on average, higher-than-expected child mortality rates after their transition (β = 0.20, p = 0.001). These associations hold when we adjust for covariates (including all possible combinations of various confounding variables). We also find evidence that protest-led transitions may be a necessary condition for avoiding increased child mortality post-transition. Finally, we conduct a deviant case analysis of transitions that appear to be contrary to our theory, finding that these cases are likely instances of measurement error. Democratization may not always improve health, but such health improvements are more likely when regime change is protest-led. This is because such movements are more likely to build broad coalitions committed to consensual politics post-transition, a critical feature of successful democracies. • The effect of democratization on child mortality varies across contexts. • We argue that protest-led democratization lowers child mortality post-transition. • Countries with protest-led transitions do, in fact, have lower mortality rates. • Indeed, protest-led transitions may be a necessary cause of mortality reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing various panel data analyses including threshold panel model, this paper has examined how economic status determines the relationship among democracy, macroeconomic variables and happiness. Considering panel data of 83 countries over the time period from 2010 to 2016, this study tries to establish that, factors determining subjective well-being (SWB) or life satisfaction has different effects differently for low and high income countries. This study has found that though per capita GDP has no direct impact on happiness, it establishes the role of other variables in determining happiness. It has been found that countries with higher level of income democratic quality and inflation have significant impact on happiness. The impact of democratic quality is positive whereas the impact is negative in case of inflation. Moreover, inequality and health expenditure per capita by the government respectively have negative and positive impact in case of low income countries. It is also evident that unemployment has a strict negative impact across all type of countries but the magnitude is higher in low income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper explores the developmental consequences of introducing slum-level elections to formally select slum representatives. • Slum elections help improve the provision of public goods and services only in communities that are highly organized. • First, in communities that are organized, residents are better able to collectively demand and monitor public goods provision, making slum leaders more responsive. • Second, organizational structures and experiences encourage the emergence of new leaders that challenge old brokers, skewing political competition towards public goods provision. Does electoral democracy improve public goods provision for the poor? This paper considers whether and how the introduction of elections to choose slum-level representatives affects the provision of basic public goods and services in these communities. To address this question I take advantage of an unexpected interruption in the judicial process that introduced elections in urban slums in Argentina. Drawing on an original household survey, an expert survey, and insights from in-depth interviews, I show that the introduction of elections enhanced public goods and services provision only in slums with high organizational density. In such a context, existing organizational structures and citizens' organizational experience facilitated individuals' endeavors to demand and monitor the provision of public goods and the emergence of new leaders other than partisan brokers that skewed political competition towards the provision of public goods. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relationship between elections, organizational activity and public goods provision in urban informal settlements and have implications for development practitioners: Under the right conditions, the democratic selection of slum intermediaries vis-à-vis the state can substantially improve the livelihood of these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transition towards a low-carbon energy system poses new challenges to democratic participation. The transition to clean energy requires a better understanding of crosscutting sociocultural and sociopolitical issues, such as democratic institutions, to devise effective ways of involving citizens and better understand how energy-related views and attitudes are embedded in democratic practice. This paper discusses how the emergence of energy citizenship complies with and holds the possibility for institutional innovation regarding citizen participation. The research question considers how the conceptual innovation of energy citizenship, that is associated with new forms of citizen engagement in fossil fuel reduction policy, positions itself in the debate on participation as an institutionalised value of democracy. Four archetypes of energy citizenship are compared with different forms of democratic citizen participation, and their innovative potential is discussed. This paper is based on the theory of institutions, innovation, and citizen participation. • How does the concept of energy citizenship comply with understandings of democratic participation? • Does energy citizenship carry a potential for innovating democratic institutions? • A disruptive potential appear most prominent regarding energy citizenship as technological trial and as grassrots innovation. • This depends on energy citizens being necessary partners for energy producers and public authorities. • It also depends on whether they reach a critical mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current global water crisis is seriously challenging the water management, requiring an extensive sweeping adaptation for consumption and production patterns. Several international organisations recommend addressing water crisis through effective participatory practices. Taking into account the notion of environmental democracy and the legal implications of the right to water, this paper questions the public participation in the water services management in the European Union. Supervisor entities' cases are examined, and the idea of a participatory comanagement model is proposed. The aim is to clarify the legal foundations of water democracy, by suggesting possible solutions to support an increased public engagement. • Autonomy of the water democracy from cost-benefit analysis. • Right to water as fundamental basis of the water democracy notion. • Supervisor entities as inefficient implementation of the water democracy notion. • Direct participation in water services as optimum in water conflicts situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, African courts have played an important role in the conduct of free and fair elections. In Kenya, the Supreme Court nullified the presidential election of the incumbent. These rulings challenge the conventional wisdom that courts in hybrid regimes always support power holders despite blatant evidence of electoral fraud. Furthermore, these sparks of judicial resistance deserve our scholarly attention as they have the power to start the democratization process or limit further autocratization. Hence, this paper seeks to understand the conditions under which courts are able to resist incumbents' pressure to legitimize electoral malpractice and side with the opposition. I argue that institutional reforms incentivize courts to resist the incumbent's pressure and to rule in favor of the opposition during electoral disputes under two conditions. First, institutional reforms must reinforce de jure independence by enacting effective legal and constitutional mechanisms that prevent the executive branch from undermining the separation of power. Second, institutional reforms must mobilize judicial support networks by granting them the tools to engage in strategic and repeated litigation. I test this novel theory by leveraging original qualitative and quantitative data from Kenya. Using process tracing, I show how the 2010 constitution created an environment where the courts had no other choice than to annul the election of the incumbent – President Kenyatta – in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Alternative definitions of clientelism. • Reflections on the impact of clientelism on democracy and state capacity. • The process of change in the incidence of clientelism. • Policies to overcome clientelism. • Under-researched area in the literature. Unlike much of the growing literature on political clientelism, this short paper contains mainly the author's general reflections on the broad issues of governance (or mis-governance including corruption), democracy and state capacity that clientelism has an impact on. It then analyzes how its incidence changes with the process of development, and the kind of policy issues that it generates. Finally, the paper suggests some research gaps in this literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen engagement is heralded as essential for food democracy and equality, yet the implementation of inclusive citizen engagement mechanisms in urban food systems governance has lagged behind. This paper aims to further the agenda of citizen engagement in the transformation towards healthy and sustainable urban food systems by offering a conceptual reflection on urban living labs (ULLs) as a methodological platform. Over the past decades, ULLs have become increasingly popular to actively engage citizens in methodological testbeds for innovations within real-world settings. The paper proposes that ULLs as a tool for inclusive citizen engagement can be utilized in two ways: (i) the ULL as the daily life of which citizens are the experts, aimed at uncovering the unreflexive agency of a highly diverse population in co-shaping the food system and (ii) the ULL as a break with daily life aimed at facilitating reflexive agency in (re)shaping food futures. We argue that both ULL approaches have the potential to facilitate inclusive citizen engagement in different ways by strengthening the breadth and the depth of citizen engagement respectively. The paper concludes by proposing a sequential implementation of the two types of ULL, paying attention to spatial configurations and the short-termed nature of ULLs. • Food system transformations require more inclusive citizen engagement. • Urban Living Labs provide a methodological platform to harness citizen agency. • We distinguish two types of living labs: (1) daily life; (2) a break with daily life. • Focus on (1) inclusiveness and unreflexive agency; (2) reflexive future engagement • Combining two types can advance more inclusive urban food system transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities differ widely in how they integrate migrants, even within the same nation state, and this local dimension in integration policies is understudied. One model that a growing number of cities in both Western Europe and North America have been trying out is setting up immigrant councils and other institutional structures to integrate immigrants. Such representation of immigrant interests in local bodies –has accordingly gained more importance. In this paper, we consider two such local consultative bodies focused on immigrant issues in Norway. Drawing on Smith's concept of 'democratic innovations' this paper explores the innovative potential in increasing immigrant's political opportunity structure through such institutions and discusses the democratic potential of such boards. The value of consultative bodies like these as a part of cities integration policy is disputed. Much of this contention has to do with their institutional design, as some may end up being 'institutional ghettos', while others become catalysts for enhanced participation. We therefore explore how the local context influences the design and performance of such bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Whereas much existing work examines when elites demand election violence, the paper explains when armed groups supply it. • The paper contributes to scholarship on security challenges in democracies by studying the organization of election violence. • The findings emphasize the need to develop programs that disincentivize nonstate groups from perpetrating election violence. Social science research on election violence shows that incumbents regularly turn to different nonstate armed groups to organize violence during elections, including ethnic militias, gangs, criminal organizations, and paramilitaries, among others. Less well known are the motivations of these different actors, what they seek to gain from election violence, and when they turn down incumbents' overtures. From a practitioner perspective, understanding when armed groups supply election violence for incumbents is important because of the severe consequences of such acts, including economic hardship, forced displacement, damaged infrastructure, and costs to human life. The paper asks: under what conditions do armed groups agree or refuse to perpetrate election violence for incumbents? Drawing on most similar case studies of the Ijaw Youth Council and the O'odua People's Congress in Nigeria, we find that internal armed group politics help to explain how these actors respond to incumbent governors' demands for election violence. Specifically, groups divided by leadership rivalries agree to perpetrate election violence for incumbents whereas those with cohesive leadership refuse to do so. Leaders of rival factions accept money and arms from incumbents to try to eliminate their competitors, and in exchange, agree to organize violence during elections for their incumbent sponsors. In contrast, groups with cohesive leadership turn down incumbents' overtures given the risks of cooptation and weakened community support. The findings contribute to our understanding of how election violence is co-produced by elites and nonstate armed groups by explaining the motivations and decisions of the latter. More broadly, the paper speaks to larger questions about security challenges in developing democracies. The findings also highlight the need for greater attention to interventions to prevent armed groups from engaging in election violence on behalf of political elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does government formation affect satisfaction with democracy? Research so far has focused on how winning or losing elections affects satisfaction with democracy, yet, in many coalition systems, who wins and who loses is not determined directly by the elections, but by the coalition formation process. Until now, the effect of government formation on satisfaction with democracy has not been examined. In this paper, we examine this using a quasi-experimental matching design examining eleven elections. We find some evidence that the formation of the coalition slightly but significantly lowers the satisfaction with democracy among those who supported a party that was removed from the governing coalition. This suggests that in coalition systems, looking at electoral winners and losers may be insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the use of sustainable energy sources is becoming a major policy strategy in several nations to mitigate climate change and improve energy security. The achievement of a policy objective needs information about consumer preferences and attitudes towards renewable energy. This research presents a synthesis of estimates of the consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for electricity generated from renewables. The paper applies meta-regression analysis to 509 observations of WTP from 91 renewable energy studies in 27 countries. The paper also explores the influence of institutions and other important factors on WTP values. The results suggest that institutions, with their country-specific and survey-specific factors, has a great influence on WTP. Consumers in more democratic and capitalistic countries assign higher values for renewable energy. Further, higher GDP per capita countries result in higher WTP estimates, while larger CO 2 emitter countries lead to lower WTP for green electricity. • The more liberal and democratic are nations, the higher consumers value renewable energies. • Renewable energy values are income elastic. • A larger CO 2 emitter country is less likely willing to support green electricity adoption. • A country with a larger share of renewable energy of total energy production assigns higher values for green electricity. • A country with a larger share of natural gas of total electricity production seemingly prefers the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examine the interrelatedness between regime types of democracy and non-democracy and poverty reduction. • We find democratization reduces poverty rates by about 11–14% in the first 5 years and about 20% after 10-14 years in treatment effects estimates. • We find no statistically significant effect in dynamic panel estimates (Two-way Fixed Effects and GMM). • This suggest that electoral democracy does not have a clear-cut effect on poverty. • The mixed results are supported by theory and could be due to data limitations. In this paper we examine the interrelatedness between regime types of democracy and non-democracy and poverty reduction. The liberal international order and democratic principles have been challenged by the populace's general discontent in recent years, while the reduction of poverty is a central goal of the global development agenda as embodied by the Sustainable Development Goals. Democracies could promote poverty reduction by encouraging redistribution, lifting barriers for poor people, or giving better access to the institutions of society. Democracies might hinder poverty reduction if they are captured by elites or become dysfunctional in general. Our data cover around 140 countries and a period from 1980–2018. We use a mix of methods to address endogeneity concerns. In dynamic panel estimates that control for past influences of poverty, GDP and inequality we find no significant impact of democratization – measured mainly by electoral democracy – on poverty rates. In more flexible and causal treatment effects estimates we find democratization reduces poverty rates by about 11–14% in the first five years after democratization on a 95% significance level and about 20% 10–14 years after democratization on a 90% significance level. Although we find mixed results, we are still confident that democratic political institutions matter greatly, and societies are better off when the political systems are more inclusive. The fact that our results do not find clear support for this suggest that electoral democracy – without further aspects considering the level of democracy – does not have a clear-cut effect on poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities are expected to address global challenges and increase the quality of life. However, due to the overemphasis on physical and technological aspects, social rights and democratic values have often been neglected in smart city projects. In this paper, we introduce the concept of 'societal smart city' and discuss how and why it should be prioritized in the post-pandemic era. We argue that a societal smart city is a city that integrates social rights and democratic values with technological innovations. Six major dimensions of a societal smart city are: social sustainability, citizen-centeredness, e-democracy, social justice, participatory governance, and cultural resilience. We encourage urban planners and policymakers to pay attention to these dimensions and caution against physical and technological determinism. • This study aims to introduce the concept of the societal smart city. • Social rights and democratic values have often been neglected in smart cities. • A societal smart city is a city that integrates social rights and democratic values with technological innovations. • We argue that societal smart city should be prioritized in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies claim that democracy is in crisis during the current pandemic while authoritarian countries better combat COVID-19 because they face no tradeoff between freedom and health. These claims, however, are usually supported by unreliable reported data; furthermore, they often overlook an important variation in government effectiveness that is likely to interact with different political regimes. In this paper, I use as the dependent variable more reliable data, excess mortality, which is available for 152 countries, and analyze the interaction effect between regime type and government effectiveness. The results reveal that democratic countries with higher government effectiveness are likely to reduce excess mortality. Democratic countries thus need not give up freedom; they need to improve government effectiveness to combat COVID-19. • This study analyzed the interaction effect between political regimes and government effectiveness on excess mortality. • Democratic countries with higher government effectiveness can reduce excess mortality. • Democratic countries need to improve government effectiveness to combat COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Becoming an active member of a democracy requires learning in an authentic mini-democracy. • The authentic mini-democracy for students is a school grounded in relational spirituality. • Spiritually supportive school culture can be deliberately designed and created in any school. • A spiritually supportive school culture prepares young people to live in democratic society. Although the purpose of education in the United States has long been preparing an active, moral citizenry, in recent decades civic education has ceded this purpose to knowledge acquisition. Young people are insufficiently supported in school in developing as self-knowing civic actors capable of fulfilling Dewey's vision of the moral and spiritual democracy. This paper presents an empirically driven difference between spirituality and religion, clarifying what has obfuscated discussion of Constitutional separation of church-state in education; presents findings of a three-year study on K-12 spiritually supportive schools, identifying the pedagogical method undergirding those whose culture is spiritually nurturing; and argues that a spiritually supportive school culture is imperative for the formation of students who are prepared to inherit democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the use of architectural competitions may change democratic and participatory aspects in urban planning. This is operationalised by focusing on how architectural competitions impact procedural justice. The architectural competition is a process where only certain experts and professionals are included. We briefly outline how architectural competitions and planning ideals have developed over time to provide context crucial to understanding how they are brought together in contemporary planning practices. Based on interviews and document studies we analyse a set of cases from the Fjord City waterfront redevelopment in Oslo, Norway. The cases vary in form and organization, from the open and international competition format to a more limited competition called parallel assignments. We first consider how architectural competitions may create barriers for public participation. Then we consider if there is a way to integrate them in urban planning that may contribute towards procedural justice and a more inclusive planning process. • Architectural competitions create barriers to participation. • Architectural competitions are undemocratic and can be used to construct consensus. • Architects should be challenged on design and aesthetics. • Better dialogue between planners seeking participation strategies and architects practicing participation is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines carbon emission growth rates in 35 OECD economies from 1970 to 2019. It analyses the effects of trade liberalisation policy on carbon emissions in interaction with democracy. Both variables serve as potential drivers of adopting emission-reducing technologies. It is observed that trade liberalisation increases carbon dioxide emissions; however, democracy reduces the carbon emission growth rates. In addition, the interaction of trade liberalisation with democracy has a positive impact on carbon dioxide emissions. These findings mean that trade liberalisation has a lessened negative effect on carbon dioxide emissions in more democratic countries. These results indicate several policy implications for the climate change crisis, given that policymakers in democracies do a better job of providing policy formation for climate change than autocracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The article explores the development of local electricity exchange practices in three European countries: France, Switzerland, and great Britain; the comparative cases reveal the complexity and variation of the local electricity exchange phenomenon across our three national contexts. • Local electricity exchange has as much potential to cement conventional actors and power relations in the sector as it does to support new actors or transform power relations. • Local electricity exchange varies considerably across national contests and is strongly linked with institutional frameworks and policy regimes in place, including competing dynamics of centralization and shifting forms of ownership. • Considerable uncertainty exists concerning local electricity exchange markets of the future; their viability is to be proven and investments are needed for realization of the projects. Local electricity exchange is often praised for its ability to empower consumers and benefit communities. In this paper, we investigate and compare the development of local electricity exchange practices in three European countries: France, Switzerland, and Great Britain. We ask: how do local electricity exchange practices and markets vary across national contexts? What are their dynamics of ownership and consolidation, if any? What areas of contestation or disagreement emerge? To answer these questions, we first briefly define and conceptualize local electricity exchange and its categories before explicating our mixed methods research design consisting of document analysis, 40 original expert interviews across the three countries, and observational data derived from seven meetings and events. These comparative cases reveal the complexity and variation of the local electricity exchange phenomenon across our three national contexts, how such acts of decentralization in turn (and perhaps unpredictably) consolidate power among incumbent actors, and how local electricity exchanges are prone to significant contestation and disagreement. Moreover, they reveal competing dynamics of centralization and shifting forms of ownership. We conclude by noting that (i) local electricity exchange has as much potential to cement conventional actors and power relations in the sector as it does to support new actors or transform power relations; (ii) approaches to local electricity exchange vary considerably across national contexts and are strongly linked with institutional frameworks and policy regimes; and (iii) the future merits of local electricity exchange are prone to great uncertainty and contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investors commonly rely on macroeconomic variables to drive capital allocation decisions. But other institutional factors may alter investor returns as well, particularly in emerging market countries. Given these concerns, this paper examines the effects of institutional factors—specifically democracy, transparency and corruption—on emerging market equity returns and flows. We find that institutional quality impacts stock market returns and flows in emerging markets where corruption, transparency, and democracy levels are below average. We also find that government-owned or controlled industries are positively impacted by a deterioration in the corruption and democracy indexes, while highly concentrated sectors, like the financial industry, are negatively impacted by improving transparency. • Tests the effect of institutional quality on EM stock market performance. • Breaks out EM countries into high and low segments for institutional quality. • Finds transparency to impact returns where institutional quality is below average. • Finds corruption to impact equity flows where corruption is prevalent. • Finds differences in how corruption and democracy impact EM industry returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, election administration has become a subject of intensified debates, raising questions of how to organize elections to ensure electoral integrity. One question concerns who should serve as members of polling station boards, administer election day proceedings, and participate in the vote count. Different models co-exist in modern democracies, with some countries – among them Austria – actively involving the political parties in the election administration. Against this background, this paper examines perceptions of electoral integrity among Austrian poll workers and citizens using data from an original survey of poll workers and survey data of the voting population. The results show that poll workers have greater confidence in the election administration than regular voters but are equally or more skeptical regarding other aspects of electoral integrity. Also, their partisan background shapes perceptions of electoral integrity. To conclude, we discuss the benefits and limitations of the 'party model' for poll worker recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disease outbreaks force the governments to rapid decisions. However, the stream of decision-making could be costly in terms of the democratic representativeness. The goal of the paper is to investigate the trade-off between pluralism of preferences and the time required to approach a decision. To this aim we develop and test a modified version of the Hegselmann and Krause (2002) model to capture these two characteristics of the decisional process in different institutional contexts. Using a twofold geometrical institutional setting, we simulate the impact of disease outbreaks to check whether countries exhibit idiosyncratic effects, depending on their institutional frameworks. Main findings are that the degree of pluralism is not necessarily associated with worse performances in managing emergencies, provided that the political debate is mature enough. • Disease outbreaks force the governments to rapid decisions to deal with. • The stream of decision-making could be costly in terms of democracy. • We investigate the trade-off between pluralism and decision time. • Pluralism is not necessarily associated with worse performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the relationship between various democracy features and the environment. • We scrutinize social-liberal, liberal, and deliberative democratic theoretical models. • Deliberative democracies adopt more but not stricter or more effective policies. • Social-liberal democracies adopt stricter and more effective environmental policies. Since a more substantial recognition of environmental degradation in the 1960s, the scholarly community has looked at democracy with mixed feelings. Some assert that democracy is devastating for the environmental performance, some claim the opposite, while others suggest that certain democratic models are more successful than others in paving the way for sustainability. Both political theorists and empirical scholars add fuel to this debate, and neither has settled the argument yet. In this paper we make use of recently collected data from the Varieties of Democracy project on different conceptions of democracy and address both these literatures. We empirically test whether different features of democracies, i.e., liberal in its thinner understanding, social-liberal, and deliberative, are more or less beneficial for environmental commitments. We investigate which of these features make democracies more prone to produce environmental policy outputs – adopt climate laws, deliver on them, develop stringent environmental policies, and incorporate sustainability into economic policies. We find that democracies with stronger deliberative features adopt more, but not necessarily stricter or more effective, environmental policies. Instead, democracies with stronger social-liberal features adopt both stricter and more effective policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper uses novel hand-collected data from audit reports on local political corruption and merges it with election data. • Theory shows that politically aligned politicians have incentives to control corruption to appease their party leaders. • Empirics show that alignment reduces corruption by 1.9 percentage points, about half of average in non-aligned districts. • Heterogeneous effects on electoral competitiveness, financial endowments and gender of politicians are identified. I analyze the link between partisan alignment of local politicians and the incidence of political corruption, using novel hand-collected data on local political corruption in Ghana. The empirical analysis, based on 205 districts observed over the period 2013–2018, suggests significantly lower levels of political corruption in aligned districts. Partisan alignment reduces corruption by 1.9 percentage points, equivalent to about half of the mean-level in non-aligned districts. In line with political ambition theory, I attribute this result to local politicians aligned with the national government having incentives to control fiscal irregularities within their localities in order to appease their national party leaders and preserve their party's reputation. Alternative explanations are considered through empirical means and can be excluded. The estimated effect is more pronounced in districts that (i) are party strongholds, (ii) have better financial endowments, and (iii) have female local parliamentarians. It appears that political centralization and a politicized bureaucracy, as observed in Ghana, are important explanations for this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surprisingly, little is known about the cross-country effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on wealth inequality. At the same time, there is some tentative evidence suggesting that information and communication technology is positively correlated with income inequality. However, whether and how ICT affects wealth inequality is less explored, particularly because of the lack of reliable data on wealth inequality. This paper, therefore, fills this gap and contributes to this new literature by investigating the effect of ICT on wealth inequality in a sample of 45 developed and developing countries over the period 2000–2017. ICT is measured with six different indicators (including internet penetration, mobile penetration, ICT service exports, the ICT index, ICT quality, and ICT quantity), while wealth inequality is measured with three different indicators (comprising billionaire wealth to GDP, the Top 1% wealth share, and the Top 10% wealth share). The empirical analysis is based on the Generalised Method of Moments, and the results show that ICT increases wealth inequality. Furthermore, we show that democracy mitigates the increasing effect of ICT on wealth inequality. This result suggests that improving democracy in both developed and developing countries is an effective mechanism for mitigating the effects of ICT on wealth inequality. Therefore, we encourage efforts to implement democratic institutions that ensure respect for citizens' freedoms, greater democratic accountability, and executive constraints that allow for a more egalitarian distribution of wealth. • This study investigates the effect of ICTs on wealth inequality. • The focus is on 45 developed and developing counties over the period 2000–2017. • The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. • ICTs are positively correlated to wealth inequality. • Democracy mitigates the positive effect of ICTs on wealth inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of oil prices on financial market volatilities and clean energy investments by including the energy democracy approach to its analysis. Our main intention is to question whether a carbon free sustainable financial market environment. Since crude oil is still the primary energy source and the markets heavily depend on oil prices, any surge in the prices creates uncertainty and increases the fear in the markets. In this study, we contribute to the existing literature in two ways. First, rather than seeking a direct relationship with oil-clean energy returns, we include market fear represented by CBOE volatility index (VIX) to our models. Secondly, we utilize VAR-VECH-TARCH models with three different model systems and two different VAR system specifications for two different time periods. According to our asymmetric volatility model results, long-term volatility spillovers exist between clean energy, brent oil and volatility index. Moreover, considering the cross relationship between clean energy, brent oil and VIX, bad news contributes more to the systemic risk of energy company stock returns than good news. These findings state that the relationship between energy democracy and clean energy investments should be considered in more details while policy implications should support renewable energy investment policies and reduce the pressure of oil suppliers on both financial markets and clean energy investments. • According to energy democracy approach, replacing fossil-fuel resources with clean energy is social restructuring act as well as a technological improvement via deployment of renewable. • Our main research topic is whether clean energy investments can provide sustainability in the markets. • In this study, we include market fear represented by CBOE volatility index (VIX) to our models. While employing VAR-VECH-TARCH models with three different model systems. • Our findings state that the relationship between energy democracy and clean energy investments is a crucial topic to enable clean energy evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]