Non-Voting as Collective Action: To Boycott or Not?

Is it possible to consider vote boycotts a form of collective action? Under what circumstances might we consider a non-action to have the characteristics of a collective action? Depending on the context, the meaning of non-voting may be interpreted differently by observers. In the United States, for example, voting is relatively "difficult" form of political participation, so non-participation is often interpreted as a lack of interest, skills, or resources, having logistical difficulties (difficulties finding the polling places, registering, etc.), or lacking awareness of relevant political issues. In electoral authoritarian regimes, on the other hand, an election boycott by the opposition may signal dissatisfaction and represent an attempt to delegitimize rigged elections in the eyes of the electorate and/or the international community. In Israel, a phenomenon of vote boycotting among the country's Palestinian Arab minority has taken root among the most dissatisfied with their second-class citizenship. Although it is not clear to what extent the decline in Arab turnout is caused by ideological stances, it is clear that there is a large and growing movement among Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens to organize election boycotts as a means to increase their political leverage in the system and to send a message of discontent with the status quo. This movement is likely to have some impact on the voting trends in Israel.This paper will investigate the phenomenon of vote boycotting as a form of collective action, drawing upon the Israeli case. Despite the fact that refraining from voting is a "non-action," it is not costless for the individual or the collectivity. Much like "active" forms of collective action, vote boycotting can be plagued by free riding, unclear signaling, and suboptimal outcomes. The paper's analyses will use survey data from Israel's 2001 and 2003 national election studies, and the author's own survey conducted in Israel in 2001. I expect to distinguish between ideological or strategic boycott participators vs. apathetic or unaware non-participators. Furthermore, I hope to uncover to what extent boycott participation is similar to other forms of political participation, like protest. While Israel is likely to have some unique characteristics that set it apart from other countries, I believe that some general conclusions about vote boycotting can be drawn from the results of this paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]