“Reciprocity and Public Support for Anti-Democratic Behavior,” Eli Rau, Yale

AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP

Abstract: Voters around the world have elected leaders who erode their democracies. Recent work has pointed to partisan polarization as a key enabler of democratic erosion. But we show that partisanship is not a prerequisite for tolerating—even supporting—anti-democratic behavior. Universal norms of reciprocity provide the basis for a tit-for-tat justification: if the other side violated democratic norms first, then an in-kind response seems justified. Combining data from nationally representative surveys across Latin America and online survey experiments in the United States, Peru, and Colombia, we show that nonpartisans are responsive to tit-for-tat justifications, albeit with some variation across countries and issues. Our results shed light on the common finding that voters simultaneously claim to value democracy and support politicians who erode democratic norms. When constitutional hardball is framed as a tit-for-tat response to similar behavior from an opposition party, the public is inclined to see it as both reasonable and democratic—perhaps as restoring some balance to democracy or deterring future anti-democratic behavior.

Eli Rau is a postdoctoral associate with the Democratic Innovations program at ISPS and the Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy. His primary areas of research include comparative electoral institutions, voter turnout, and democratic erosion. In current research projects, he examines the link between economic inequality and democratic erosion; whether compulsory voting is good for democracy; and how norms of reciprocity can enable democratic erosion even in the absence of strong partisanship.

Open to the Yale community and invited scholars. Please visit this link to subscribe and receive regular announcements.