Ambiguity and comparative politics
If you've read my book, you know that ambiguity is a theme I pursue. I point out ambiguities in comparisons to emphasize how important it is to compare like things and how hard that is to do.Here's an example from page 24 of the November 2008 issue of National Geographic.
There's a marvelous chart titled, "Electoral Collage." It displays, in a very informative way, voter turnout in "154 recent presidential or parliamentary elections."
Surprisingly, the USA appears near the top, with a voter turnout of 89%. It seems that the chart maker used the number of registered voters as a base for the percentage turnouts shown. That makes the US turnout look very good. The UK turnout is shown as something over 60%, far below the U.S. turnout. That's not what our textbooks say.
The explanation that accompanies the chart says that "booming immigration after 1970 created a big population that could not vote." Since voter turnout statistics in the US are usually based on the "entire voting age population" (including unregistered voters, and those ineligible to vote), the implication is that the widely publicized low voter turnout in the USA is misleading.
So the chart shows the percentage of registered voters voting. This is misleading in its own way. Why? Because citizens in the US must register themselves. In most countries, voters are automatically registered -- even when they move.
So the turnout in the UK of just under 60% tells us that's how many of the eligible voters voted. To say that 52% of the population over age 18 voted in the US's 2004 presidential election is an accurate figure too. So is the 89% of registered voters who voted in a "recent presidential or parliamentary election..." (the chart doesn't tell us which).
But to compare either US figure (52% or 89%) with the UK figure (around 60%) is misleading. We have to recognize the ambiguity of either of those comparisons. And how should we deal with the reported 95%+ turnout in Russia? Or the 60% turnout in Iran?
If you want to build some research-based teaching plans on this topic, I suggest you go to the "Voter Turnout" section of the web site for the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
The site introduces itself this way:
The International IDEA Voter Turnout Website contains the most comprehensive global collection of political participation statistics available. Regularly updated voter turnout figures for national presidential and parliamentary elections since 1945 are presented country by country, using both the number of registered voters and voting age population as indicators. Where available, we also include the spoilt ballot rate for each election. Included also are the most recent indicators of literacy and human development, along with the type of electoral system currently used and whether voting is compulsory or not.
Labels: comparative methodology, pedagogy, theory
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:53 AM
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