Award Date

8-1-2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science

First Committee Member

Christian Jensen

Second Committee Member

John Tuman

Third Committee Member

David Damore

Fourth Committee Member

Michele Kuenzi

Fifth Committee Member

Dmitri Shalin

Sixth Committee Member

Mary Stegmaier

Number of Pages

218

Abstract

In western liberal democracies, voting behavior is often times characterized by sociological and psychological indicators. Party identification and issues such as the economy dominant the vote function of the electorate. In the post-Soviet space, party volatility and the competitive authoritarian nature of regimes may result in voters failing to act as agents of accountability. In this dissertation, I argue that the socio-psychological theory of voting behavior applies to post-Soviet electorate in the Caucasus. I demonstrate that Armenian and Georgian voters rely on partisanship as well as perceptions of the economy when casting electoral judgment on the incumbent party. This research furthers the applicability of the socio-psychological theory beyond countries with mature and durable party structures, and demonstrates that voters in competitive authoritarian regimes can act as agents of electoral accountability.

Keywords

Economic Voting; Patronal Voting; Post-Soviet Politics; Post-Soviet Voter; Voting Behavior

Disciplines

Political Science

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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