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Iceland on the Rocks: The Mass Political Economy of Sovereign Debt Resettlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2014

K. Amber Curtis ,
Joseph Jupille  and
David Leblang
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Abstract

We undertake an individual-level analysis of mass political behavior toward sovereign debt resettlement by leveraging the unique circumstances of a 2011 referendum on debt repayment in Iceland. This allows us to engage broader questions about mass international political economy. Against the recent thrust of a growing literature, we find evidence of material economic “pocketbook” effects—self-interest—on voting behavior, operating alongside symbolic/sociotropic and partisan/political logics. Contrary to expectations, these self-interest effects are not conditional on voter sophistication. We conclude that conventional sampling frames may be inappropriate for understanding contemporary democratic contestation over international economic policy.

Type
Research Notes
Information
International Organization , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , Summer 2014 , pp. 721 - 740
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2014 

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