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Are Stealth Democrats Really Committed to Democracy? Process Preferences Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2022

Andrew J. Bloeser ,
Tarah Williams Open the ORCID record for Tarah Williams [Opens in a new window] ,
Candaisy Crawford  and
Brian M. Harward
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Abstract

Scholarship on “stealth democracy” finds that many citizens want to avoid the debate and conflict that often come with democratic governance. This scholarship has argued that citizens adopt this posture because they are uncomfortable with disagreement and desire a more expedient political process that enables leaders to make decisions without discussion or compromise. We revisit this argument in light of recent political developments that suggest another reason why citizens may desire a more expedient political process. We examine the possibility that some citizens are not merely uncomfortable with disagreement but also want leaders who will aggressively protect them and champion their interests. Using a nationally representative survey, we ask citizens about their preferences for stealth democracy. We also ask questions that tap into their willingness to support leaders who would “bend the rules for supporters” and take aggressive action against political opponents. We find that a substantial component of the electorate continues to prefer a stealth version of democracy. However, we also find that many “stealth democrats” are willing to support leadership practices that would threaten or even undermine democratic norms. We argue that this evidence indicates that, in recent years, many citizens who appear to desire “stealth democracy” pose a threat to democracy itself.

Type
Special Section: Democracy
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 22 , Issue 1: Special Section: Women, Representation & Politics , March 2024 , pp. 116 - 130
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

Data replication sets are available in Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DQHSAW

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Supplementary material: Link

Bloeser Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DQHSAW
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