The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2020 |
Outros Autores: | |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://hdl.handle.net/1822/74988 |
Resumo: | The 2013 territorial reform of sub-municipal units (SMUs) of government in Portugal presents an interesting opportunity to understand the effect of amalgamations on democratic outcomes. Like other reforms of its kind, the Portuguese amalgamation reform was triggered by economic motivations, aimed at improving local services but seeking mostly to reduce the level of public expenditures. Much less relevance was given to the political impacts of territorial consolidation. The aim of this research is to assess the impacts of the Portuguese territorial reform on political participation measured as voter turnout in SMU elections. We use data from five election cycles (2001–2017) to compare turnout levels in amalgamated jurisdictions vis-à-vis the ones that did not amalgamate as a result of the process of territorial reform. The results of this quasi-experimental design indicate that turnout levels after the reform have decreased in the 2013 election and recovered in the 2017 election, but the negative effects were much more pronounced in amalgamated SMUs than in non-amalgamated SMUs. |
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The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in PortugalSocial SciencesThe 2013 territorial reform of sub-municipal units (SMUs) of government in Portugal presents an interesting opportunity to understand the effect of amalgamations on democratic outcomes. Like other reforms of its kind, the Portuguese amalgamation reform was triggered by economic motivations, aimed at improving local services but seeking mostly to reduce the level of public expenditures. Much less relevance was given to the political impacts of territorial consolidation. The aim of this research is to assess the impacts of the Portuguese territorial reform on political participation measured as voter turnout in SMU elections. We use data from five election cycles (2001–2017) to compare turnout levels in amalgamated jurisdictions vis-à-vis the ones that did not amalgamate as a result of the process of territorial reform. The results of this quasi-experimental design indicate that turnout levels after the reform have decreased in the 2013 election and recovered in the 2017 election, but the negative effects were much more pronounced in amalgamated SMUs than in non-amalgamated SMUs.Previous versions of this paper were presented at the 2018 European Urban and Regional Association conference in Tilburg, The Netherlands and at the 2018 European Consortium of Political Research meeting in Hamburg, Germany. The authors would like to thank our colleagues Adam Gendzwill, Kurt Houlberg, Pawel Swianiewicz, and Filipe Teles for providing useful comments to these earlier versions of this manuscript. This research is partially supported by the "Programa Operacional da Regiao Norte", NORTE2020, in the context of project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000037 (SmartEGOV) and by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia) [grant no PEst-OE/CJP/UI0758/2019]. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation.ElsevierUniversidade do MinhoRodrigues, Miguel Ângelo VilelaTavares, António F.2020-032020-03-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/1822/74988engRodrigues, M., & Tavares, A. F. (2020, June). The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: Evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal. Cities. Elsevier BV. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.1026850264-275110.1016/j.cities.2020.102685info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-21T12:05:25Zoai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/74988Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T18:55:50.135748Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
title |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
spellingShingle |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal Rodrigues, Miguel Ângelo Vilela Social Sciences |
title_short |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
title_full |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
title_fullStr |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
title_sort |
The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal |
author |
Rodrigues, Miguel Ângelo Vilela |
author_facet |
Rodrigues, Miguel Ângelo Vilela Tavares, António F. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Tavares, António F. |
author2_role |
author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade do Minho |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Rodrigues, Miguel Ângelo Vilela Tavares, António F. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Social Sciences |
topic |
Social Sciences |
description |
The 2013 territorial reform of sub-municipal units (SMUs) of government in Portugal presents an interesting opportunity to understand the effect of amalgamations on democratic outcomes. Like other reforms of its kind, the Portuguese amalgamation reform was triggered by economic motivations, aimed at improving local services but seeking mostly to reduce the level of public expenditures. Much less relevance was given to the political impacts of territorial consolidation. The aim of this research is to assess the impacts of the Portuguese territorial reform on political participation measured as voter turnout in SMU elections. We use data from five election cycles (2001–2017) to compare turnout levels in amalgamated jurisdictions vis-à-vis the ones that did not amalgamate as a result of the process of territorial reform. The results of this quasi-experimental design indicate that turnout levels after the reform have decreased in the 2013 election and recovered in the 2017 election, but the negative effects were much more pronounced in amalgamated SMUs than in non-amalgamated SMUs. |
publishDate |
2020 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2020-03 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/74988 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/74988 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Rodrigues, M., & Tavares, A. F. (2020, June). The effects of amalgamations on voter turnout: Evidence from sub-municipal governments in Portugal. Cities. Elsevier BV. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102685 0264-2751 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102685 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Elsevier |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Elsevier |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
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1799132344566677504 |