Journal article
Macrointerest Across Countries
British journal of political science, Vol.55, e71
04/28/2025
DOI: 10.1017/S0007123424001042
Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access
Abstract
The extent to which the public takes an interest in politics has long been argued to be foundational to democracy, but the want of appropriate data has prevented cross-national and longitudinal analysis. This letter takes advantage of recent advances in latent-variable modelling of aggregate survey responses and a comprehensive collection of survey data to generate dynamic comparative estimates of macrointerest, that is, aggregate political interest, for over a hundred countries over the past four decades. These macrointerest scores are validated with other aggregate measures of political interest and of other types of political engagement. A cross-national and longitudinal analysis of macrointerest in advanced democracies reveals that along with election campaigns and inclusive institutions, it is good economic conditions, not bad times, that spur publics to greater interest in politics.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Macrointerest Across Countries
- Creators
- Yue Hu - Tsinghua UniversityFrederick Solt - University of Iowa, Political Science
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- British journal of political science, Vol.55, e71
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0007123424001042
- ISSN
- 0007-1234
- eISSN
- 1469-2112
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press; CAMBRIDGE
- Grant note
- National Natural Science Foundation of China: 72374116 Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program: 2024THZWJC01 National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaTsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program
Yue Hu appreciates the funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 72374116) and the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program (grant number: 2024THZWJC01).
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/28/2025
- Academic Unit
- Political Science
- Record Identifier
- 9984812697602771
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