Electoral Participation

Examines trends in electoral turnout across Western Europe during the post-war period. It first tests the hypothesis that a strengthening of individualist values is taking place at the expense of collectivist values, and that this predicts a general trend towards lower levels of turnout. It then proceeds to examine the relationship between changes in turnout levels and demographic changes. Its main findings raise serious doubts about the declining turnout hypothesis, concluding that such changes in turnout levels, as there have been, can be primarily accounted for by demographic change