Islam and democracy

Potrafke, Niklas (2012): Islam and democracy. In: Public Choice, Vol. 151, No. 1-2: pp. 185-192

Abstract

Using the POLITY IV and Freedom House indices, Rowley and Smith (Public Choice 139(3-4):273, 2009) found that countries with Muslim majorities enjoy less freedom and are less democratic than countries in which Muslims are a minority. Because the POLITY IV and Freedom House indices have been criticized on several grounds, I reinvestigate Rowley and Smith’s finding using the new Democracy-Dictatorship data from Cheibub et al. (Public Choice 143(1-2):67, 2010). The empirical results confirm that countries with Muslim majorities are indeed less likely to be democratic.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Economics; Economics > Chairs > CESifo-Professorship for Public Finance
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• Language: English