Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Class and the Spread of Suffrage in Democracies

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The major objective in this Doctoral Dissertation Research Support project is to fill a gap in the political science literature created by the difference in the definition and operationalization of democracy in the empirical literature. Definitions of democracy stress the importance of participation and suffrage for all. However, when operationalized, suffrage, with the exception of gender, as it applies to groups separated from the dominant civic community by race ethnicity, and conquest has been either slighted or ignored. This has meant that while the move from nondemocratic forms of government to elite democracy has been studied, the move from exclusive democracy to more inclusive democracy that allow most adults to vote has been ignored. This dissertation research creates a database tracking the achievement of suffrage for different groups in democracies from 1800 to 1998. The database is used to test a theory that explains the move from exclusion to inclusion in democracies through the interaction of material, political and normative power. This will help to integrate theoretically the interaction of these different types of power that are usually dealt with separately in the literature. The database also serves as an important resource beyond the current research to those who would explore the causes and impacts of the expansion of the basic right to participate that suffrage represents. This dissertation research project promises to enhance substantially our understanding of the topic.