We Only Have One Country: Multiethnic Coalitions and Resistance to Backsliding

• In Event: Democracy and Identity Politics

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have recognized that democratic backsliding via executive takeovers has important consequences. However, most studies have focused on actions by incumbents, thus largely overlooking opposition resistance to democratic backsliding. Under what conditions does the public back resistance movements to democratic backsliding? I point to the role of broad, multiethnic coalitions in shaping public attitudes toward resistance to democratic backsliding. I argue that multiethnic coalitions can lead to increased minority support for protest movements, even where they have been sidelined from the political and social sphere. But multiethnic coalitions against democratic backsliding can lead to a backlash effect, especially among ethnic majorities who identify as conservatives and especially when minority politicians endorse protests. Meanwhile, I posit that majority groups will be more likely to support multiethnic coalitions of resistance that are endorsed by politicians from within their own ethnic group. To test my theoretical expectations about the consequences of multiethnic coalitions for resistance to democratic backsliding, I conducted pre-registered conjoint survey experiments in Israel and Turkey, two countries that have experienced democratic backsliding, with the former remaining a democracy and the latter now constituting an electoral autocracy. My findings lend support for my theoretical expectations, and contribute to scholarship on ethnic politics, democratic backsliding, and contentious politics.

Author

• Benjamin Yoel