Abstract
During the past two centuries, western nations have successively ex-tended the voting franchise to citizens of lower income. We explain this process of democratization as a rational way for incumbent elites to in-crease their countries’ power in international relations, as in a strategic game of international conflict handing over military spending decisions to citizens who face a lower tax cost of arming may confer a strategic delegation advantage. We find supporting empirical evidence in case Studies of franchise extensions in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
| Original language | English |
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| Publisher | CESifo Group Munich |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2019 |