Replication Data for: When and where do elections matter? A global test of the democratization by elections hypothesis, 1900-2010

Successive multiparty elections in sub-Saharan Africa are associated with incremental democratization. Yet tests in other regions are less than encouraging. Non-significant findings on Latin America and post-communist Eurasia, as well as, conceptual criticism regarding the theory’s application in the contemporary Middle East, suggest that this may be a case of African exceptionalism. This article moves these debates forward by posing a comprehensive, global set of tests on the democratizing effect of elections. We seek to establish the scope conditions of the argument geographically, temporally, and substantively. Although we find a correlation between reiterated multiparty elections and improvements in the liberal-democratic components of electoral regimes globally since 1900, the relationship is only substantial in the period since the onset of the third wave of democracy. Experiences with reiterated multiparty elections substantive importance for democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, the post-communist region, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia. For the Middle East and North Africa, the relationship is weaker and less robust. Finally, the results suggest that reiterated sequences of multiparty elections are associated with improvements to liberal and deliberative components of democracy more so than egalitarian components.

撒哈拉以南非洲地区连续举行的多党选举与渐进式民主化进程存在显著关联。然而，其他区域的相关检验结果却未能提供有力支撑：针对拉丁美洲及后共产主义欧亚地区的检验未发现显著相关性，加之该理论在当代中东地区应用层面受到的概念性批判，均表明这或许是非洲例外论的典型案例。

本文通过构建一套全面的全球性检验框架，重新推进了关于选举民主化效应的学术辩论。我们旨在从地理、时间以及实质三个维度，明确该论证的适用边界。尽管研究发现，自1900年以来，全球范围内反复举行的多党选举与选举政体的自由民主维度改善之间存在相关性，但这种关联仅在第三波民主浪潮开启后的时期才具有统计与实质意义。

反复举行多党选举的实践，对撒哈拉以南非洲、后共产主义地区、拉丁美洲及加勒比地区以及亚洲的民主化进程均具有显著的实质重要性。而就中东与北非地区而言，二者的关联则更为薄弱且缺乏稳健性。

最终的研究结果表明，与民主的平等主义维度相比，反复举行多党选举的序列更能推动民主的自由维度与协商维度的改善。