Increasingly unequal turnout in Eastern European new democracies: Communist and transitional legacies versus new institutions

The thesis examines whether income inequality in post-Communist Eastern Europe depresses political engagement or increases the potential for conflict and instability. The thesis finds that while overall income inequality is correlated with lower political engagement and political engagement is stratified by income, income inequality does not appear to depress political engagement among the poor in post-Communist Eastern Europe. I use multilevel modeling to examine mass survey data from the survey done by Professors Whitefield and Evans as part of an ESCR-funded project as well the World Values Surveys