Agnes Koos - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Agnes Koos

Research paper thumbnail of European identity – its feasibility and desirability

European Politics and Society, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting Prediction: The Is and Ought of Empirical Value Research

Research paper thumbnail of Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

Research paper thumbnail of Economic Inequality and Inter-group Relations: Analyses Based on the Minorities at Risk Dataset

The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations: Annual Review, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Ethnic Party Bans from a Minority Rights Perspective

The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Communal Political Mobilization: The Need to Distinguish between Minority and Majority Parties

There is an ongoing scholarly dispute about the consequences of communal political mobilization, ... more There is an ongoing scholarly dispute about the consequences of communal political mobilization, yet not all-communal mobilization is created equal. Parties of national majorities and parties of national minorities significantly differ with regard to issue positions; axiological framing of the issues; and rhetoric. As for issues, majority-nationalist parties tend to situate on the right of the political spectrum, while minority parties are leftist or centrist. Minority parties are also more internationalist, less militaristic, and more supportive of European integration. As for axiology, majority nationalism relies on the conservative values of tradition and national interest, while minority activism invokes a human rights framework. The rhetoric of majority nationalist parties often targets other communal groups, as such, while minority parties avoid stereotyping communal groups. Empirically, the study draws on the MARPOR project and on content analysis of a sample of six majority and six minority party programs from the UK.**

Research paper thumbnail of Values and their Collisions: Outlines of a Value Typology Based on Decision Theory’s Social Motives

<jats:p>Several years ago, I outlined a project to delineate ideological and scientific ele... more <jats:p>Several years ago, I outlined a project to delineate ideological and scientific elements of our knowledge about values. I began by studying the typical configurations of values, their typical collisions, and some typical world-view-related standpoints as theoretical background. I now present the theoretical premises of my inquiry, the applied methods, and some of the results. I have tried to support the choice of variables used, make sensible the reliable limits of the findings, and underline some interconnections as well as some collisions between moral and/or ideological standpoints.</jats:p>

Research paper thumbnail of The Non-incorporation of Innovation: Obstacles Beyond Paradigmatic Opposition

Research paper thumbnail of The Diversity of Political Behavior

The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Methodological Nationalism in Global Studies and Beyond

Social Sciences, 2019

Global studies, or the study of globalization, is a diverse field of research, with different dis... more Global studies, or the study of globalization, is a diverse field of research, with different disciplinary focuses and with some national versions. Russian Alexander Chumakov constructed it as a philosophical discipline, while in U.S. academia it is considered an empirical inquiry at the intersection of area studies, international studies, and international relations. This paper focuses on American global studies, pointing out the heavy epistemological burden it inherited from the field of knowledge dominated by international relations, which enshrines both methodological and political nationalism. International relations makes claims to be the sole theory originator in this field, but it may be criticized for several methodological and ethical issues (such as unwarranted simplifications that purge empirical contents to the point of unfalsifiability, antiquated epistemic ideals, Western and hegemonic biases, besides methodological nationalism), thus alternate theorizations are highl...

Research paper thumbnail of Constitutional Definition of the Demos and Inter-Ethnic Relations

Politics & Policy, 2016

The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers at Politics & Policy for const... more The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers at Politics & Policy for constructive critiques. She would also like to thank the panelists at the International Studies Associations 2016 Annual Convention, where an the earlier version of this article was presented, for their comments. All charts and tables were generated by the author, partly by coding text excerpts from the Constitute Project and mining information from the Leclerc/Laval database, and partly from the quantitative data sources listed in the references of this article. The assembled product is the replication data, which, with its detailed Codebook, is available at http://www.agneskkoos.net/articles-and-chapters or from the author on request at akoos@ frc.edu. A list of data sources can be found in the Appendix of this article.

Research paper thumbnail of Horizons of Value Conceptions: Axiological Discourses for the 21st Century

Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Values and Their Collisions: Outlines of a Value ... more Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Values and Their Collisions: Outlines of a Value Typology Based on the Social Motives of Decision Theory Chapter 4 Value and Science Chapter 5 Value and Its Context: Preliminaries to a Theory of Value Chapter 6 Value and Individual Chapter 7 Value and Society: The Dynamics of Moral Thinking Chapter 8 Claims and Methods of the Main Alternative Social Paradigms Concerning Values Chapter 9 Opportunities to Comprehend and Predict the Change of Fundamental Values in a Society Part 10 Appendices Part 11 Bibliography Part 12 Index Part 13 About the Authors

Research paper thumbnail of Peace and conflict in inter-group relations

The dissertation aims to contribute to the explanation of internal inter-group conflict, more nar... more The dissertation aims to contribute to the explanation of internal inter-group conflict, more narrowly of the conflict between majority and minority communal groups. It develops arguments that suggest the importance of inter-group economic inequality in bringing about inter-group hostility, and works toward providing empirical support for this causal connection by primarily relying on a large-N cross-national research design. This design culminates in multivariate regression models. Because of data availability issues, the task of addressing multiple potential determinants of the inter-group conflict advocated in the literature has been implemented by involving three datasets, of which two serve group-level analyses and one confines itself to the country level. The datasets are compilations of previous scholarly work, mainly based on the Ethnic Power Relations, Minorities at Risk (MAR), and Quality of Government data, with the addition of some new measurements, such as the main explanatory variable, economic inequality. Findings from all three datasets support the impact of horizontal economic inequality on inter-group hostility, measured either as group grievance or violent conflict. This double measurement of the inter-group conflict, as grievance and as violence, answers an intuition that not all low-to-medium strength hostility is doomed to develop into violent conflict. In fortunate conditions, the issues can be solved, or compromises may be reached without turning to violence. A large number of variables in the regression models operationalize constellations that influence the evolution of conflicts toward either peaceful solutions or armed collision. In general, the models provide support for previous expectations promoted in the literature regarding the beneficial impact of democracy and political equality of the groups, but also for the adverse impact of the opportunities for insurrection. Some institutional variables have been defined in ways that they allow for distinguishing between the outcomes of two brands of policies recommended for heterogeneous societies, as advised by Lijphart and Horowitz. Further benefits from the project include the construction of an almost complete list of communal groups worldwide, with 860 groups, which usefully contextualizes MAR's selection of 282 minority groups. Data also allowed for comparing the causes of communal and social conflicts.

Research paper thumbnail of Common Origin, Common Power, or Common Life: The Changing Landscape of Nationalisms

Open Journal of Political Science, 2012

Socio-territorial psychic constructs, such as national identities, are perhaps the most important... more Socio-territorial psychic constructs, such as national identities, are perhaps the most important psychic phenomena for political science, with their strength so consequential for wars and inter-ethnic conflicts. The construction of the EU has faced scholars and practitioners with two identity-related problems: (i) whether the socio-territorial identities can be conceptualized as being multi-layered (nested, hyphenated, with non-conflictual relationships among the components), and (ii) whether the higher levels of these identity constructs can be confined to civic aspects (e.g. to a Habermasian constitutional patriotism), as opposed to traditional nationalisms relying on assumptions of common origin, and shared culture. The most entrenched classification of nationalisms relies on an obvious difference between the kinds of nationalisms endorsed by the Irish and Germans, on one hand, and the French and white immigrant countries like the US, on the other hand. These versions are generally labeled "ethnocultural," involving the consciousness of a shared ancestry and history, and "civic", relying on the idea of belonging to the same state. My argument is that a schism within the "civic" approach to nationalism can theoretically be expected and empirically supported on the basis of the ISSP 2003, Eurobarometer 57.2 and 73.3 surveys. These datasets confirm the existence of three principal components of nationalism, which can be labeled "ethnocultural", "great-power-civic" and "welfare-civic". While the great-power-civic approach is concerned with and takes pride in the country's military strength, international influence, sovereignty, and national character, the welfare-civic approach takes a more civilian stance and it is concerned with common rights, fair treatment of groups, social security, and welfare within the country. In addition, support has been found for the assumption that people tend to construct their supra-national identity layer according to the molds for their national identity.

Research paper thumbnail of The European Regional Integration in the IR Literature:A Review of Scholarly Support and Opposition

Open Journal of Philosophy, 2011

Most of what has been written on the ECSC/EEC/EC/EU, has not been done by international relations... more Most of what has been written on the ECSC/EEC/EC/EU, has not been done by international relations (IR) theorists, but by comparativists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, legal scholars, and many others. These writings are in general classified as intergovernmentalist, federalist, and supranationalist (functionalist and neofunctionalist) in most accounts of the theoretical perspectives on the EU (Webb 1983, Rosamond 2000). Wiener and Diez 2004 add a rational choice institutional category, as well, as they think that the policy analysis within the polity developed into an autonomous brand of literature. It is only Andrew Hurrell in his chapter in Fawcett and Hurrell 1995, who makes an attempt to present the EU, as a regional integration, from the point of view of diverse IR approaches. Drawing on his classification scheme, I conduct an inquiry of the IR theories about European unification from the point of view of whether they allow for the iteration of the European experience in other parts of the world or not. The basic conclusion is that almost all IR work on Europe falls in the intergovernmentalist category, which tends to conceptualize the European Union as representing an n of 1. (Intergovernmentalism is the choice of realism and neo-realism, English School, and neoliberal institutionalism.) Within the liberal IR paradigm, there is a tension between law-focused and security-focused approaches, on the one hand, and economic approaches, on the other. The first believe in the possibility of multiple integrations, while the latter does not think that they are desirable. Critical theories are also hindered by divergent normative commitments, though the class-based theorizing is very clear about pursuing the social control of markets.

Research paper thumbnail of Sabrina P. Ramet, The Liberal Project and the Transformation of Democracy: The Case of East Central Europe. Eugenia and Hugh M. Stewart ’26 Series on Eastern Europe

Human Rights Review, 2008

is right to commend her book to the attention of a readership wider than that of East European sc... more is right to commend her book to the attention of a readership wider than that of East European scholars alone. In a globalized world, her simple question has lessons for everyone interested in democracy and democratization. Ramet is puzzled by the fact that liberal ideas have had so little impact on Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. And that liberalism falls behind other ideologies in molding the social and political landscape of the post-communist countries. Thus, she takes the reader on an inquiry into why liberalism-and in particular liberal democracy-are not the winners in the post-communist world. Ramet is a good observer. She is an astute and diligent researcher of the East European reality. She studied most of the post-communist constitutions, and she is very familiar with economic, employment, and women-empowerment data of the area. Ramet has also been fortunate enough to be in the right places at the right moments to get a first-hand impression of the popular moods. And Ramet produces data showing that: (1) the disastrous unemployment and poverty indicators have not improved convincingly between the early 1990s and 2004; (2) the situation of women deteriorated; and (3) "…with the exception of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, the post-communist societies of Eastern Europe have not been building liberal democracies at all; rather, they have been constructing hybrids in which some liberal and democratic elements are blended into a fundamentally plutocraticcolonial structure." As someone living in Eastern Europe until 2002, I would not dispute any of Ramet's diagnostic claims. Relative poverty in East European countries kept increasing at least until their accession to the European Union; and they underwent

Research paper thumbnail of Craig A. Parsons and Timothy M. Smeeding (Eds): Immigration and the Transformation of Europe

European Sociological Review, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Measuring Minority Integration: Conceptualization and Operationalization Issues

The paper addresses the issue of using opinion surveys to evaluate the relationships among a coun... more The paper addresses the issue of using opinion surveys to evaluate the relationships among a country's communal groups, specifically, between majorities and minorities. Previous literature happened to use surveys either to measure the "integration of minorities" (https://isd.iss.nl/) or the patriotism level of minorities (e.g. Elkins &Stride 2007, Cebotari 2009). Beyond the usefulness of opinion surveys, there are some questions about which survey items are the best to use. The paper argues for gradually phasing out the "pride" question on behalf of the "attachment" question, and involving items inquiring about the quality of democracy in the respondents’ countries. Based on WVS and ISSP data, the paper shows that the minority-majority gap tends to meaningfully co-vary with the actual empowerment of the minorities in the respective countries. The finding is paralleled with an economy-based variation of democracy assessments, showing that poorer resp...

Research paper thumbnail of European identity – its feasibility and desirability

European Politics and Society, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting Prediction: The Is and Ought of Empirical Value Research

Research paper thumbnail of Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

Research paper thumbnail of Economic Inequality and Inter-group Relations: Analyses Based on the Minorities at Risk Dataset

The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations: Annual Review, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Ethnic Party Bans from a Minority Rights Perspective

The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Communal Political Mobilization: The Need to Distinguish between Minority and Majority Parties

There is an ongoing scholarly dispute about the consequences of communal political mobilization, ... more There is an ongoing scholarly dispute about the consequences of communal political mobilization, yet not all-communal mobilization is created equal. Parties of national majorities and parties of national minorities significantly differ with regard to issue positions; axiological framing of the issues; and rhetoric. As for issues, majority-nationalist parties tend to situate on the right of the political spectrum, while minority parties are leftist or centrist. Minority parties are also more internationalist, less militaristic, and more supportive of European integration. As for axiology, majority nationalism relies on the conservative values of tradition and national interest, while minority activism invokes a human rights framework. The rhetoric of majority nationalist parties often targets other communal groups, as such, while minority parties avoid stereotyping communal groups. Empirically, the study draws on the MARPOR project and on content analysis of a sample of six majority and six minority party programs from the UK.**

Research paper thumbnail of Values and their Collisions: Outlines of a Value Typology Based on Decision Theory’s Social Motives

<jats:p>Several years ago, I outlined a project to delineate ideological and scientific ele... more <jats:p>Several years ago, I outlined a project to delineate ideological and scientific elements of our knowledge about values. I began by studying the typical configurations of values, their typical collisions, and some typical world-view-related standpoints as theoretical background. I now present the theoretical premises of my inquiry, the applied methods, and some of the results. I have tried to support the choice of variables used, make sensible the reliable limits of the findings, and underline some interconnections as well as some collisions between moral and/or ideological standpoints.</jats:p>

Research paper thumbnail of The Non-incorporation of Innovation: Obstacles Beyond Paradigmatic Opposition

Research paper thumbnail of The Diversity of Political Behavior

The International Journal of Community Diversity, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Methodological Nationalism in Global Studies and Beyond

Social Sciences, 2019

Global studies, or the study of globalization, is a diverse field of research, with different dis... more Global studies, or the study of globalization, is a diverse field of research, with different disciplinary focuses and with some national versions. Russian Alexander Chumakov constructed it as a philosophical discipline, while in U.S. academia it is considered an empirical inquiry at the intersection of area studies, international studies, and international relations. This paper focuses on American global studies, pointing out the heavy epistemological burden it inherited from the field of knowledge dominated by international relations, which enshrines both methodological and political nationalism. International relations makes claims to be the sole theory originator in this field, but it may be criticized for several methodological and ethical issues (such as unwarranted simplifications that purge empirical contents to the point of unfalsifiability, antiquated epistemic ideals, Western and hegemonic biases, besides methodological nationalism), thus alternate theorizations are highl...

Research paper thumbnail of Constitutional Definition of the Demos and Inter-Ethnic Relations

Politics & Policy, 2016

The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers at Politics & Policy for const... more The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers at Politics & Policy for constructive critiques. She would also like to thank the panelists at the International Studies Associations 2016 Annual Convention, where an the earlier version of this article was presented, for their comments. All charts and tables were generated by the author, partly by coding text excerpts from the Constitute Project and mining information from the Leclerc/Laval database, and partly from the quantitative data sources listed in the references of this article. The assembled product is the replication data, which, with its detailed Codebook, is available at http://www.agneskkoos.net/articles-and-chapters or from the author on request at akoos@ frc.edu. A list of data sources can be found in the Appendix of this article.

Research paper thumbnail of Horizons of Value Conceptions: Axiological Discourses for the 21st Century

Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Values and Their Collisions: Outlines of a Value ... more Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Values and Their Collisions: Outlines of a Value Typology Based on the Social Motives of Decision Theory Chapter 4 Value and Science Chapter 5 Value and Its Context: Preliminaries to a Theory of Value Chapter 6 Value and Individual Chapter 7 Value and Society: The Dynamics of Moral Thinking Chapter 8 Claims and Methods of the Main Alternative Social Paradigms Concerning Values Chapter 9 Opportunities to Comprehend and Predict the Change of Fundamental Values in a Society Part 10 Appendices Part 11 Bibliography Part 12 Index Part 13 About the Authors

Research paper thumbnail of Peace and conflict in inter-group relations

The dissertation aims to contribute to the explanation of internal inter-group conflict, more nar... more The dissertation aims to contribute to the explanation of internal inter-group conflict, more narrowly of the conflict between majority and minority communal groups. It develops arguments that suggest the importance of inter-group economic inequality in bringing about inter-group hostility, and works toward providing empirical support for this causal connection by primarily relying on a large-N cross-national research design. This design culminates in multivariate regression models. Because of data availability issues, the task of addressing multiple potential determinants of the inter-group conflict advocated in the literature has been implemented by involving three datasets, of which two serve group-level analyses and one confines itself to the country level. The datasets are compilations of previous scholarly work, mainly based on the Ethnic Power Relations, Minorities at Risk (MAR), and Quality of Government data, with the addition of some new measurements, such as the main explanatory variable, economic inequality. Findings from all three datasets support the impact of horizontal economic inequality on inter-group hostility, measured either as group grievance or violent conflict. This double measurement of the inter-group conflict, as grievance and as violence, answers an intuition that not all low-to-medium strength hostility is doomed to develop into violent conflict. In fortunate conditions, the issues can be solved, or compromises may be reached without turning to violence. A large number of variables in the regression models operationalize constellations that influence the evolution of conflicts toward either peaceful solutions or armed collision. In general, the models provide support for previous expectations promoted in the literature regarding the beneficial impact of democracy and political equality of the groups, but also for the adverse impact of the opportunities for insurrection. Some institutional variables have been defined in ways that they allow for distinguishing between the outcomes of two brands of policies recommended for heterogeneous societies, as advised by Lijphart and Horowitz. Further benefits from the project include the construction of an almost complete list of communal groups worldwide, with 860 groups, which usefully contextualizes MAR's selection of 282 minority groups. Data also allowed for comparing the causes of communal and social conflicts.

Research paper thumbnail of Common Origin, Common Power, or Common Life: The Changing Landscape of Nationalisms

Open Journal of Political Science, 2012

Socio-territorial psychic constructs, such as national identities, are perhaps the most important... more Socio-territorial psychic constructs, such as national identities, are perhaps the most important psychic phenomena for political science, with their strength so consequential for wars and inter-ethnic conflicts. The construction of the EU has faced scholars and practitioners with two identity-related problems: (i) whether the socio-territorial identities can be conceptualized as being multi-layered (nested, hyphenated, with non-conflictual relationships among the components), and (ii) whether the higher levels of these identity constructs can be confined to civic aspects (e.g. to a Habermasian constitutional patriotism), as opposed to traditional nationalisms relying on assumptions of common origin, and shared culture. The most entrenched classification of nationalisms relies on an obvious difference between the kinds of nationalisms endorsed by the Irish and Germans, on one hand, and the French and white immigrant countries like the US, on the other hand. These versions are generally labeled "ethnocultural," involving the consciousness of a shared ancestry and history, and "civic", relying on the idea of belonging to the same state. My argument is that a schism within the "civic" approach to nationalism can theoretically be expected and empirically supported on the basis of the ISSP 2003, Eurobarometer 57.2 and 73.3 surveys. These datasets confirm the existence of three principal components of nationalism, which can be labeled "ethnocultural", "great-power-civic" and "welfare-civic". While the great-power-civic approach is concerned with and takes pride in the country's military strength, international influence, sovereignty, and national character, the welfare-civic approach takes a more civilian stance and it is concerned with common rights, fair treatment of groups, social security, and welfare within the country. In addition, support has been found for the assumption that people tend to construct their supra-national identity layer according to the molds for their national identity.

Research paper thumbnail of The European Regional Integration in the IR Literature:A Review of Scholarly Support and Opposition

Open Journal of Philosophy, 2011

Most of what has been written on the ECSC/EEC/EC/EU, has not been done by international relations... more Most of what has been written on the ECSC/EEC/EC/EU, has not been done by international relations (IR) theorists, but by comparativists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, legal scholars, and many others. These writings are in general classified as intergovernmentalist, federalist, and supranationalist (functionalist and neofunctionalist) in most accounts of the theoretical perspectives on the EU (Webb 1983, Rosamond 2000). Wiener and Diez 2004 add a rational choice institutional category, as well, as they think that the policy analysis within the polity developed into an autonomous brand of literature. It is only Andrew Hurrell in his chapter in Fawcett and Hurrell 1995, who makes an attempt to present the EU, as a regional integration, from the point of view of diverse IR approaches. Drawing on his classification scheme, I conduct an inquiry of the IR theories about European unification from the point of view of whether they allow for the iteration of the European experience in other parts of the world or not. The basic conclusion is that almost all IR work on Europe falls in the intergovernmentalist category, which tends to conceptualize the European Union as representing an n of 1. (Intergovernmentalism is the choice of realism and neo-realism, English School, and neoliberal institutionalism.) Within the liberal IR paradigm, there is a tension between law-focused and security-focused approaches, on the one hand, and economic approaches, on the other. The first believe in the possibility of multiple integrations, while the latter does not think that they are desirable. Critical theories are also hindered by divergent normative commitments, though the class-based theorizing is very clear about pursuing the social control of markets.

Research paper thumbnail of Sabrina P. Ramet, The Liberal Project and the Transformation of Democracy: The Case of East Central Europe. Eugenia and Hugh M. Stewart ’26 Series on Eastern Europe

Human Rights Review, 2008

is right to commend her book to the attention of a readership wider than that of East European sc... more is right to commend her book to the attention of a readership wider than that of East European scholars alone. In a globalized world, her simple question has lessons for everyone interested in democracy and democratization. Ramet is puzzled by the fact that liberal ideas have had so little impact on Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. And that liberalism falls behind other ideologies in molding the social and political landscape of the post-communist countries. Thus, she takes the reader on an inquiry into why liberalism-and in particular liberal democracy-are not the winners in the post-communist world. Ramet is a good observer. She is an astute and diligent researcher of the East European reality. She studied most of the post-communist constitutions, and she is very familiar with economic, employment, and women-empowerment data of the area. Ramet has also been fortunate enough to be in the right places at the right moments to get a first-hand impression of the popular moods. And Ramet produces data showing that: (1) the disastrous unemployment and poverty indicators have not improved convincingly between the early 1990s and 2004; (2) the situation of women deteriorated; and (3) "…with the exception of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, the post-communist societies of Eastern Europe have not been building liberal democracies at all; rather, they have been constructing hybrids in which some liberal and democratic elements are blended into a fundamentally plutocraticcolonial structure." As someone living in Eastern Europe until 2002, I would not dispute any of Ramet's diagnostic claims. Relative poverty in East European countries kept increasing at least until their accession to the European Union; and they underwent

Research paper thumbnail of Craig A. Parsons and Timothy M. Smeeding (Eds): Immigration and the Transformation of Europe

European Sociological Review, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Measuring Minority Integration: Conceptualization and Operationalization Issues

The paper addresses the issue of using opinion surveys to evaluate the relationships among a coun... more The paper addresses the issue of using opinion surveys to evaluate the relationships among a country's communal groups, specifically, between majorities and minorities. Previous literature happened to use surveys either to measure the "integration of minorities" (https://isd.iss.nl/) or the patriotism level of minorities (e.g. Elkins &Stride 2007, Cebotari 2009). Beyond the usefulness of opinion surveys, there are some questions about which survey items are the best to use. The paper argues for gradually phasing out the "pride" question on behalf of the "attachment" question, and involving items inquiring about the quality of democracy in the respondents’ countries. Based on WVS and ISSP data, the paper shows that the minority-majority gap tends to meaningfully co-vary with the actual empowerment of the minorities in the respective countries. The finding is paralleled with an economy-based variation of democracy assessments, showing that poorer resp...