Peaceful and Violent Origins of Voting Rights: A Political Economy Analysis of the Great Reform Act of 1832

The Great Reform Act of 1832 was a pivotal moment in British political development that opened the door of democratic reform, entailing a slow and gradual journey to universal suffrage, secret ballot, and competitive elections. But it could have failed.

In Peaceful and Violent Origins of Voting Rights, Toke S. Aidt and Raphaël Franck articulate a new process-based perspective on the study of democratization through a detailed analysis of the Great Reform Act of 1832. Instead of using the historical narrative to provide evidence of a particular theory, the authors use microdata generated by the reform to test competing theories. Aidt and Franck apply their approach to the Reform Bill through econometric analyses that draw on rich micro-political data to show why the reform succeeded despite significant opposition at three different stages: in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as winning popular support in a general election. While fears of revolution were critical in generating popular support for the Reform Bill in the 1831 General Election, they argue that it was mainly extra-parliamentary agitation from reform societies that helped the bill obtain its one-vote majority in the House of Commons.

By viewing democratic reform as a process rather than as a single event, the authors provide more nuanced answers to what caused the West to extend the franchise. Further, the book presents new insights into the underlying forces of democratisation processes.

Toke S. Aidt is Reader in Economics at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, and a CESIfo Research Associate. He is the former president of the European Public Choice Society and editor of European Journal of Political Economy (2014-23). His primary research interests lie in the area of political economics and public choice with a particular focus on democratisation, public finance, and corruption in a historical perspective. His has published 56 peered-reviewed articles in journals, such as Econometrica, The Economic Journal, Journal of Politics, Journal of Economic History, and American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. He has also edited several research monographs. His research has been supported by the grants from the Economic and Social Research Council and the British Academy.

Raphaël Franck is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), as well as a CEPR Research Fellow, a CESIfo Research Associate, and a GLO Fellow. He previously held visiting positions at George Mason University (USA) and at Brown University (USA), where he was a Marie Curie EU Fellow. His primary research interests lie in the areas of political economy and economic growth with regional foci on Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa from 1800 to the present. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as the American Political Science Review, Econometrica, The Economic Journal, The Journal of Monetary Economics, and The Review of Economics and Statistics.