eprintid: 10179256
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/17/92/56
datestamp: 2023-10-20 09:01:08
lastmod: 2024-02-28 07:10:12
status_changed: 2023-10-20 09:01:08
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Horz, Carlo M
creators_name: Marbach, Moritz
creators_name: Steinert, Christoph V
title: Environmental Pollution and Authoritarian Politics
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B03
divisions: C03
divisions: F30
keywords: authoritarian politics, CIVIL-WAR, CLIMATE-CHANGE, DEMOCRACY, ELECTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY, environmental pollution, Government & Law, GRIEVANCE, INSTITUTIONS, Political Science, PROTEST, protests, QUALITY, REGIMES, REVOLUTION, Social Sciences
note: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Authoritarian rulers fend off revolutions by stimulating the economy. However, expanding the economy can also increase environmental pollution. If citizens value clean air and water, worsening pollution has the potential to galvanize large segments of the society against the regime—which increases the risk of a revolution. While the literature has documented how concerns over the environment upend politics in democracies, we know relatively little about the effects of these concerns in authoritarian regimes. We analyze environmental pollution as an overlooked threat to authoritarian rulers. Using unique data from Communist East Germany and exploiting variation in thermal inversions to instrument for pollution levels, we find that pollution causes both individual and collective expressions of regime dissatisfaction. Our findings suggest that rulers face a trade-off between growing the economy and worsening pollution.
date: 2023-04-01
date_type: published
publisher: Cambridge University Press
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1086/723024
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2014307
doi: 10.1086/723024
lyricists_name: Marbach, Moritz
lyricists_id: MMARB72
actors_name: Marbach, Moritz
actors_id: MMARB72
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: The Journal of Politics
volume: 85
number: 2
pagerange: 524-536
pages: 13
issn: 0022-3816
citation:        Horz, Carlo M;    Marbach, Moritz;    Steinert, Christoph V;      (2023)    Environmental Pollution and Authoritarian Politics.                   The Journal of Politics , 85  (2)   pp. 524-536.    10.1086/723024 <https://doi.org/10.1086/723024>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10179256/1/horz-et-al-2023-environmental-pollution-and-authoritarian-politics.pdf