27th Annual Student Research Conference
Economic Distress and Political Instability
Nicola Fish
Dr. Michael Rudy, Faculty Mentor
One cause of political instability that may be responsible for some of the more recent incidents of violence and riots is the 2007-2008 recession. This paper aims to explain the link between economic distress and political instability. In a recession, people are unhappy with the downward turn in their circumstances so they commit acts of political unrest to motivate the government to take action. Levels of unemployment rise in a recession, which creates inequality and is likely to cause political unrest. To calculate the effect of economic distress on political stability linear regression is used on the sample of 55 countries. The relationship is significant and the economic distress variable improved the model. Political stability decreases when economic distress increases, thus proving the hypothesis of this paper. Knowing the causes of political instability allows for assessment of countries based on severity of their economic problems to predict potential stability problems.
Keywords: Political Instabilty, Economic Distress, Inequality, Unemployment, Political Unrest, Recession, Government
Topic(s):Political Science
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 209-2
Location: VH 1010
Time: 9:45