Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Since they gained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe are in transition from a planned economy and authoritarianism to an open market economy and democracy. Although the installation of democracy and free markets is usually regarded to...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55158 |
| _version_ | 1811687880375926784 |
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| author | Dornbusch, Christina Jaya |
| author2 | Joel Selway |
| author_facet | Joel Selway Dornbusch, Christina Jaya |
| author_sort | Dornbusch, Christina Jaya |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Since they gained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe are in transition from a planned economy and authoritarianism to an open market economy and democracy. Although the installation of democracy and free markets is usually regarded to be beneficial for individual well-being among the population in a given country, dissatisfaction with life is widespread among people in transition counties. Numerous studies have sought to explain this dissatisfaction with life by looking at economic and individual-level factors but have omitted the impact of political factors. This study is the first to investigate the impact of political institutions - specifically electoral rules and forms of government - on individual life satisfaction in transition countries. I merged individual life satisfaction data from the Life in Transition survey on 44477 individuals in 25 transition countries with data on electoral rules and forms of government and estimated a multi-level logistic regression model. I find that presidential systerns were better at increasing life satisfaction than other forms of government whereas proportional representation (PR) electoral rules where better at increasing life satisfaction than other types of electoral rules. Mixed political institutions, i.e. mixed electoral rules and semi-presidential forms of government had a significant negative impact on life satisfaction. In conclusion, this study shows that besides economic and individual-level factors political institutions matter for individual life satisfaction in transition countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:23:20Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | ntu-10356/55158 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:23:20Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/551582020-11-01T08:21:35Z Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Dornbusch, Christina Jaya Joel Selway S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies DRNTU::Social sciences Since they gained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe are in transition from a planned economy and authoritarianism to an open market economy and democracy. Although the installation of democracy and free markets is usually regarded to be beneficial for individual well-being among the population in a given country, dissatisfaction with life is widespread among people in transition counties. Numerous studies have sought to explain this dissatisfaction with life by looking at economic and individual-level factors but have omitted the impact of political factors. This study is the first to investigate the impact of political institutions - specifically electoral rules and forms of government - on individual life satisfaction in transition countries. I merged individual life satisfaction data from the Life in Transition survey on 44477 individuals in 25 transition countries with data on electoral rules and forms of government and estimated a multi-level logistic regression model. I find that presidential systerns were better at increasing life satisfaction than other forms of government whereas proportional representation (PR) electoral rules where better at increasing life satisfaction than other types of electoral rules. Mixed political institutions, i.e. mixed electoral rules and semi-presidential forms of government had a significant negative impact on life satisfaction. In conclusion, this study shows that besides economic and individual-level factors political institutions matter for individual life satisfaction in transition countries. Master of Science (International Political Economy) 2013-12-27T04:21:32Z 2013-12-27T04:21:32Z 2013 2013 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55158 en 65 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | DRNTU::Social sciences Dornbusch, Christina Jaya Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title | Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title_full | Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title_fullStr | Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title_short | Political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
| title_sort | political institutions and life satisfaction in transition countries in eastern europe and central asia |
| topic | DRNTU::Social sciences |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55158 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dornbuschchristinajaya politicalinstitutionsandlifesatisfactionintransitioncountriesineasterneuropeandcentralasia |