Inequality and democracy A quantitative study of the relationship between different measurements of inequality and democracy level

Sammanfattning: This master’s thesis investigates the relationship between inequality and democracy level. The research question investigated is, does inequality affect democracy? I conclude from previous literature that there is little consensus on if there is a relationship between inequality and democracy, the most widely known theories are therefore all tested in this thesis. I furthermore conclude that there is criticism towards the most used measurements of inequality and I therefore test an alternative operationalization of inequality. Furthermore, is the aspect of the affect of inequality over time missing in the literature and therefore tested in my thesis. I chose a quantitative research design and use a time series cross section regression model to test the affect of inequality on democracy level. My results show no support for the established theories. I however find that some of the alternative operationalization’s of inequality produces results in the predicted way of the established theories. My results also indicate that inequality has a changing effect on democracy level over time.