Why Bother?

Selim Erdem Aytaç is an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 2014. Aytaç's research interests lie in political behavior with a focus on democratic accountability and political participation. His previous work has appeared in the Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Behavior, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution, among other journals. He is the recipient of the 2016 Young Scientist Award of Science Academy (Turkey) and the 2018 Sakyp Sabancy International Research Award. Susan Stokes is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

• 1. Introduction: rethinking political participation; 2. Theories of voter participation: a review and a new approach; 3. Testing the costly abstention theory of turnout; 4. Theories of protest participation: a review and a new approach; 5. Testing the costly abstention theory of protest participation; 6. The emotional origins of collective action; 7. Conclusions: criticisms, extensions, and democratic theory.

'Generations of scholars have puzzled over the reasons people vote and join protests. This book offers a unified theory supported by impressive evidence. Participation emerges, say S. Erdem Aytaç and Susan C. Stokes, through an individual's balancing of the burdens of taking part with those of staying away; and the competing burdens involve moral tensions as well as social pressures. Engagingly written throughout, Why Bother? is resoundingly successful for both its multidisciplinary synthesis and its fresh analysis.' Timur Kuran, Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies, Duke University, North Carolina