In this thesis I explore a novel context sensitive conceptualisation of civic duty according to which the conduct (or misconduct) of elected officials affects whether eligible voters feel either a duty to vote (DTV) or a duty to abstain (DTA). Specifically, I argue that under conditions of corruption the norm of electoral accountability may override peoples’ sense of DTV in which case they instead feel a DTA. This context sensitive account is contrasted with a Kantian account of civic duty according to which eligible voters feel a duty to always vote, regardless of contextual factors. The empirical results provides tentative support for the claim that corruption not only decreases eligible voters’ sense of DTV but also increases their sense of DTA. This thesis thus contributes not only to the advancement of the conceptualisation of civic duty in relation to voter turnout, but its results also has important implications for how the rational choice perspective approaches the cost/benefit analysis commonly associated with the voting decision. In the latter case these results indicate that abstainers too may act out of duty and can therefore be assumed to gain positive utility from their abstention. However, the possibility that abstention (just as voting) yields unique costs and benefits has to my knowledge never been acknowledged in the rational choice literature on voter turnout. I therefore conclude by presenting a novel suggestion of how the potential costs and benefits of abstention can be incorporated into the calculus of voting.

Prior work provides large evidence that civic duty to vote represents a key predictor of electoral participation. Moreover, the analysis of civic duty questions from extant surveys reveals that many individuals feel the moral obligation to participate in elections. However, is civic duty the result of rationalization, meaning that those who voted in an election are likely to report a belief in the duty to vote, while those who abstained are likely to report that voting is not a duty, but rather a choice? Also, where does the sense of civic duty to vote come from? In this doctoral dissertation, I provide an answer to those questions. More specifically, in Chapter 1, I investigate the extent to which duty is stable in search of evidence on the rationalization of duty. In this analysis, I rely on structural equation models, which I fit to unique, nine-wave panel data from Spain and the United Kingdom. I find that civic duty is a very stable attitude, implying that, while some rationalization is possible, duty is unlikely to be strongly driven by individuals’ previous voting behavior. In Chapter 2, I examine whether civic education in school contributes to the development of duty. I focus on civic education as a potential source of duty given its role in transmitting social norms to new generations, and its influence on duty-related attitudes like political interest, implying that civic education likely contributes to the development of duty. To examine the connection between civic education and duty, I use data from the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, as it represents the largest survey research containing civic duty and civic education measures. My analyses reveal that three common forms of civic education (civics courses, active learning strategies, and open classroom environment) contribute to predicting duty, but that civics courses exert the largest effect on duty. i In Chapter 3, I investigate the role of compulsory voting in the development of duty. I examine the relationship between compulsory voting and duty given the possibility that compulsory voting signals that a “good” citizen must vote, and, in this way, that compulsory voting fosters duty. I analyze this relationship by leveraging the abolition of compulsory voting in Chile (in 2012), which I explore with synthetic control models and Latinobarometer data. With this empirical strategy, I find evidence that compulsory voting positively affects duty. In Chapter 4, I investigate if corruption bears an effect on duty. I focus on the relationship between corruption and duty given the chances that corruption reduces individuals’ incentives to believe in the duty to vote, and, consequently, that corruption affects duty. I examine the link between corruption and duty through mediation tests, where corruption represents the independent variable, duty the mediating variable and turnout the dependent variable. Using data from the Making Electoral Democracy Work project, I find that, unlike civic education and compulsory voting, corruption exerts a marginal effect on duty. / Plusieurs travaux montrent que le devoir civique constitue un prédicteur clé de la participation électorale. De plus, les recherches antérieures indiquent que le sentiment d’obligation de voter est répandu parmi un grand nombre de citoyens. Cependant, le devoir civique est-il le résultat d’une rationalisation de la part des électeurs ? Autrement dit, ceux qui ont voté lors d’une élection sont-ils plus enclins à dire que le vote est un devoir plutôt qu’un choix ? En outre, quelles sont les origines du sens du devoir civique de voter ? Dans cette thèse de doctorat, j’offre une réponse à ces questions. Plus précisément, dans le premier chapitre, j’examine dans quelle mesure le sens du devoir civique est stable afin de déterminer s’il y a, oui ou non, un phénomène de rationalisation parmi l’électorat. Je m’appuie sur des modèles d'équations structurelles et sur des données de panel espagnoles et britanniques comprenant neuf vagues. Je trouve que le devoir civique est très stable, ce qui indique qu’il y aurait peu de rationalisation en ce qui a trait à cette attitude politique. Dans le second chapitre, j’examine si l’éducation civique contribue au développement du devoir civique. Je me concentre sur l'éducation civique en raison du rôle que joue celle-ci dans la transmission des normes sociales aux nouvelles générations et de son influence sur les attitudes liées au sens du devoir comme l'intérêt politique. Pour déterminer la nature du lien entre éducation civique et devoir civique, j’utilise les données de l’International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) de 2016. Il s’agit de la plus grande enquête sur le devoir civique et l’éducation civique. Mes analyses montrent que trois formes courantes d’éducation civique (les cours d’éducation civique, les stratégies d'apprentissage actif et un environnement de classe ouvert) contribuent à prédire le sentiment du devoir civique de voter chez les individus, mais que les cours d’éducation civique disposent du plus grand impact. Dans le troisième chapitre, j’étudie l’effet du vote obligatoire sur le devoir civique. J’examine la corrélation entre le vote obligatoire et le devoir civique dans la mesure où cette institution politique peut signaler aux individus qu’un « bon » citoyen doit voter. Prenant l’abolition du vote obligatoire au Chili comme cas d’analyse, j’utilise des modèles de contrôle synthétiques et les données des Latinobarometers afin de mesurer le lien causal entre le vote obligatoire et le devoir civique. Je trouve que le vote obligatoire affecte positivement le devoir civique. Dans le quatrième chapitre, j’étudie l’impact de la corruption sur le devoir civique. Je me concentre sur la corrélation entre la corruption et le devoir civique puisque les individus risquent d’avoir un sentiment de devoir moindre dans les contextes de corruption politique. J’examine la corrélation en question à travers des tests de médiation et les données du projet Making Electoral Democracy Work (MEDW). Je trouve qu’au contraire de l’éducation civique et du vote obligatoire, la corruption affecte marginalement le devoir civique.