Kai Ou, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida State University, authored an article in The Journal of Politics titled “Race to the Top: How Competition for Political Power Affects Participation.” Below is a summary of the article written by undergraduate student Sarah Brophy (B.S. Political Science ’25).
Kai Ou, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Science at FSU authored “Race to the Top: How Competition for Political Power Affects Participation” published in The Journal of Politics to investigate how the pursuit of political power affects individuals’ political behavior and the emphasis voters place on participation.
“This research can help explain why individuals engaged in competition for political power are more likely to participate and use their influence,” Dr. Ou said. “This phenomenon can help explain voting behavior during the Civil Rights Movement and Black voters’ political participation, the impacts of immigration on immigrants’ political behavior, and how women’s institutional empowerment influences women’s participation.”
He used a combination of laboratory experiments, game theoretical models, and structural estimations in this study to discern whether the opportunity for political competition made decision-makers more likely to participate in votes to better their political and economic status.
Dr. Ou argues that the nature of how political power is obtained plays a pivotal role in shaping political behavior. He explains that when power is tied to factors largely outside people’s control, such as their birth, ethnicity, or gender, the static allocation of power can lead to a passive approach to politics, as individuals have limited ability to change their circumstances. In contrast, earning political power imparts political behavior with a sense of intrinsic value. When individuals can actively influence their political status through competition, they take pride in their achievements.
“This sense of accomplishment and the ability to change their fate fosters heightened interest and active participation in politics,” Dr. Ou explains. “In the process of competition for power, individuals are motivated not just by the outcome but by the process itself. Their efforts to secure political power infuse their political participation with a unique significance.”
Each of the three experiments consists of a control and treatment condition. First, participants in each group were assigned to work on a counting zero task and then participated in a series of voting games used to study participation. In the control condition, political power represented by how many ballots a voter has is arbitrarily assigned and cannot be competed for, regardless of participants’ performance in the task. In the treatment condition, participants’ relative performance in the task stage determines their political power, so a poor performance in the task stage results in having less voting power and vice versa. Dr. Ou identified the effects of competition for political power by comparing the differences in participation in the voting stage between the control and treatment conditions.
In Experiment I, he found that participants with the opportunity to earn their power assign a significantly higher value to their political participation and, thus, vote more often. In Experiments II and III, Dr. Ou found that the increased political participation identified in Experiment I could not be explained by endogenous group formation, selection effect, or strategic considerations.
He claims that competition for political power often ignites a powerful desire to influence economic outcomes. Given the interconnectedness of political and economic power, the policies crafted in the political arena can significantly affect the distribution of economic resources. He argues that, in this context, political competition is not just about wielding power; it is about using it to shape economic well-being.
“Individuals are motivated to seek economic status through their political influence, whether they win or lose in the power competition,” he says. “The pursuit of political power, when coupled with the opportunity for competition and influence over economic outcomes, reverberates far beyond individual actions. It shapes the entire political landscape.”
Dr. Ou believes more research needs to be done on how establishing political power and manipulating the competition for power changes voters’ behaviors.
To read the full paper, click below. For more information about the Department of Political Science at Florida State University, click here.
Ou, Kai. “Race to the Top: How Competition for Political Power Affects Participation.” The Journal of Politics 86, no. 1 (January 1, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1086/726962.