{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:40:18Z","timestamp":1760236818362,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,28]],"date-time":"2021-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1640649600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite the existence of an extensive literature, no definitive conclusion seems to emerge on the extent to which minorities are guaranteed by democratic rules in political systems. This paper contributes to this debate by proposing a modified Heigselmann and Krauss two-dimensional model of preferences in order to capture the role of abstention on minority representativeness. Regardless of the typology of abstention, simulation results show that voter abstention always benefits minorities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e24010056","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,29]],"date-time":"2021-12-29T02:31:27Z","timestamp":1640745087000},"page":"56","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Sound of Silence: Minorities, Abstention and Democracy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Alessio Emanuele","family":"Biondo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania, 95129 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9368-5800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Pluchino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania and INFN-Section of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roberto","family":"Zanola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Law and Political, Economic, and Social Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, 15121 Alessandria, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"542","DOI":"10.1017\/S0022381608080493","article-title":"Is Polarization a Myth?","volume":"70","author":"Abramowitz","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. 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