Alienation theory highlights the emotional and structural disconnect between citizens and institutions, explaining passive compliance or apathy.
Through multi-level modeling, TDD captures meso-level interactions, showing how community norms amplify or dampen individual rationalizations.
3. Formalization through Mathematical Modeling
TDD translates qualitative theories into dynamic differential equations, defining variables such as monetary incentive (), perceived justice (), cognitive dissonance (), democratic degradation (), and system stability ().
Simulations reveal non-linear dynamics, feedback loops, and bifurcation thresholds, demonstrating how micro- and meso-level behaviors propagate to macro-level systemic outcomes.
This formalism allows quantitative predictions, scenario testing, and identification of critical intervention points, bridging theoretical insight with empirical applicability.
4. Multi-Level Causal Structure
The model explicitly integrates micro (individual), meso (community), and macro (systemic) levels, demonstrating how feedback loops and interactions across levels produce emergent phenomena.
By linking voter rationalization, legislative behavior, and democratic degradation, TDD provides a comprehensive view of causal pathways in transactional politics.
5. Novelty and Contribution to Literature
Unlike prior models that focus exclusively on vote buying or clientelism, TDD:
