Traditional leaders can influence electoral outcomes. We designed an experiment to investigate why public endorsements by chiefs affect voters – and which types of voters they influence. Chiefs have incentives to prefer politicians who will promote …
Bureaucracy is everywhere. Unelected bureaucrats are a key link between government and citizens, between policy and implementation. The profession has taken notice. Bureaucratic politics constitutes a growing share of research in political science. …
More women in public institutions is correlated with lower levels of corruption. However, this relationship is thought to be context specific. Furthermore, the mechanism that leads to reduced corruption remains unclear. We conduct two survey …
Parties rely on brokers to win elections in much of the developing world. How do parties use compensation to motivate these grassroots agents? Parties often decentralize broker payment decisions to local party elites. In addition to helping their …
Seminal models of clientelism assert that parties value brokers for their strong downward ties to voters. Despite its dominance, scholars have not empirically scrutinized key assumptions of this theory due to the challenges of measuring brokers’ …
When do politicians in developing democracies prioritize meritocratic recruitment over patronage hiring for public sector jobs? I distinguish between menial and professional positions and argue that the former are valuable for sustaining party …
Political parties use different methods – such as holding rallies, door-to-door canvassing, and distributing gifts – to mobilize voters during election campaigns across Africa. But how do parties choose which approach to use in each constituency? We …
In theory, granting politicians tools to oversee bureaucrats can reduce administrative malfeasance. In contrast, I argue that the political control of bureaucrats can increase corruption when politicians need money to fund election campaigns and face …
In theory, candidate debates can influence voters by providing information about candidates’ quality and policy positions. However, there is limited evidence about whether and why debates influence voters in new democracies. We use a field experiment …
This article reports on the effects of domestic election observers on electoral fraud and violence. Using an experimental research design and polling station data on fraud and violence during Ghana’s 2012 elections, it shows that observers reduced …