Accepting or Resisting? Citizen Responses to Corruption Across Varying Levels of Competence and Corruption Prevalence

The literature studying citizen responses to exposed political corruption is rapidly growing. While some studies explore how information credibility and group identities can reduce the electoral impact of the exposure of corruption, this article addresses different mechanisms for weak electoral acco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political studies 2020-08, Vol.68 (3), p.653-670
Main Author: Vera, Sofia B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Candidates
Citizens
Competence
Corruption
Corruption in government
Credibility
Elections
Politicians
Polls & surveys
Public works
Voters
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Summary:The literature studying citizen responses to exposed political corruption is rapidly growing. While some studies explore how information credibility and group identities can reduce the electoral impact of the exposure of corruption, this article addresses different mechanisms for weak electoral accountability for corruption: candidate competence in public works provision and corruption prevalence. It uses a vignette experiment embedded in a national survey in Peru to isolate the causal effect of political corruption on electoral support. The results suggest that even types of corruption with side benefits would be harshly punished when attributed to incompetent politicians. They also indicate that while voters punish corruption more leniently when a candidate is competent, they respond negatively to corruption regardless of the prevalence of corruption, which casts doubt on the idea that voters in highly corrupt environments are acceptant of corruption.
ISSN:0032-3217
1467-9248
DOI:10.1177/0032321719868210