Can Elections Motivate Responsiveness in a Single-Party Regime? Experimental Evidence from Vietnam

A growing body of evidence attests that legislators are sometimes responsive to the policy preferences of citizens in single-party regimes, yet debate surrounds the mechanisms driving this relationship. We experimentally test two potential responsiveness mechanisms—elections versus mandates from par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American political science review 2023-05, Vol.117 (2), p.497-517
Main Authors: MALESKY, EDMUND J., TODD, JASON DOUGLAS, TRAN, ANH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Authoritarianism
Behavior
Bureaucrats
Citizens
Coding
Competition
Competitiveness
Constituents
Delegates
Effect Size
Elections
Evidence
Labor
Legislators
Nominations
Political parties
Political science
Politicians
Preferences
Primaries & caucuses
Public Opinion
Randomized Controlled Trials
Reminders
Responsiveness
Speeches
Voters
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Summary:A growing body of evidence attests that legislators are sometimes responsive to the policy preferences of citizens in single-party regimes, yet debate surrounds the mechanisms driving this relationship. We experimentally test two potential responsiveness mechanisms—elections versus mandates from party leaders—by provisioning delegates to the Vietnamese National Assembly with information on the policy preferences of their constituents and reminding them of either (1) the competitiveness of the upcoming 2021 elections or (2) a central decree that legislative activities should reflect constituents’ preferences. Consistent with existing work, delegates informed of citizens’ preferences are more likely to speak on the parliamentary floor and in closed-session caucuses. Importantly, we find that such responsiveness is entirely driven by election reminders; upward incentive reminders have virtually no effect on behavior.
ISSN:0003-0554
1537-5943
DOI:10.1017/S0003055422000879