Supporters or Challengers

The Effects of Nongovernmental Organizations on Local Politics in Bolivia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6246745
AutoresCarew E Boulding (University of Colorado Boulder), Carew Boulding (0000-0002-9021-0751, University of Colorado System), Clark C Gibson (University of California San Diego)
Ano2009
Volume42
Fascículo4
Páginas479-500
Data de publicação2009-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoComparative Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0010-4140 • E-ISSN: 1552-3829
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0010414008327429
OpenAlexW2147321349
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30
Referências citadas38

How do nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) affect local politics in developing democracies? Specifically, do NGOs have systematic effects on the fortunes of incumbent political parties in local elections? Existing work predicts starkly contradictory political effects: Some scholars claim that NGOs most likely help incumbents by providing services for which politicians can claim credit, whereas others believe that NGOs most likely hurt incumbents by facilitating political opposition. The authors argue that both of these effects are possible, depending on the size of a jurisdiction's population. In smaller populations, the authors hypothesize that NGOs facilitate collective action and decrease the ability of an incumbent to claim credit for projects; larger jurisdictions water down the effect of NGOs on collective action and permit incumbents' credit claiming. Strong support is found for hypotheses, using electoral, sociodemographic, and NGO data for all of 314 municipalities in Bolivia

Collective action · Economics · Jurisdiction · Opposition (politics · Political action · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Work (physics · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration · Social Capital and Networks