Able and Mostly Willing

An Empirical Anatomy of Information's Effect on Voter‐Driven Accountability in Senegal

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6231791
AutoresAbhit Bhandari (0000-0003-3654-9751, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse), Horacio Larreguy (0000-0001-8491-6400, Harvard University, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics), John Marshall (0000-0001-9576-1475, Columbia University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen67
Número4
Páginas1040-1066
Fecha de publicación2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajps.12591
OpenAlexW3135418396
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas23
Referencias citadas25

Political accountability may be constrained by the reach and relevance of information campaigns in developing democracies and—upon receiving information—voters' ability and will to hold politicians accountable. To illuminate voter‐level constraints and information relevance absent dissemination constraints, we conducted a field experiment around Senegal's 2017 parliamentary elections to examine the core theoretical steps linking receiving different types of incumbent performance information to electoral and nonelectoral accountability. Voters immediately processed information as Bayesians, found temporally benchmarked local performance outcomes particularly informative, and updated their beliefs for at least a month. Learning that incumbents generally performed better than expected, voters durably requested greater politician contact after elections while incumbent vote choice increased among likely voters and voters prioritizing local projects when appraising incumbents. In contrast, information about incumbent duties did not systematically influence beliefs or accountability. These findings suggest voters were able and mostly willing to use relevant information to hold politicians to account

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