Electoral Structures and Pork Barrel Politics

Abstract

Pork barrel politics is a particular type of constituency service through which a legislator's geographic constituency benefits from the distribution of public works projects. The desire for reelection prompts a representative to use his influence to initiate local projects. A comparative model is presented, causally linking a country's electoral system with the de gree of pork barrel activity. Most literature has focused disproportionately on the United States. This model suggests that the electoral accountability linkage is strongest in coun tries with single-member districts and weakest in those with at-large districts. The article's central argument is that a strong correlation exists between the number of representatives per district and the degree of pork barrel politics. Factors such as committee structure and party discipline are also considered.