The role of ethnicity in the perception of pork barrel politics: Evidence from a survey experiment in Slovakia

Miroslav Nemčok,Olivera Komar,Peter Spáč,Nemanja Batrićević,Michal Tóth

doi:10.1177/0263395720920089

Miroslav Nemčok, Olivera Komar + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395720920089

Copy DOI

Abstract

In divided societies and new democracies, clientelism (in the form of pork barrel) and ethno-politics appear to go hand in hand. It is apparent that politicians are incentivized to compete for support within their own ethnic groups, but does an ethnic link between voters and decision-makers influence how voters perceive and evaluate pork barrel practices? To address this question, we conducted a survey experiment (n = 1200) in ethnically heterogeneous Slovakia. The aim was to examine whether pork barrel politics implemented by a Slovak decision-maker and a Hungarian decision-maker are evaluated differently by Slovaks and Hungarians. The findings suggest that when individuals and decision-makers share the same ethnicity, individuals tend to maintain an equally positive level of trust and willingness to vote for the responsible decision-maker, even when the decision-maker implements a policy decision that does not benefit them. Nonetheless, shared ethnicity does not prevent individuals from being critical of the implemented policy decision itself.

Highlights

Compelling evidence confirms pork barrel patterns in the distribution of public resources across all kinds of democratic regimes (Kitschelt, 2000; Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007; Stokes et al, 2013)
Shared ethnic identity does not prevent citizens from being critical of an implemented policy decision itself, nor does it make citizens more favourable when they perceive unfair distribution of public resources by an ethnically related politician. This conclusion constitutes a relevant contribution to the study of pork barrel politics, because it reveals which aspects of voter perception of this practice are moderated by the ethnicity of voters and decision-makers
Political elites aim to utilize the ingroup bias of the electorates sharing their ethnic identity with the intention of increasing their own popular and electoral support (Chandra, 2007; Dixit and Londregan, 1996)

Summary

Introduction

Compelling evidence confirms pork barrel patterns in the distribution of public resources across all kinds of democratic regimes (Kitschelt, 2000; Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007; Stokes et al, 2013). The main goal of the empirical analysis is to examine whether the ethnicity of the respondents correlates with their different evaluations of the pork barrel practices as executed by either the Slovak decision-maker or the Hungarian decision-maker directing resources to their own respective countries.

Results

Conclusion