State Legislative Assembly Research Articles

Ethnic Political Parties and the Socioeconomic Outcomes of Disadvantaged Minorities: Evidence from India's 'Silent Revolution'

Electoral quotas guaranteeing a threshold level of political representation for women and underprivileged socio-ethnic/religious minorities have been adopted in over 100 countries. This paper examines how the interaction of such quotas with political party structures affect minority welfare. We examine this question in the context of India, which has a long-standing system of electoral quotas for the representation of historically underprivileged low caste groups, and also witnessed through the 1980s the emergence of caste-based ethnic political parties with an explicit commitment to low caste welfare. Exploiting the outcome of close state legislative assembly elections between caste-based and mainstream parties as a source of exogenous variation, we show that the marginal legislator representing caste-based parties increases low caste households' monthly consumption of subsidized food grains from India's largest safety net program by 4%. Highlighting the importance of political parties' varying interests in redistribution, we show that legislators elected through the electoral quotas -- and thereby hailing from a low caste community by design -- affect redistribution to low-caste households only when they represent caste-based parties; in contrast, legislators elected through the electoral quotas but representing India's other major mainstream parties have virtually no effect on low-caste redistribution. Our results thus highlight an important and under-emphasized role played by the policy preferences of political parties for substantive political representation of socio-ethnic minorities.

Assessing the Strength of Pentecostal Churches’ Electoral Support: Evidence from Brazil

Since the 1980s, the number of Pentecostal candidates elected to the Brazilian legislatures has grown remarkably. Literature has argued that the phenomenon is related to Pentecostal churches’ support for particular candidates. To date, however, this claim has been based only on ethnographies or studies relying on a few cases of elected candidates. Drawing from a new data set of Evangelical (Protestant) candidates for the Federal Chamber of Deputies and state legislative assemblies, I try to answer the following questions: Do Pentecostal candidates raise fewer campaign resources than other candidates? What is the effect of being a Pentecostal candidate on the vote in Brazilian legislative elections? Is the structure of the church relevant to this effect? Using OLS regression models, I show that being a Pentecostal has a negative, though not significant effect on campaign spending. Additionally, there is a positive statistical relationship between being a Pentecostal and receiving votes, and between having the support of more centralized churches and receiving votes. Qualitative evidence of six Pentecostal politicians who lost their churches’ support at some point between elections, attempted reelection, and performed considerably worse than before reinforces the importance of having the support of a Pentecostal church.

Legislative Capacity and Credit Risk

AbstractLegislatures differ in their institutional capacity to draft and enact policy. While strong legislatures can increase the congruence of policy outcomes to the electorate's preferences, they can also inject uncertainty into markets with their ability to alter the political economic landscape. We argue that this uncertainty will manifest in a state's ability to borrow and hypothesize a negative relationship between legislative capacity and creditworthiness. Using ratings of general obligation bonds issued by the American states over nearly two decades and data on the institutional capacity of state legislative assemblies, we find support for the claim that having a legislature that is better equipped to affect policy change increases credit risk evaluations. The results we present broaden our understanding of the importance of legislative institutions, the determinants of credit risk, and the economic implications of democratic responsiveness.

RESERVATION IN ELECTION

Political concerns over economically disadvantaged minority groups are compared to global poverty levels. The state-time variance in reservation in India's state legislative assemblies is used to refute the concept that political reservation is endogenous. This disparity is caused by national rules that require reservations to be updated and implementation delays for altered reservations. This distinction is the outcome of national policies that alter reserves. We discovered that increasing the number of seats granted to Scheduled Tribes considerably reduced poverty in sixteen of India's most populous states between 1960 and 2000. When the percentage of seats assigned to Scheduled Castes was increased, however, there was no variation in the number of poor people. Political reservations for Scheduled Tribes appear to benefit individuals who are just above and well below the poverty line, and they appear to have a greater impact on rural poverty than urban poverty. These initiatives are more likely to alleviate urban poverty.

Reimagining Governor’s Institution and Federalism

Our constitution-makers have consciously chosen the Westminster model of government at both the federal and provincial levels. As an inevitable consequence, we have the ornamental constitutional heads of state at both levels—with largely symbolic roles, except in certain circumstances. In the science of child birth, there is a wise dictum: ‘A good obstetrician is one who observes watchful expectancy and masterly inactivity.’ The president and governors too are mostly expected to play the part without intervening in real governance. On occasion, a wise head of state is expected to give sage counsel to his prime minister/chief minister, and a sensible head of government would give enormous weight to such advice. It is paradoxical that the president, who is elected by both Houses of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, and therefore has the widest possible mandate in our polity, is really a figurehead; the governor, who is a mere nominee of the prime minister and appointed by the president and can be dismissed at will, has far greater discretion and latitude in dealing with the elected state government! Therefore, this essay examines the role of president and governors from a reformist’s perspective. In particular, this essay will critically examine the negative consequences of the nominated governor serving at the pleasure of the president, and argue for reimagining federalism and governor’s institution.

Decentralised Governance and Tribal Development in Scheduled Areas of Northeast India: A Case Study of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council

Decentralised governance has been conceived as an instrument in promoting development. In realising the rights of the tribals, the Constitution of India has provided special provisions by delineating special administrative structures for tribal development with enacting the Fifth and the Sixth Schedules. The Sixth Schedule is applicable to four states of northeast India, namely, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, and the Fifth Schedule is in operation in other regions of the country where tribes form a majority in a district or districts. The Sixth Schedule provides for autonomous district councils, thus offering space for tribal self-governance. The autonomous district councils are both administrative as well as legislative entity. In Tripura, due to the movement launched by the tribal people for the protection of their rights, the State Legislative Assembly has passed an Act, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Act, 1979, under which the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) was established. Subsequently, in 1984, the special provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution were extended to the tribal areas in the state of Tripura. Since then, a new political process has been started in the state of Tripura by establishing TTAADC for the realisation of the rights of the tribals (Das, 2001, p. 208). It is in this context, that this article provides an overview of the decentralised governance and tribal development in the Sixth Schedule areas of northeast India with special reference to Tripura. It discusses the organisational and functional aspects the TTAADC. In this connection, the article reviews the various Acts, rules, regulations and amendments relating to TTAADC. It also examines its role and impact in tribal development in the state of Tripura. Further, an attempt has been made in the article to relate the deficiencies in the functioning of the TTAADC, recommending suitable changes.

Dereliction of Duties or the Politics of ‘Political Quadrangle’? The Governor, Hill Areas Committee and Upsurge in the Hills of Manipur

This article looks into the role of the Governor of Manipur, particularly its ‘special responsibility’ under Article 371C of the Constitution of India, ‘in order to secure the proper functioning’ of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC), and attempts to explore whether there is dereliction of duties on the part of the governor in fulfilling what the constitution intents. Consequently, it examines whether the HAC is able to perform its functions under the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972, to ‘safeguard the interest of the people of the Hill Areas’. The article identifies the existence of the politics of ‘political quadrangle’ which unleash a peculiar ‘political process’ in which the role and functions of the governor and the HAC are constrained in protecting the rights and interests of the hill people. This ‘politics’ is largely shaped by the very peculiar political process in the state, particularly the electoral trend and government formation, in which there is propensity to change government with the corresponding change in the ruling party at the centre. This has a significant role to play as the majoritarian state government’s reluctance for tribal autonomy is perpetuated by the existence of the same political regime at the centre, with a politically affiliated and politically appointed governor, in which acting on the ‘advice of’ largely becomes ‘diktat of’ the ‘council of ministers’, thereby circumscribing the role and functions of the governor and the HAC. The recent upsurge in the hills of Manipur is a clear case of the state Legislative Assembly overriding the HAC on scheduled matters that affect the hill areas.

Does Nota Affect Voter Turnout? Evidence from State Legislative Elections in India

This paper explores the impact of introduction of the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option in Indian legislative elections. NOTA was introduced as a ballot option following the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 based on the argument that more choices to voters will enhance voter participation. We take advantage of the state-time variation in introduction of NOTA option in state legislative assembly elections in 2013 to study its impact on voter turnout. Using election data from five major Indian states between 2008 and 2013, we find evidences suggesting that NOTA may not have led to increased voter participation. However, our results are not conclusive.

Demonetization, Politics and Terrorism: An Immanent Analysis

One of the landmark financial overhauls since independence is demonetization and the visible goals it seeks to secure is manifold. Black money coupled with corruption has been one perennial factor that has been hampering the growth of Indian economy for long. Terrorist activities, largely funded through black money, recurrently destabilize the country. The rationale of government behind executing such a drastic policy of demonetization is stated to curb the malicious practice of corruption along with wiping out all the nefarious activities associated with black money. Notwithstanding, there are allegations that the government undertakes such a sudden and radical policy based on some political calculations. One widely deliberated motive about such a move is that the major leading political party in the government at the centre steers a calculative course to reap political gains in the elections to some state legislative assemblies that followed few months later. But an undeniable fact is that demonetization has brought various tangible and intangible impacts not just in the field of economy, but also in various fields. There are also endless debates regarding the modus operandi of demonetization. The present paper seeks to examine some of the major cognizable interfaces between the timing of demonetization and the political backdrops in the country. It also attempts to analyze the observable impacts of demonetization in some core aspects. For this paper, a qualitative based theoretical analysis is adopted.

Does NOTA Affect Voter Turnout? Evidence from State Legislative Elections in India

This paper explores the impact of introduction of the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option in Indian legislative elections. NOTA was introduced as a ballot option following the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 based on the argument that more choices to voters will enhance voter participation. We take advantage of the state-time variation in introduction of NOTA option in state legislative assembly elections in 2013 to study its impact on voter turnout. Using election data from five major Indian states between 2008 and 2013, we find evidences suggesting that NOTA may not have led to increased voter participation. However, our results are not conclusive.

Future of Islamic Civilization, Emerging Issues and New Horizons: A Study of Malaysian Islamic Movements

This paper investigates four dimensions of Islamic Movements in Malaysian context. The first one is about the impacts of Islamic Movements instigating the development of Islamic civilization in Malaysia. Second one deals with emerging issues and modern trends in their futuristic approach and strategy. Third one evaluates sanity and diversity in issues and conflicts both in local and global perspectives. Finally, it examines the Western response and transformational role of the external world. General elections 2013 in Malaysia has marked a huge sign on the future politics of the country. National Front (BN: Barisan Nasional) faced major setback of fifty years in the history of Malaysian politics, government was unable to amend the constitution due to the absence of two third majority in the parliament because opposition collation Pakatan Rakayat (PR) grown more than fifty percent votes and more seats in federal and state legislative assemblies. Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) is one of the major fragments of opposition alliance. Among other Islamic organizations of the country PAS has achieved better growth and proved itself a distinguished Muslim political power of the country. Political process seems to be a better and safe way to achieve their ultimate goal of Islamic Resurgence for prominent Islamic movements of the world including PAS. We observe lot of bindings, barriers and challenges for them in different countries like, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia etc. The paper analyses ideological commonalities of different Islamic Movements of the world and concludes that specific circumstances demand certain approaches and finds out that Islamic movements asserting on peaceful process to attain massive support andhandlings challenges both from world powers, Muslim secularists and radical youth groups.

Does Political Reservation for Minorities Affect Child Labor? Evidence from India

Summary This paper examines the impact of state-level political reservation for two minority groups–Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes–on the incidence of child labor in India. We estimate the effect of political reservation on the incidence of child labor by exploiting the state variation in the share of seats reserved for the two minority groups in state legislative assemblies mandated by the Constitution of India. Using data from state and household-level surveys on fifteen major Indian states, we find that at the household level, Schedule Tribe reservation decreases the incidence of child labor, while Scheduled Caste reservation increases the total number of children working. We examine these impacts on the general as well as the disadvantaged group population independently, and across the gender of children. We also explore potential explanations for the differential impact of SC and ST political reservation, including geographic isolation, caste fragmentation, support for the Congress Party, and decentralization of power. Our results survive a variety of robustness checks.

Can Elected Minority Representatives Affect Health Worker Visits? Evidence from India

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between elected minority representatives, i.e. Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and health worker visits in rural India. We estimate the effect of minority representation on the frequency of visits to villages by health workers by exploiting the state variation in the share of seats reserved for the two minority groups in state legislative assemblies mandated by the Constitution of India. Using data from state and village level surveys on 15 major Indian states, we find that ST representatives increase the frequency of visits by both doctors and mobile medical units. In contrast, SC representatives have a tendency to decrease the frequency of visits by mobile medical units. Potential explanations for the differential impact of SC and ST representatives are also explored, including geographic isolation, support for the Congress Party, a shift in power, and relative population shares.

A Law on Paper Only: Electoral Rules, Parties, and the Persistent Underrepresentation of Women in Brazilian Legislatures

This article advances a party-centric analysis of gender quotas in Brazil. We examine how parties mediate electoral rules, finding that neither the implementation of the Lei de Cotas (Quota Law) in 1995 nor its 2009 mini-reform was sufficient to induce significant change in party strategies for the nomination and election of women. Moreover, we find that while the open-list proportional representation electoral system is an important part of the explanation for the quota's failure to enhance women's representation, an analysis of how those electoral rules interact with decentralized party politics and women's absence from subnational party leadership structures yields superior explanatory power for understanding quota (non)compliance. We marshal extensive evidence on interparty variation in candidacies to Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and state legislative assemblies and interviews with candidates, party leaders, bureaucrats, and activists throughout Brazil to show how electoral rules and party dynamics interact to undermine the gender quota, resulting in a limited increase in the number of female candidates and stagnation in the number of women elected. We conclude that reform efforts must target not only electoral rules but also the subnational party structures that mediate these rules if they are to enhance women's political representation.

Legislação em saúde: um estudo sobre a iniciativa de projetos de lei no Estado do Acre

O artigo analisa as atuações dos poderes Executivo e Legislativo no Estado do Acre quanto à formulação de propostas políticas para a saúde a partir de 1999, comparando duas legislaturas. Parte-se do princípio de que o Executivo dispõe de amplo poder de agenda, o qual permite definir temas essenciais a serem apreciados pelo Legislativo, bem como determinar os passos e a sequência de procedimentos a serem seguidos ao longo do processo decisório. O estudo foi descritivo e realizado a partir de consulta a documentos da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado do Acre com acesso público. Foram identificados os projetos de lei aprovados pela Assembleia, sendo analisados por autoria, tempo de tramitação e natureza, considerando-se o contexto político-institucional. Das 93 matérias de autoria do Legislativo aprovadas entre 1999 a 2002, 20,4% trataram de temas relacionados à saúde, em especial a medicamentos, vacinas, insumos e produtos para a saúde. No período seguinte (2003-2006), das 294 proposições aprovadas, 6,8% estiveram relacionadas à saúde, envolvendo principalmente políticas, planos, programas e projetos. O estudo sugere que houve, entre os dois períodos analisados, uma mudança na natureza dos projetos de autoria do Legislativo aprovados. Os parlamentares, na segunda legislatura, fizeram uso de uma agenda leve, ao priorizarem questões honoríficas e simbólicas.

Women's Political Empowerment and Investments in Primary Schooling in India.

Using a national district-level dataset of India composed of information on investments in primary schooling (data from the District Information Survey for Education [DISE, 2007/8]) and information on demographic characteristics of elected officials (data from the Election Commission of India [ECI, 2000/04]), we examined the relationship between women's representation in State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seats and district-level investments in primary schooling. We used OLS regressions adjusting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation, and estimated separate models for North and South India. Women's representation in general SLA seats typically was negatively associated with investments in primary-school amenities and teachers; women's representation in SLA seats reserved for under-represented minorities, i.e., scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, typically was positively associated with investments in primary schooling, especially in areas addressing the basic needs of poor children. Women legislators' gender and caste identities may shape their decisions about redistributive educational policies.

Alice in Accounting Land: The Adventure of Two Economic Historians in Accounting Records of the 19th Century

This article aims to share our experience of working with São Paulo's municipal budgets published during the 19th century and discuss the difficulties of using this kind of source to analyze the municipal public finance from a historical perspective. The budget laws published draw the researcher's attention because they are abundant and relatively easy to work with, providing a huge documentary set that may be used as a means for studies in the fields of economic history, political history, and cultural history within the imperial period. These laws are printed, therefore, readable, and easily accessible through the digital web portal Acervo Histórico da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de São Paulo Historical Collection of the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly]. They detail the origins and destinations of public resources, municipality by municipality, allowing the researcher to reconstruct the financial life of municipalities, identifying changes in time and space of the fortunes of the 19th-century São Paulo state communities. However, may we really trust these budgets? Conversations and collaborations between two researchers showed that these accessible, readable, and abundant sources are not as appropriate as they seem at first glance. This article reports our troubled and even contradictory journey into the world of municipal public accounting, in order to detail our findings and provide a warning on these sources. A comparative methodology between budget laws and handwritten balance sheets was used at time intervals of 1, 2, and 3 years, in search of correlations and adjustment patterns between budgeted and spent amounts of money. Our experience has shown that budget laws do not have much in common with the actual financial experience of municipalities within the imperial period, therefore, they are not the most appropriate sources to know the financial daily life in the 19th-century São Paulo state villages.

Do Criminal Representatives Hinder or Improve Constituency Outcomes? Evidence from India

The recent increase in the number of criminally accused politicians elected to state assemblies has caused much furor in India. Despite the potentially important consequences and the widely divergent views, the implications of their elections to state legislative assemblies on constituency-level economic performance are unknown. Using a regression discontinuity design and data on the intensity of night lights in satellite imagery at the constituency level, our results suggest that the cost of electing criminally accused politicians on measures of economic activity is quite large. Using estimates of the elasticity of GDP to light, we find that the election of criminally accused candidates lead to roughly 5 percent lower GDP growth per year on average. These estimated costs increase for candidates with serious accusations, multiple accusations, and accusations regarding financial crimes. Our result survives variety of robustness checks.

Can Elected Minority Representatives Affect Health Worker Visits? Evidence from India

This paper examines the relationship between elected minority representatives, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and health worker visits in rural India. We estimate the effect of minority representation on the frequency of visits to villages by health workers by exploiting the state variation in the share of seats reserved for the two groups in state legislative assemblies mandated by the Constitution of India. Using data from state and village level surveys on fifteen major Indian states, we find that Schedule Tribe representatives increase the frequency of visits by both doctors and mobile medical units. On the other hand, Scheduled Caste representatives have a tendency to decrease the frequency of visits by mobile medical units. Potential explanations for the differential impact of SC and ST representatives are also explored, including geographic isolation, support for the Congress Party, and relative population shares.

Does Political Reservation for Minorities Affect Child Labor? Evidence from India

This paper examines the relationship between elected minority representatives, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and health worker visits in rural India. We estimate the effect of minority representation on the frequency of visits to villages by health workers by exploiting the state variation in the share of seats reserved for the two groups in state legislative assemblies mandated by the Constitution of India. Using data from state and village level surveys on fifteen major Indian states, we find that Schedule Tribe representatives increase the frequency of visits by both doctors and mobile medical units. On the other hand, Scheduled Caste representatives have a tendency to decrease the frequency of visits by mobile medical units. Potential explanations for the differential impact of SC and ST representatives are also explored, including geographic isolation, support for the Congress Party, and relative population shares.