Coethnic Bias & Policing: Evidence from Two Experiments in Uganda

• In Event: Mobilization and Repression under Authoritarianism

Abstract

Existing studies show individuals who share ethnicity are more likely to cooperate to provide public goods. Yet we do not know: a) whether coethnic cooperation extends to the provision of law and order; and b) why coethnics cooperate with each other. Answering these questions in a multiethnic autocracy, I find coethnic bias shapes attitudes toward the Uganda Police Force. Using two survey experiments: a nationally representative list experiment of 1,920 respondents in 127 counties and 194 parishes in Uganda and a conjoint experiment of 1,000 respondents in 25 sub-counties, 60 parishes and 100 villages in Gulu District, Uganda, I test whether citizens prefer reporting crimes to coethnic officers. The list experiment shows 42 percent of Ugandans believe people do not report crimes because police are not from their community or region. Estimating the effect of coethnic bias, the conjoint experiment finds citizens prefer coethnic officers in Gulu District, even after controlling for potential confounders. Examining whether individuals' support for the regime, exposure to state repression, and level of political engagement condition coethnic bias, this paper contributes to work on the politics of policing and authoritarian politics.

Author

• Travis B. Curtice, Emory University