Public Attribution of Responsibility in Autocracies: Evidence from Russia

• In Event: Authoritarianism and Political Behavior

Abstract

This study examines whether and how contents of media reporting affect citizens' perception of public policy outcomes, responsibility for those outcomes and evaluation of the politicians in non-democratic context in the city of Novosibirsk, Russia. I analyze data from an original panel experiment in which respondents are asked to watch video excerpts from news reports on (a) Outcomes of the medical and educational policy, and/or (b) Information on responsibility allocation for these policies between municipal and regional government. Respondents are then asked to evaluate the outcomes of various economic policies as well as performance of different levels of government. The design allows me to learn whether popularity of the government in countries without strong democratic traditions and vibrant media can be predicated on strategic and potentially biased framing of the news. One unique feature of this study is its focus not just on performance, but also on allocation of responsibility between multiple tiers of the government. This feature allows me to test ability of citizens to correctly attribute responsibility in multi-level government structures - important but empirically understudied aspect of political accountability in comparative context.

Author

• Georgiy Syunyaev, Columbia University