Within-Group Variation in Support for Ethnic Representation

• In Event: Public Goods Provision in Urban Areas: Evidence from South Asian Cities

Abstract

How should we characterize within-group variation in support for ethnic parties, and what can this tell us about how ethnic identification affects political accountability? Mobilized ethnic groups often continue to vote for corrupt parties that perform incredibly poorly over long periods of time. These parties eventually decline when a critical mass of coethnics “defect” from the party as a way to punish it for bad governance. To explain the persistence and decline of poorly performing ethnic parties, this paper offers theory and evidence on how identity shapes political choices in multiethnic cities. In particular, it argues that in addition to valuing material payoffs (such as public goods), voters also value social identity payoffs (such as group status). Individuals form political preferences over ethnic representation as a function of how much they care about each of these two types of payoffs – where the weight placed on each is partially determined by social class and gender. Importantly, the more weight individuals place on social identity payoffs, the higher the acceptable threshold for poor performance by the ethnic party or candidate. In order to support this theory, the paper provides evidence from the case of Karachi, where the now-declining Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) held its hold on the city for decades, despite the mismanaged urbanization and abysmal public service provision witnessed under its rule. Descriptive and experimental evidence is drawn from over 100 in-depth interviews and two surveys (N=936 and N=1200).

Author

• Mashail Aman Malik, Stanford University