Citizens or Partisans? How Participatory Institutions Undermine Responsiveness

• In Event: Political Science Education & Comparative Politics of Developing Countries 1 Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries Virtual Poster Session 1

Abstract

To what extent does citizens’ ability to influence policy improve individual-level outcomes? Many proponents of participatory democracy argue that increasing venues for citizen participation can improve government responsiveness by providing citizens an opportunity to express their needs and preferences. The evidence, however, is mixed. Some studies have found that enhanced citizen engagement brings the interests of governments and ordinary people into closer alignment, while others find no relationship, or even a negative relationship between participation and democratic quality. We argue that an important mediating factor for whether participatory institutions succeed in deepening democracy is the institutions’ level of partisan capture. We explore this question in Venezuela, an electoral autocracy where the ruling Socialist Party has strong incentives to intervene in citizen decision making processes through communal councils. We argue that where partisan capture of communal councils is more extensive the institutions will be less effective in responding to community needs. Drawing on a range of in-depth interviews and original survey data from 2018, we show that communal council participants receive fewer benefits and perceive the institutions to be less responsive when party brokers are active in their local council, and when their council leadership is dominated by party activists.

Authors

• Jared Abbott, Tulane University

• Katherine Marie McKiernan, Tulane University