Powerful or Proxies: Political Influence Among India's Local Representatives

• In Event: Women, Governance, and Changing Gender Norms in MENA and South Asia

Abstract

Despite being formally entitled to make policy decisions; an elected representative may not possess the influence to translate preferences into policy outcomes. In this project, we study when and if changes in descriptive representation - here, via gender and caste quotas in rural India - allow members of these groups to actually influence decision-making. To do so, we study the bargaining and deliberation processes with multiple bureaucratic and informal actors that follow the arrival in office of these officials. In these processes, despite the de jure authority held by elected officials, other individuals in this constellation (both within the official's household or within the village) might deploy greater de facto influence, or capture the power of the legitimately elected official in some way. We rely on a variety of behavioral and experimental measures to assess the influence of elected officials in rural India, relative to these other actors. Relying on these measures, we then explore when, how, and why de jure power translates into de facto influence, particularly for women and other socially disadvantaged groups who are new entrants to electoral politics.

Authors

• Simon Chauchard, Leiden University

• Rachel E. Brule, Boston University

• Alyssa Heinze, University of California, Berkeley