The role of ethnicity in the perception of pork barrel politics: Evidence from a survey experiment in Slovakia

Abstract

In divided societies and new democracies, clientelism (in the form of pork barrel) and ethno-politics appear to go hand in hand. It is apparent that politicians are incentivized to compete for support within their own ethnic groups, but does an ethnic link between voters and decision-makers influence how voters perceive and evaluate pork barrel practices? To address this question, we conducted a survey experiment (n = 1200) in ethnically heterogeneous Slovakia. The aim was to examine whether pork barrel politics implemented by a Slovak decision-maker and a Hungarian decision-maker are evaluated differently by Slovaks and Hungarians. The findings suggest that when individuals and decision-makers share the same ethnicity, individuals tend to maintain an equally positive level of trust and willingness to vote for the responsible decision-maker, even when the decision-maker implements a policy decision that does not benefit them. Nonetheless, shared ethnicity does not prevent individuals from being critical of the implemented policy decision itself.

Political Parties, State Resources and Electoral Clientelism

“…Since then, the study of clientelism has gradually expanded and many recent analyses explore the consequences of clientelism. They often go in two directions: some studies investigate individuals in order to understand how clientelistic practices shape attitudes and behaviors, while other works focus on institutions and societies (Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007;Stokes et al, 2013;Braidwood, 2015;Bøggild, 2016;Bøggild and Laustsen, 2016;Corstange, 2018;Nichter, 2018;Nemčok et al, 2020;Tóth, Nemčok and Spáč, 2020;Gherghina, Saikkonen and Bankov, 2021).…”

Political parties, state resources and electoral clientelism

“…This targeting strategy is not entirely straightforward-especially in divided societies, electoral clientelism and ethno-politics appear intertwined. In such contexts, politicians tend to target their own ethnic groups (Dixit and Londregan 1996;Chandra 2007) and aim to mobilize their members (Nemčok et al 2020). As such, even a seemingly simple relationship between patrons and clients, i.e., vote buying, gets more complex in ethnically divided societies.…”

“…Since then, the study of clientelism has gradually expanded and many recent analyses explore the consequences of clientelism. They often go in two directions: some studies investigate individuals to understand how clientelistic practices shape attitudes and behaviors, while other works focus on institutions and societies (Kitschelt and Wilkinson 2007;Stokes et al 2013;Braidwood 2015;Bøggild 2016;Bøggild and Laustsen 2016;Corstange 2018;Nichter 2018;Nemčok et al 2020;Tóth et al 2020;Gherghina et al 2021).…”