Doctoral Dissertation in Political Science: The Role of Identity, Rules, and Values in Public Goods and Accountability

公众问责是民主的一个重要组成部分，但公民如何追究官员的责任？例如，公民可能会寻求解雇（或投票反对）滥用权力的官员，但在听到政客经常提出的理由后，他们还会愿意这样做吗？如果他们与当局有着相同的政治身份-党派、种族或民族-他们的反应会有所不同吗？哪个影响最大？本研究旨在探讨南非当局的政治认同、表现与说服力对公共问责的影响。有证据表明，这些因素中的每一个都会影响公民对政治家的看法，从而影响他们追究政治家责任的意愿。这项研究将通过使用一种新的实验设计来扩展这项研究，这种实验设计不仅可以测试每个因素如何单独运作，还可以测试它们如何相互作用。这项研究的智力价值与其设计有关：参与者被随机分配到不同的“治疗”组。由于权威的具体身份、表现和说服力是随机的，参与者如何反应的差异可以自信地归因于治疗。参与者将从南非约翰内斯堡附近的公共场所招募。之所以选择南非，是因为这些研究问题对新兴民主国家特别重要。特别是，将南非从种族隔离制度中解放出来的执政党非洲人国民大会（非国大）因滥用权力而受到越来越多的审查。但迄今为止，非国大似乎只付出了有限的政治代价--2014年5月，该党以超过60%的选票赢得了全国大选，这是自1994年以来连续第五次。本研究探讨了为什么会出现这种情况。这可能是因为相对于非国大的其他成就，滥用权力对选民来说并不重要。这可能是因为选民对该党的认同如此强烈，以至于他们愿意宽恕滥用职权。或者，这可能是因为非国大仍然能够呼吁自由和平等的价值观，他们在解放斗争中表现出来。更广泛的影响与对发展、民主和政策的影响有关。非国大为南非带来了民主，但它的主导地位使制衡难以发挥作用。这给公众增加了追究官员责任的负担。这项研究提供了对他们可能很好地承担这一负担的条件的见解。它还有助于一个更广泛的理论和计划的研究议程的作用，公共问责制的机构发展的任何民主：研究是复制在不同的国家和文化背景。有了建立在健全的微观基础上的公共问责制理论，就可以制定更好的战略来加强这一理论。

Public accountability is a critical component of democracy, but how do citizens hold officials accountable? For example, citizens may seek to dismiss (or vote against) an official who abuses his power, but will they be as willing to do so after hearing the justifications that politicians often make? Will their response be different if they share a political identity with the authority - party membership, race, or ethnicity? Which has the greatest impact? This study investigates the effect of an authority's political identity, performance, and persuasion on public accountability in South Africa. There is evidence that each of these factors affects how citizens view politicians and thus their willingness to hold them accountable. This study will extend that research by using a novel experimental design that can test not only how each factor operates individually, but also how they interact. The intellectual merit of the study is connected to its design: assignment of participants to different "treatment" groups is random. Because assignment to the specific identity, performance, and persuasion of the authority is random, differences in how participants respond can be confidently attributed to the treatment. Participants will be recruited from public spaces near Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa was chosen because the research questions are especially important for new democracies. In particular, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which liberated South Africa from apartheid, has come under increasing scrutiny for abuses of power. And yet to date the ANC appears to have paid only a limited political price - in May 2014 the party won national elections with more than 60% of the vote for the fifth consecutive time since 1994. This study examines why this is the case. It may be because abuses are unimportant to voters relative to other ANC achievements. It may be because voters identify so strongly with the party that they are willing to condone abuses. Or, it may be because the ANC is still able to appeal to values of freedom and equality that they demonstrated in the liberation struggle. The broader impacts are associated with the implications for development, democracy, and policy. The ANC delivered democracy to South Africa, but its dominance makes it hard for checks and balances to operate. This puts an added burden on the public to hold officials to account. The study provides insights into the conditions under which they are likely to bear that burden well. It also contributes to a broader theory and planned research agenda about the role of public accountability in institutional development of any democracy: the research is replicable in different national and cultural contexts. With a theory of public accountability built on sound micro-foundations, better strategies can be developed to strengthen it.