JournalTOCs

Studies in Comparative International Development
Journal Prestige (SJR): 1.073

Citation Impact (citeScore): 1
Number of Followers: 16

Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
ISSN (Print) 0039-3606 - ISSN (Online) 1936-6167
Published by Springer-Verlag

[2469 journals]

New Editorial Team
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  PubDate: 2022-05-24
When Mayors Deliver: Political Alignment and Well-being
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  Abstract: Abstract While in recent decades developing countries have achieved significant improvements in well-being, disparities within countries persist. Focusing on municipalities in which health services are decentralized and patronage is prevalent, we argue that a little-studied factor, the alignment between mayors and governors, plays an important role in explaining differences in infant mortality rates. In the context of widespread clientelism, lack of alignment deprives mayors of substantial discretionary resources. This generates incentives for nonaligned mayors to focus on improving decentralized social services under their control to cultivate voter support, producing better welfare outcomes associated with these services. Employing an original dataset of metropolitan municipalities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 1991 and 2018, we find that mayoral alignment is associated with higher infant mortality, a critical metric of well-being, and with lower levels of health service provision. Local health services in turn reduce infant mortality rates in our data. These results are robust when we control for relevant socioeconomic and political factors, such as electoral competition, protest, and the presence of the state in slums, where health risks are higher.
  PubDate: 2022-05-24
Reconsidering the Rubber Stamp Thesis: A Consolidation Theory of Oil
Expropriations and Legislatures in Party-based Autocracies
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  Abstract: Abstract Growing conventional wisdom suggests that authoritarian legislatures prevent oil nationalizations in party-based regimes. However, country scholars and media outlets remain skeptical. We develop a theory aligning with the skeptics. We argue that oil expropriations and legislative closures are endogenous to the process of the consolidation of party-based autocracies. New authoritarian parties close legislatures when they seize power and do not reopen them until they can ensure their dominance of the new legislature, a process abetted by oil expropriations. We test the argument using recently developed cross-case comparative Bayesian qualitative techniques. Evidence shows support for our theory. Our findings suggest that authoritarian legislatures are less constraining in terms of oil nationalizations than new conventional wisdom suggests. Additionally, our evidence points to a different interpretation of the role legislatures play in the evolution of authoritarian regimes.
  PubDate: 2022-05-16
Vote Buying as Rent Seeking: Land Sales in China’s Village Elections
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  Abstract: Abstract What explains why vote buying occurs in some elections but not others' The phenomenon of vote buying is under-studied in authoritarian, single-party-dominant regimes, especially in non-partisan elections in which competition is candidate-centered rather than party centered. Village elections in China provide a valuable window on the dynamics of vote buying in these conditions. Employing both an in-depth case study and an original, panel survey to provide new, systematic measures of rents and vote buying, we develop and test the following hypothesis: the availability of non-competitive rents accessible by winning candidates explains the variation in the incidence of vote buying in local elections. Our causal identification strategy exploits the timing of land takings and the exogenous nature of formal land takings authorized in state land-use plans at higher administrative levels to test the vote-buying-as-rent-seeking hypothesis. We find that the lure of rents, mainly from government takings of village land, is a key driver of vote buying by non-partisan candidates for the office of village leader. The evidence suggests that vote buying provides information to the authoritarian state about which local elites it should recruit into the rent-sharing coalition.
  PubDate: 2022-05-13
Extending a Hand: Corruption and Solidarity with the Less Privileged
Domestically and Beyond
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  Abstract: Abstract Social cohesion, often operationalized using measures of generalized social trust, has received enormous amounts of attention in previous scholarly work. However, another dimension of this broad phenomenon, norms of social solidarity, has meanwhile largely been overlooked in previous research. This study analyzes the association between micro-perceptions of corruption and solidarity with the less privileged both domestically and beyond, and how this association might vary across different societies with different types and forms of corruption. The data come from ISSP Citizenship II and include 33 countries, analyzed with multilevel regression models. The results show that the link between individual corruption perceptions and global solidarity varies so that it is comparatively weak and positive in contexts judged as more corrupt according to the Corruption Perception Index, while it is strong and negative in contexts judged by experts as relatively corruption free. For domestic solidarity, in turn, there is some evidence of a comparatively weak positive association but no significant contextual variations.
  PubDate: 2022-05-13
Static Electricity: Institutional and Ideational Barriers to China’s
Market Reforms
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  Abstract: Abstract China’s “economic juggernaut” is often noted to have arisen from successful market reforms carried out in the context of high state capacity. In contrast, we demonstrate that crucial reforms to replace central planning with markets have stalled as a result of major barriers of two types: institutional and ideational. Focusing on the electricity sector, we find that market reforms pushed by China’s central government are hindered by deep inefficiencies that arise from the legacy plan and “plan-derived” institutions of subnational governments and grid companies, against which the central state has been largely ineffective. We also uncover fascinating ideational differences of the nature and purpose of “markets” that show how they often are envisioned more as a way to extend the planner’s “toolbox,” or to offer “salvation” for ailing incumbent firms, rather than to induce efficiency. Our empirical focus on three prominent types of “market-oriented” experiments in the electric power sector demonstrate clear limits to state capacity, limits that emanate from state actors rather than merely industry, despite high-priority central government goals of increasing efficiency, integrating renewable energy, and reducing emissions from the electricity sector.
  PubDate: 2022-05-10
Out of “Site”, Out of Mind': Politics of Land Compensation for
Chinese Rural Migrants
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  Abstract: Abstract Local governments’ failure to provide proper compensation for rural residents’ land rights has been one of the main sources of political conflict in rural China. Previous literature has focused on why local governments use different means to compensate for land-losing rural residents. Yet, the question of who local governments prioritize when providing compensation for dispossessed land rights has not been fully examined. Employing the data from the China Household Income Survey (2013), I show that local states are more likely to provide compensation, either a cash payment or access to social insurance, to land-losing rural residents who stay in the township. Land-losing rural residents who live outside the township, to the contrary, are less likely to be compensated for their land rights by local states. Drawing on the China General Social Survey (2010), I suggest that the disadvantage of out-migrants stems from their lowered levels of political participation. The findings from this article imply that internal migrants in China are discriminated against not only in the destination localities but also in their home localities.
  PubDate: 2022-05-04
Correction to: The Perils of Parliamentarism: Executive Selection Systems
and Democratic Transitions from Electoral Authoritarianism
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  PubDate: 2022-04-28
No Accounting for Bad Contracting: Private Military and Security Contracts
and Ineffective Regulation in Conflict Areas
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  Abstract: Abstract The proliferation of contracts outsourcing military functions to private companies raises serious oversight concerns vis-à-vis regulation and accountability. As the industry is emerging, regulation of these outsourced function is considered weak. While critics predict an unchecked industry, supporters have defended the lack of an adequate accountability mechanism by touting self-regulation as a potential solution. Following this discussion, we examine whether the frequency of contractor violations and legal repercussions within the overall contracting industry differed between those in the burgeoning security-contracting community and those in the traditional contracting community. We utilize a preexisting dataset of American contractors’ misconduct to compare military contacting to non-military contracting and military contractors to non-military contractors. Our results indicate that contracting military functions is associated with higher levels of violations and lower levels of legal repercussions, while military contractor companies themselves are not associated with higher levels of violations or legal repercussion. These findings support calls for improved oversight of conflict area’s contracting in order to prevent contractors’ misconduct with impunity.
  PubDate: 2022-03-01
Greasing the Wheels: the Politics of Environmental Clearances in India
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  Abstract: Abstract Does political alignment at different levels of government influence centralized bureaucratic processes' Environmental clearances are important regulatory tools that allow governments to target the distribution of public goods/bads by both controlling negative externalities and allocating rents from project developers. While commentators advocate for central authorities to control environmental licensing of major projects, in emerging markets with weak formal institutions, it is still possible for local politicians to influence this process. We use data on environmental clearances in India for thermal (primarily coal-fired) power plants between the years 2004 and 2014 to test whether local legislators influence an otherwise bureaucratic process in which they play no formal role. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that partisan alignment with the state chief minister results in a sharp increase in local clearance applications. This is consistent with the hypothesis that this type of political influence “greases the wheels” of bureaucracy by facilitating more environmental approvals, rather than creating regulatory bottlenecks. Our results contribute to a growing literature that suggests that lower-level politicians can still exert influence on the policy process despite having few institutionalized powers.
  PubDate: 2022-03-01
Compensating for Instability' Economic Openness, Threat of Social
Unrest, and Welfare Provision in China
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  Abstract: Abstract How does increased integration to the global economy affect patterns of social provision at the local level' This study investigates the impact of economic openness on the subnational variation of welfare provision in China. Examining welfare expansion as a political response to provincial economic integration, I analyze how the effect of globalization on welfare expansion is conditioned by the threat of social unrest. Using a panel dataset on 31 provinces in China from 2001 to 2015, I find that provinces with open economies and higher threat of social unrest provide broader social insurance coverage. On the other hand, provinces with similar levels of economic openness but with lower levels of social unrest are associated with lower levels of coverage. These findings suggest that provincial governments may be more likely to utilize social policy instruments to compensate for the social costs of globalization, particularly in cases where exposure to the international market leads to increased social instability and discontent.
  PubDate: 2022-02-28
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-022-09349-w
The Perils of Parliamentarism: Executive Selection Systems and Democratic
Transitions from Electoral Authoritarianism
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  Abstract: Abstract Why are some electoral authoritarian regimes immune to democratization for decades while others not' This article explores the impact of executive selection systems on democratic transitions from electoral authoritarianism. We argue that under electoral authoritarian regimes, Parliament-based systems permit dictators to more effectively deter democratization compared to Presidential systems. This is because Parliament-based systems indirectly allow electoral manipulation to achieve a victory at the ballot box, such as through gerrymandering and malapportionment. Parliament-based systems also make it difficult for opposition parties to coordinate and incentivize autocrats and ruling elites to engage in power-sharing and thus institutionalize ruling parties. We test our hypothesis as well as the underlying mechanisms employing a dataset of 93 electoral authoritarian countries between 1946 and 2012. Cross-national statistical analyses with instrumental variables estimation provide supporting evidence for our theory.
  PubDate: 2022-02-23
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-022-09350-3
Correction to: The Dollar Cycle of International Development,
1973–2017
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  PubDate: 2021-12-09
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09348-3
The Authoritarian Origins of Dominant Parties in Democracies: Opposition
Fragmentation and Asymmetric Competition in India
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  Abstract: Abstract What explains the electoral dominance of a single party over a prolonged period of time in a democracy' Focusing on the case of India’s former dominant party, the Indian National Congress, this article argues that authoritarian-era politics can influence the likelihood of single-party dominance after democratization. More specifically, the axes of political contestation in the authoritarian era interact with the process of democratization to shape democratic-era party systems. When the authoritarian era’s primary socio-political division becomes irrelevant because the democratization process roundly discredits one side of the division, the resulting party system in the democratic period is likely to feature a single major party and a host of small, disorganized, and inexperienced parties. Such asymmetric party competition is particularly likely to produce a dominant party. This explanation not only accounts for the fragmented nature of the opposition in early post-independence India, which was central to sustaining single-party dominance, but it can also potentially shed light on single-party dominance (or its absence) elsewhere in the world.
  PubDate: 2021-12-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09328-7
Upgrading Big Brother: Local Strategic Adaptation in China’s
Security Industry
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  Abstract: Abstract What are the circumstances under which latecomer firms can develop indigenous innovative capacity and compete globally' China’s construction of a vast domestic security apparatus has contributed to it becoming the world’s largest supplier and consumer of video surveillance products and services. It has also produced several globally competitive companies, including those engaged in digital surveillance. Although security equipment producers initially emerged in Guangdong province, China’s leading technology companies are concentrated in Zhejiang province. This comparative study is motivated by the puzzle of why Guangdong, which has a larger security equipment industry with more local investment and earlier introduction of foreign technology, has lagged behind Zhejiang in technological upgrading. We trace this provincial variation to the policy choices of local state bureaucracies and the business strategies of local enterprises. While macro-level variables such as market demand and establishing national industry standards are important for industrial development, this study demonstrates the critical role of local technocrats and entrepreneurs in facilitating technological innovation in a rapidly evolving surveillance regime. Our analysis also reveals how latecomers to a technology-intensive industry were able to adapt their products strategically to meet the technical demands of a major segment of the domestic market, China’s public security sector.
  PubDate: 2021-12-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09342-9
Does Charisma Affect Survival in Office for Leaders Who Take Power via
Military Coup'
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  Abstract: Abstract There is ample research on the incidence of coups d’état but less on their aftermath. Why do some national leaders who seize power via military coup stay in power longer than others once they unseat their predecessors' This study tests whether facial attractiveness—which we argue is a testable proxy for personal charisma—helps explain variation in coup-installed leader survival. We draw on multiple data sources of coups worldwide from 1950 to 2010, as well as original attractiveness data coded from survey responses. We find that more attractive coup-installed leaders retain power longer than their less attractive counterparts after successfully ousting the incumbent. The attractiveness advantage is particularly strong for leaders in the first 5 years of their tenure, those who seized power from a dictatorship as opposed to a democracy, and those who rule without parties in the legislature. We argue that leaders who take power through a military coup lack both traditional and rational-legal authority; for such cases, facial attractiveness may signal charismatic authority sufficient to survive the institutional vacuum following an unconstitutional ascent to power.
  PubDate: 2021-12-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09326-9
Climbing to the Top' How Globalized Competition for Capital Affects
Judicial Independence
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  Abstract: Abstract In this article, building on the globalized competition-driven policy convergence literature, we argue that states improve judicial independence when their competitors for foreign direct investment (FDI) have granted more autonomy to their own courts. We also argue that this effect is stronger in more democratic regimes. We finally argue that non-high-income nations are more likely to react positively to their competitors’ improvements in judicial independence. Using FDI data from 1993 to 2010 and the structural equivalence technique while addressing the endogeneity issue in the relationship between judicial independence and investment, we capture the policy choices of FDI competitors concerning judicial independence. We find evidence in support of our theoretical conjectures. Our results remain largely robust to alternative model specifications, measures, and estimators.
  PubDate: 2021-12-01
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09345-6
The Incoherence of Institutional Reform: Decentralization as a Structural
Solution to Immediate Political Needs
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  Abstract: Abstract Institutional reforms are structural changes in the rules and norms of authority, with effects that are long-term and unpredictable on government, politics, and society. But leaders may undertake them to solve unrelated, discrete, short-term political problems. Understanding the latter is key to understanding the characteristics of many real reforms, and hence their fate. We introduce the concept of instrumental incoherence and use it to construct a theory of decentralization where reform is motivated by orthogonal objectives. We show that reformers’ incentives map onto the specifics of reform design via their side effects, not their main effects, which in turn lead to the medium- and long-term consequences eventually realized. We characterize downwardly accountable decentralization, which ties the hands of the center to empower local voters, vs. upwardly accountable decentralization, which ties the hands of local government to empower the center. We use these ideas to explain highly divergent outcomes in two extreme cases, Bolivia and Pakistan, using detailed, original evidence. Our analysis likely extends to a broader class of reforms where the incentives of agents pursuing a change, and the effects of that change, are highly asymmetric in time and dimension.
  PubDate: 2021-11-09
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09347-4
The Dollar Cycle of International Development, 1973–2017
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  Abstract: Abstract Since the 1970s, developing countries across the world have collectively experienced a series of economic upswings and downturns. Existing theories of international development, which mostly focus on country-specific factors that facilitate or hinder growth, cannot explain this across-the-board cycle. We argue that the cycle is driven by changes in the global supply of the US dollar, the default currency of transaction and foreign exchange reserves in the world economy. Based on a time-series—cross-section analysis with fixed effects on 170 developing countries from 1973 to 2017, we find that an increase in the global dollar supply brings lower borrowing costs and greater availability of external financial resources, enabling higher growth rates in the developing world. Conversely, a contraction in the global dollar supply increases borrowing costs and dries up financial resources, slowing down growth in developing countries. The vagaries of the dollar supply, determined largely by the domestic political economy of the USA, have formed the context for international development contributing to the “golden age of development” in the 1970s, the international debt crisis of the 1980s, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998, and the beginning and end of rapid growth in the 2000s, among others.
  PubDate: 2021-10-26
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09346-5
Donor-Funded Women’s Empowerment in Tajikistan: Trajectories of
Women’s NGOs and Changing Attitudes to the International Agenda
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  Abstract: Abstract This article investigates internationally funded women’s empowerment initiatives in Tajikistan. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent Tajik civil war (1992–1997), this newly independent, Muslim-majority country has experienced an influx of foreign aid, including in the field of women’s rights. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the article analyzes the growth and diversification of local, Western-funded women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) between 1991 and 2020, paying attention to their leadership and aims, as well as changing perceptions of donors’ interventions. It is argued that, initially, local activists were supportive of international projects, which promoted gender equality by supporting women’s integration into the new, capitalist economy. In the last decade, however, an increasing conditionality of funding and deteriorating donor-NGO relations has fueled local contestations of the international agenda. The donor-enhanced women’s empowerment model, which fosters individual responsibility and self-reliance, is increasingly criticized for aggravating the conditions of local women in the context of a growing economic insecurity characterizing the local capitalist economy. Against this resentment, an alternative women’s empowerment model, advancing gender equity based on complementarity of male and female social roles and stressing the importance of family as a safety net against economic precarity, is gaining prominence locally.
  PubDate: 2021-07-13
  DOI: 10.1007/s12116-021-09343-8