Collective Action, Political Parties and Pro-Development Public Policy
Broad consensus exists that the ability of political actors to make credible commitments is key to development. An important and little-explored determinant of the credibility of political commitments is the existence of organizations that facilita...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110602170419 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3439 |
| Summary: | Broad consensus exists that the ability
of political actors to make credible commitments is key to
development. An important and little-explored determinant of
the credibility of political commitments is the existence of
organizations that facilitate citizen collective action to
sanction political actors who renege. This paper focuses on
one essential organization, the political party. Three
measures of political parties are used to assess
cross-country differences in the degree to which politicians
facilitate the ability of citizens to act in their
collective interest. Each of these measures is associated
with superior development outcomes, above and beyond the
effects of competitive elections. These results have
implications for understanding the extraordinary economic
success of some East Asian countries and notable lags among
others: East Asian non-democracies exhibit more
institutionalized ruling parties than other non-democracies,
while East Asian democracies exhibit equally or less
institutionalized parties. The evidence suggests that
greater research and policy emphasis be placed on the
organizational characteristics of countries that allow
citizens to hold leaders accountable. |
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