Collective Action, Political Parties and Pro-Development Public Policy

Keefer, Philip

关键词: ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    CANDIDATES;    CIVIL SERVANTS;    CIVIL SOCIETY;    COLLECTIVE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5676
RP-ID  :  WPS5676

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Broad consensus exists that the abilityof political actors to make credible commitments is key todevelopment. An important and little-explored determinant ofthe credibility of political commitments is the existence oforganizations that facilitate citizen collective action tosanction political actors who renege. This paper focuses onone essential organization, the political party. Threemeasures of political parties are used to assesscross-country differences in the degree to which politiciansfacilitate the ability of citizens to act in theircollective interest. Each of these measures is associatedwith superior development outcomes, above and beyond theeffects of competitive elections. These results haveimplications for understanding the extraordinary economicsuccess of some East Asian countries and notable lags amongothers: East Asian non-democracies exhibit moreinstitutionalized ruling parties than other non-democracies,while East Asian democracies exhibit equally or lessinstitutionalized parties. The evidence suggests thatgreater research and policy emphasis be placed on theorganizational characteristics of countries that allowcitizens to hold leaders accountable.