Candidate Choice in the Face of Dismissive State Institutions

• In Event: Politics in the Global South’s Small and Medium-Sized Cities

Abstract

When seeking access to public services, citizens in much of the world encounter state institutions that are dismissive and discretionary. Navigating state institutions is not only challenging due to convoluted rules and procedures but also because it often involves degrading treatment by officials, especially toward poor and marginalized citizens. In such contexts, elected representatives serve as crucial nodes of access, assisting voters by using their political influence and pressure. In the face of inhospitable state institutions, what traits do voters look for in their elected representatives? Studies of distributive politics tend to emphasize the importance of co-ethnicity and co-partisanship, which are expected to facilitate access to public resources. Other studies emphasize indicators of candidate competence, such as education. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and experimental survey research in India’s small towns, we demonstrate the importance of politicians’ everyday social behavior (vyavhaar) among voters—specifically, their reputations for treating constituents with civility and attentiveness. In doing so, our study centers the overlooked socio-emotional underpinning of electoral behavior and distributive politics in India and elsewhere in the Global South.

Authors

• Adam Michael Auerbach, Johns Hopkins University

• Tariq Thachil, University of Pennsylvania

• Shikhar Singh, Duke University