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 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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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Keefer, Philip
Language:English
Published: 2011-06-01
Subjects:ACCESS TO INFORMATION, CANDIDATES, CIVIL SERVANTS, CIVIL SOCIETY, COLLECTIVE, COLLECTIVE ACTION, COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEM, COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEMS, COLLECTIVE INTEREST, COLLECTIVE INTERESTS, CONSTITUENCY, DECISION MAKERS, DECISION MAKING, DEMOCRACIES, DEMOCRACY, DICTATORSHIP, ECONOMIC POLICIES, ELECTION, ELECTIONS, ELECTORAL SYSTEMS, ELECTORATE, FRANCHISE, GOVERNMENT POLICIES, INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS, INDIVIDUALS, LOYALTY, MALFEASANCE, MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY, NATIONAL ELECTIONS, NATIONALISM, NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, PARTY LEADERS, PARTY MEMBERS, PARTY POLICY, PLEBISCITES, POLICY MAKERS, POLITICAL CANDIDATES, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS, POLITICAL PARTIES, POLITICAL PARTY, POLITICAL RISK, POLITICAL SCIENCE, POLITICIANS, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, PUBLIC GOOD, PUBLIC INTEREST, PUBLIC OFFICIALS, PUBLIC POLICY, PUBLIC SERVICES, SERVICE DELIVERY, SOCIETIES, VOTING,
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
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3439
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