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Are voters too afraid to tackle corruption? Survey and experimental evidence from Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2021

Omar García-Ponce Open the ORCID record for Omar García-Ponce [Opens in a new window] ,
Thomas Zeitzoff  and
Leonard Wantchekon
Omar García-Ponce*
Affiliation:
George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Thomas Zeitzoff
Affiliation:
American University, Washington, DC, USA
Leonard Wantchekon
Affiliation:
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: garciaponce@gwu.edu
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Abstract

Are individuals in violent contexts reluctant to tackle corruption for fear of future violence? Or does violence mobilize them to fight corruption? We investigate these questions looking at the effects of fear and violence stemming from the Mexican Drug War on attitudes toward corruption. We conducted two surveys before the 2012 Mexican presidential election. First, as part of a nationally representative survey, we find a positive correlation between fear of violence and willingness to accept corruption in exchange for lower levels of violence. To disentangle causal effects, we conducted a follow-up survey experiment in Greater Mexico City where we manipulated fear over the Drug War. We find that individuals within this context are not easily scared. Those who received a common fear-inducing manipulation do not report higher levels of fear and are less willing to tolerate corruption. Conversely, we find strong evidence that individuals who have been victims of crime are more likely to report both higher levels of fear and willingness to accept corruption if it lowers violence. Our findings suggest that voters are more strategic and resilient in the face of violence than many extant theories of political behavior suggest.

Keywords

Civil/domestic conflictcomparative politics: developing countriescomparative politics: political behaviorexperimentalresearch
Type
Original Article
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 709 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Political Science Association

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Footnotes

We are grateful to Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, Oeindrila Dube, Beatriz Magaloni, Horacio Larreguy, and participants at the USMEX, MPSA, and LACEA conferences, for valuable comments and suggestions. All errors remain ours.

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