Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:34:35.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do Citizens See Through Transparency? Evidence from Survey Experiments in Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2017

Darren Hawkins ,
Lucas C. Brook ,
Ian M. Hansen ,
Neal A. Hoopes  and
Taylor R. Tidwell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Government transparency is widely promoted, yet little is known about transparency’s effects. Survey experiments reported here, made on the streets of Lima, Peru, investigate a simple question: what are the effects of government-sponsored transparency websites, and the information revealed by those efforts, on attitudes about the Peruvian political system? Like many developing countries, Peru lacks much system support, making it more difficult to improve governance and democracy; transparency itself has little impact on political attitudes. However, some dimensions of the information provided by transparency matter: endorsement by a credible third party or framing that associates comparatively good community well-being with government performance. These conditions substantively increase Peruvians’ approval of the national political community, the regime’s performance, institutions, and local government.

Keywords

transparencylegitimacysystem supportsurvey experiment
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 205 - 228
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

All the authors are at the Department of Political Science, Brigham Young University (email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]), except Ian M. Hansen, who is at the School of Law, University of Chicago (email: [email protected])). Johnny Harris, Andy Gonzalez and Estela Zuzunaga provided outstanding research assistance. The authors thank Ryan Carlin, Wendy Hunter, and participants in Brigham Young University and Inter-American Development Bank research seminars for their comments on previous versions of this article. We also benefitted from presenting it at the conferences of the Latin American Studies Association and the Midwest Political Science Association. Brigham Young University and its College of Family, Home and Social Sciences provided funding for this project. Data replication sets are available at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/BJPolS and online appendices at http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1017/S0007123416000466.

References

List Of References

Acosta, Andrés Mejía, and Haddad, Lawrence. 2014. The Politics of Success in the Fight against Malnutrition in Peru. Food Policy 44:26–35.Google Scholar
Anderson, Christopher J., and Tverdova, Yuliya V.. 2003. Corruption, Political Allegiances, and Attitudes toward Governing in Contemporary Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 47 (1):91–109.Google Scholar
Alt, James E., Lassen, David Dreyer, and Skilling, David. 2002. Fiscal Transparency, Gubernatorial Approval, and the Scale of Government: Evidence from the States. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 2 (3):230–250.Google Scholar
Baker, Andy, and Cupery, David. 2013. Anti-Americanism in Latin America: Economic Exchange, Foreign Policy Legacies, and Mass Attitudes toward the Colossus of the North. Latin American Research Review 48 (2):106–130.Google Scholar
Baum, Matthew A., and Groeling, Tim. 2008. New Media and the Polarization of American Political Discourse. Political Communication 25 (4):345–365.Google Scholar
Booth, John A., and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2009. The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America: Political Support and Democracy in Eight Nations. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bratton, Michael, and Mattes, Robert. 2001. Support for Democracy in Africa: Intrinsic or Instrumental? British Journal of Political Science 31:447–474.Google Scholar
Bratton, Michael, Mattes, Robert, and Gyimah-Boadi, E.. 2005. Public Opinion, Democracy and Market Reform in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Callison, Coy. 2001. Do PR Practitioners Have a PR Problem? The Effect of Associating a Source with Public Relations and Client-Negative News on Audience Perception of Credibility. Journal of Public Relations Research 13 (3):219–234.Google Scholar
Callison, Coy. 2004. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Perceptions of Public Relations Practitioners. Journal of Public Relations Research 16 (4):371–389.Google Scholar
Canache, Damarys, Mondak, Jeffrey J., and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2001. Meaning and Measurement in Cross-National Research on Satisfaction with Democracy. Public Opinion Quarterly 65 (4):506–529.Google Scholar
Carrión, Julio. 2009. Peru’s Confidence Gap. Americas Quarterly 3 (June):35–39.Google Scholar
Carrión, Julio F., and Zárate, Patricia. 2009. Cultura Política de la Democracia en el Perú, 2008: El Impacto de la Gobernabilidad. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.Google Scholar
Carrión, Julio, Zárate, Patricia, and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2011. Political Culture of Democracy in Peru, 2010. Democratic Consolidation in the Americas in Hard Times: Research Report. Available from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/peru/2010-political-culture.pdf, accessed 5 June 2014.Google Scholar
Carrión, Julio, Zárate, Patricia, and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2012. Political Culture of Democracy in Peru and in the Americas, 2012: Towards Equality of Opportunity. Available from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/peru/Peru_Country_Report_2012_English_W.pdf, accessed 6 May 2015.Google Scholar
Chanley, Virginia A., Rudolph, Thomas J., and Rahn, Wendy M.. 2000. The Origins and Consequences of Public Trust in Government: A Time Series Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly 64 (3):239–256.Google Scholar
Chong, Dennis, and Druckman, James N.. 2007. Framing Theory. Annual Review of Political Science 10:103–126.Google Scholar
Cook, Fay Lomax, Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Kim, Dukhong. 2010. Trusting What You Know: Information, Knowledge and Confidence in Social Security. Journal of Politics 72 (2):397–412.Google Scholar
Córdova, Abby, and Layton, Matthew L.. 2016. When Is ‘Delivering the Goods’ Not Good Enough? How Economic Disparities in Latin American Neighborhoods Shape Citizen Trust in Local Government. World Politics 68:74–110.Google Scholar
Druckman, James N. 2001. The Implications of Framing Effects for Citizen Competence. Political Behavior 23 (3):225–256.Google Scholar
Durham, Deborah. 1997. How to Biggest the Bang Out of Your Next Spokesperson Campaign. Public Relations Quarterly 42 (1):38–41.Google Scholar
Easton, David. 1965. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Easton, David. 1975. A Reassessment of the Concept of Political Support. British Journal of Political Science 5:435–457.Google Scholar
Englebert, Pierre. 2000. State Legitimacy and Development in Africa. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Espinal, Rosario, Hartlyn, Jonathan, and Kelly, Jana Morgan. 2006. Performance Still Matters: Explaining Trust in Government in the Dominican Republic. Comparative Political Studies 39 (2):200–223.Google Scholar
Ferejohn, John. 1999. Accountability and Authority: Toward a Theory of Political Accountability. In Adam Przeworski, Susan C. Stokes and Bernark Manin, eds, Democracy, Accountability and Representation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Florini, Ann. 2007. The Right to Know: Transparency for an Open World. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Frederickson, H. George, and Frederickson, David G.. 1995. Public Perceptions of Ethics in Government. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 537:163–172.Google Scholar
Garramone, Gina M. 1985. Effects of Negative Political Advertising: The Roles of Sponsor and Rebuttal. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 29 (2):147–159.Google Scholar
Gerber, Alan S., and Green, Donald P.. 2012. Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.Google Scholar
Gilley, Bruce. 2006. The Determinants of State Legitimacy: Results for 72 Countries. International Political Science Review 27 (1):47–71.Google Scholar
Gilley, Bruce. 2009. The Right to Rule: How States Win and Lose Legitimacy. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Grant, Ruth W., and Keohane, Robert O.. Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics. American Political Science Review 99 (1):29–43.Google Scholar
Greer, Jennifer D. 2003. Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information: A Test of Source and Advertising Influence. Mass Communication and Society 6 (1):11–28.Google Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan. 2011. Being Transparent or Spinning the Message? An Experiment into the Effects of Varying Message Content on Trust in Government. Information Polity 16:35–50.Google Scholar
Hagopian, Frances, and Mainwaring, Scott P.. 2005. The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hetherington, Marc J. 1998. The Political Relevance of Political Trust. American Political Science Review 92 (4):791–808.Google Scholar
Hiskey, Jonathan T., and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2003. Pitfalls of Power to the People: Decentralization, Local Government Performance, and System Support in Bolivia. Studies in Comparative International Development 37 (4):64–88.Google Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto, and Valentino, Nicholas A.. 2000. Who Says What? Source Credibility as a Mediator of Campaign Advertising. Pp. 108–129 in Arthur Lupia, Mathew, McCubbins and Samuel Popkin, eds, Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keele, Luke. 2007. Social Capital and the Dynamics of Trust in Government. American Journal of Political Science 51 (2):241–254.Google Scholar
Kim, Myunghee, and Voorhees, Mychal. 2011. Government Effectiveness and Institutional Trust in Japan, South Korea, and China. Asian Politics & Policy 3 (3):413–432.Google Scholar
Layton, Matthew L., and Smith, Amy Erica. 2015. Incorporating Marginal Citizens and Voters: The Conditional Electoral Effects of Targeted Social Assistance in Latin America. Comparative Political Studies 48 (7):854–881.Google Scholar
Lebo, Matthew J., and Cassino, Daniel. 2007. The Aggregated Consequences of Motivated Reasoning and the Dynamics of Partisan Presidential Approval. Political Psychology 28 (6):719–746.Google Scholar
Lee, Gia. 2005. Persuasion, Transparency and Government Speech. Hastings Law Journal 56 (5):983–1057.Google Scholar
Levitt, Barry S. 2011. Institutional Trust and Congressional Autonomy in Latin America: Expectations, Performance, and Confidence in Peru’s Legislature. Journal of Politics in Latin America 3 (2):73–105.Google Scholar
Licht, Jenny de Fine, Naurin, Daniel, Esaiasson, Peter, and Gilljam, Mikael. 2014. When Does Transparency Generate Legitimacy? Experimenting on a Context-Bound Relationship. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 27 (1):111–134.Google Scholar
Lupia, Arthur, and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 2000. The Institutional Foundations of Political Competence: How Citizens Learn What They Need to Know. Pp. 47–66 in Arthur Lupia, Mathew McCubbins and Samuel Popkin, eds, Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Alistair. 2011. UK Pushes for Government Transparency. Wall Street Journal, 20 Sept. Available from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904106704576580713804299134, accessed 14 Nov. 2016.Google Scholar
Malka, Ariel, Krosnick, Jon A., and Langer, Gary. 2009. The Association of Knowledge with Concern about Global Warming: Trusted Information Sources Shape Public Thinking. Risk Analysis 29 (5):633–647.Google Scholar
Marien, Sofie, and Hooghe, Marc. 2011. Does Political Trust Matter? An Empirical Investigation into the Relation between Political Trust and Support for Law Compliance. European Journal of Political Research 50:267–291.Google Scholar
McClendon, Gwyneth H. 2012. The Politics of Envy and Esteem in Two Democracies, Doctoral dissertation, Princeton University: Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Miller, Joanne M., and Krosnick, Jon A.. 2000. News Media Impact on the Ingredients of Presidential Evaluations: Politically Knowledgeable Citizens Are Guided by a Trusted Source. American Journal of Political Science 44 (2):301–315.Google Scholar
Mishler, William, and Rose, Richard. 2001. What are the Origins of Political Trust? Testing Institutional and Cultural Theories in Post-Communist Societies. Comparative Political Studies 34 (1):20–62.Google Scholar
Mishler, William, and Rose, Richard. 2005. What Are the Political Consequences of Trust? A Test of Cultural and Institutional Theories in Russia. Comparative Political Studies 38 (9):1050–1078.Google Scholar
Morgeson III, Forrest V., VanAmburg, David, and Mithas, Sunil. 2011. Misplaced Trust? Exploring the Structure of the E-Government–Citizen Trust Relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 21 (2):257–283.Google Scholar
Morris, Stephen D., and Klesner, Joseph L.. 2010. Corruption and Trust: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from Mexico. Comparative Political Studies 43 (10):1258–1285.Google Scholar
Murphy, Priscilla. 2001. Affiliation Bias and Expert Disagreement in Framing the Nicotine Addiction Debate. Science, Technology, and Human Values 26 (3):278–299.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 2011. Democratic Deficit. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O’Keefe, Daniel J. 2002. Persuasion: Theory and Research. California, Los Angeles: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Open Government Partnership. 2016a. Open Government Declaration. Available from http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/open-government-declaration. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.Google Scholar
Open Government Partnership. 2016b. What is the Open Government Partnership? Available from http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., Shapiro, Robert Y., and Dempsey, Glenn R.. 1987. What Moves Public Opinion? American Political Science Review 81 (1):23–44.Google Scholar
Partnership for Transparency Fund. 2016. Our Mission. Available at http://ptfund.org/about-2/, accessed 14 Nov. 2016.Google Scholar
Peruvian Government. 2015. Portal de Transparencia Estandar. Portal del Estado Peruano. Available from http://www.peru.gob.pe/transparencia/pep_transparencia.asp. Accessed 24 November 2015.Google Scholar
Pornpitakpan, Chanthika. 2006. The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades’ Evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 34 (2):243–281.Google Scholar
Priester, Joseph R., and Petty, Richard E.. 1995. Source Attributions and Persuasion: Perceived Honesty as a Determinant of Message Scrutiny. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21 (6):637–654.Google Scholar
Rossotto Ioris, and Augusto, Antonio. 2012. The Neoliberalization of Water in Lima, Peru. Political Geography 31 (5):266–278.Google Scholar
Sallot, Lynne M. 2002. What the Public Thinks about Public Relations: An Impression Management Experiment. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 79 (1):150–171.Google Scholar
Scholz, John T., and Lubell, Mark. 1998. Trust and Taxpaying: Testing the Heuristic Approach to Collective Action. American Journal of Political Science 42 (2):398–417.Google Scholar
Silliman, Laura. 2014. Bridging Inter-American Divides: Views of the US across the Americas. Americas Barometer Insights. Available from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/insights/IO905en.pdf, accessed 6 May 2015.Google Scholar
Sniderman, Paul M., and Theriault, Sean M.. 2004. The Structure of Political Argument and the Logic of Issue Framing. Pp. 133–165 in Willem E. Saris and Paul M. Sniderman, eds, Studies in Public Opinion: Attitudes, Nonattituudes, Measurement Error and Change. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Taber, Charles S., and Lodge, Milton. 2006. Motivated Skepticism in the Evaluation of Political Beliefs. American Journal of Political Science 50 (3):755–769.Google Scholar
Taber, Charles S., Cann, Damon, and Kucsova, Simona. 2009. The Motivated Processing of Political Arguments. Political Behavior 31 (2):137–155.Google Scholar
USAID. 2008. From the American People: Why the Story that US Foreign Assistance Is Working Must Be Told: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. Available from http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/pub_outreach_final.pdf, accessed 6 May 2015.Google Scholar
Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca. 2008. The Local Connection: Local Government Performance and Satisfaction with Democracy in Argentina. Comparative Political Studies 41 (3):285–308.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2012. Strengthening Governance: Tackling Corruption. The World Bank Group’s Updated Strategy and Implementation Plan, March 6. Available from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/PUBLICSECTORANDGOVERNANCE/Resources/285741-1326816182754/GACStrategyImplementationPlan.pdf. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Hawkins supplementary material

Appendix

Download Hawkins supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 306.3 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Hawkins et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WOGD0F
Link