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Political Competition, Partisanship, and Interpersonal Trust Under Party Dominance: Evidence from Post-Apartheid South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2019

Ryan E. Carlin ,
Gregory J. Love  and
Daniel J. Young
Ryan E. Carlin
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA30302, USA, e-mail: [email protected]
Gregory J. Love
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Mississippi, University, MS38677, USA, e-mail: [email protected]
Daniel J. Young*
Affiliation:
Social and Behavioral Sciences, Miami University, Oxford, OH45056, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

How does single-party dominance influence interpersonal trust? We draw on evidence from trust games played by more than 2,000 subjects in South Africa, where, since Apartheid, race-based social enmity has persisted under democratic competition characterized by single-party dominance. We find that partisan-based trust discrimination is most pronounced for those who identify with the main opposition party and is driven by strong distrust of rival partisans. These findings underscore how electoral competition, in general, shapes trust across party lines and suggests one-sided competition, in particular, has asymmetrical effects between parties in dominant party systems. Moreover, this study provides additional evidence regarding the relative weights of trustworthiness stereotypes tied to partisanship and race.

Keywords

interpersonal trustpartyismdominant party systemstrust gameSouth Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Summer 2020 , pp. 101 - 111
Copyright
© The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2019

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