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“Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses

Publication ,  Journal Article
Manion, M
Published in: Comparative Political Studies
March 1, 2017

A new electoral design for subnational congress elections in China allows me to investigate the informational utility of authoritarian elections. Authoritarian regimes are notoriously bad at solving the moral hazard problem in the voter’s agency relationship with politicians. Borrowing from the literature on political selection, I theorize that authoritarian elections can nonetheless solve the adverse selection problem: Chinese voters can use their electoral power to select “good types,” with personal qualities that signal they will reliably represent local interests. I analyze original data from a survey of 4,071 Chinese local congressmen and women, including voter nominees and communist party nominees. I find that voters do in fact overcome coordination difficulties to nominate and elect “good types.” In contacting politicians about local problems after the elections, however, voters hedge their bets by contacting regime insiders too. At these very local levels, congressional representation by means of political selection co-exists with communist party nominating and veto power in the electoral process.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Comparative Political Studies

DOI

EISSN

1552-3829

ISSN

0010-4140

Publication Date

March 1, 2017

Volume

50

Issue

3

Start / End Page

362 / 394

Related Subject Headings

  • Political Science & Public Administration
  • 4408 Political science
  • 1606 Political Science
 

Citation

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Manion, M. (2017). “Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses. Comparative Political Studies, 50(3), 362–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414014537027
Manion, M. ““Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses.” Comparative Political Studies 50, no. 3 (March 1, 2017): 362–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414014537027.
Manion M. “Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses. Comparative Political Studies. 2017 Mar 1;50(3):362–94.
Manion, M. ““Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses.” Comparative Political Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, Mar. 2017, pp. 362–94. Scopus, doi:10.1177/0010414014537027.
Manion M. “Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses. Comparative Political Studies. 2017 Mar 1;50(3):362–394.
Journal cover image

Published In

Comparative Political Studies

DOI

EISSN

1552-3829

ISSN

0010-4140

Publication Date

March 1, 2017

Volume

50

Issue

3

Start / End Page

362 / 394

Related Subject Headings

  • Political Science & Public Administration
  • 4408 Political science
  • 1606 Political Science