Alessandro Pellegata

Constraining political corruption: an empirical analysis of the impact of democracy

The present article addresses the relationship between democracy and political corruption. Extending past studies, this article introduces important refinements that respond to theoretical and methodological concerns. The theoretical framework proposed here is developed based on an electoral conception of democracy, which makes it possible to avoid the potential endogeneity problems associated with substantial definitions of democracy. I argue that despite the influence of other important aspects of democracy, elections and inter-party competition per se help to constrain political corruption. The article examines two analytical dimensions of democracy, the current level of democracy and its degree of consolidation over time. Unlike previous studies, a cross-national empirical analysis of a sample of more than 100 countries reveals that when tested together, the level of democracy and its degree of longitudinal variation are both significantly related to the control of corruption. The level of democracy affects corruption in a non-linear way. Hybrid regimes that are more autocratic than democratic show a lower level of corruption control than democracies, near-democracies, and closed dictatorships. The analysis also confirms that, despite having adopted different measures, more consolidated democracies are more powerful in constraining corruption.

Worker mobility under attack? Explaining labour market chauvinism in the EU

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to investigate citizen views on the free movement of workers within the European Union (EU). We are interested in how situational and relational factors affect labour market chauvinist attitudes. Drawing on the threat theory, we advance new hypotheses on the role of intertemporal relative deprivation in amplifying chauvinist inclinations. From the intergroup contact theory and transnational approaches, we borrow insights on the role played by cross-border experiences and inclusion in discursive and associational networks in containing chauvinism. The analysis uses the original ‘Reconciling Economic and Social Europe’ (REScEU) survey conducted in six EU countries (i.e., France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden) in the fall of 2016. The article shows that – though rooted in class and status positions – chauvinist attitudes are clearly sensitive to contingent situations and lifeworld experiences.

Assessing the complex relationship between government alternation and ideological congruence

This article analyses the impact of government alternation on ideological congruence, going beyond the traditional distinction between the majoritarian and proportional visions of democracy that characterises the literature. I postulate that the effects of alternation on congruence differ according to the concept of alternation adopted and the time frame considered. While the possibility of alternation has no significant effect on congruence, the actual levels of alternation do play an ambivalent role. Higher levels of alternation increase the distance between the median voter’s and the government’s preferences at the time of the election. However, in the long run, the level of alternation accumulated over time reduces the average level of ideological distance, compensating for gaps in one direction with opposing gaps in the other direction. Empirical analysis conducted on a sample of 32 democracies confirms all of the hypotheses advanced.

Corruption and satisfaction with democracy: the conditional role of electoral disproportionality and ballot control

Existing literature has analysed the relationship between electoral systems and either corruption or satisfaction with democracy (SWD) focussing on the traditional distinction between majoritarian and proportional systems. This paper, instead, investigates if and how specific aspects of electoral systems moderate the negative effects of corruption perceptions on SWD. We argue that two mechanisms act simultaneously but at different levels. The first mechanism is the relationship between voters and the national government, while the second links single representatives to their constituents. We advance conditional hypotheses that postulate an attenuating effect of disproportionality and a reinforcing impact of personal vote. Empirical results from 35 elections in 33 democracies, using both individual and aggregate-level data, confirm the research hypotheses. More disproportional electoral systems weaken the impact of citizens’ perceived corruption on their democratic satisfaction, while this is strengthened by systems in which the ballot control is mostly in the hand of the voters.

To Elect or Not to Elect: Leaders, Alternation in Power and Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract This paper investigates whether and how multiparty elections, introduced in many African countries since the early 1990s, affect a government’s commitment to welfare policies. We hypothesise that contested multiparty elections and turnovers between different leaders and political forces in government – even when democratic standards are not met – positively impact the promotion of social welfare. We test these hypotheses through a cross-sectional and time-series research design, making use of our new, comprehensive ‘Africa Leadership Change’ (ALC) dataset. Empirical results confirm that leaders elected through multiparty elections and countries that experience political alternations in government are associated with higher levels of social welfare.

Economic crisis and lawmaking. The impact of crisis on legislative agenda in Italy

ABSTRACT Major economic crises are focal events that often drive changes in various aspects of political systems. Although extensive work has been done to investigate the effect of exogenous shocks on political phenomena such as government termination, public opinion and policy outcomes, the impact of major crises on the process of policymaking has so far received scarce attention. Building on existing literature on policy agendas and legislative organization, this paper explores how the Eurozone crisis has affected the legislative agenda of the Italian parliament. The data used include information on the 1,110 bills submitted to parliament during Legislature XVI (2008–2013). Our analysis shows that, with the worsening of the crisis, bill proposals related to macroeconomic issues become increasingly more likely to enter the legislative agenda, displacing legislation dealing with other topics. Our argument is corroborated by a comparison between Legislature XVI and a pre-crisis legislature (2001–2006), as in the latter term the legislative agenda follows different patterns.

Accountability through government alternation: Economic performance and the conditional role of political institutions in fifty countries, 1990–2015

Government alternation is a fundamental aspect of representative democracies because it is the most efficient mechanism of accountability through which voters can steer the course of government. Previous research on alternation has focused either on its conceptualization and measurement or on its role as a determinant of political and economic outcomes. This article attempts to investigate the factors affecting government alternation. We test research hypotheses on the direct effect of the economy on alternation and the conditional role played by political-institutional settings using an original dataset covering 50 countries from 1990 to 2015 and including 304 elections. First, the article provides an overview of the patterns of alternation in the countries we analyse. Second, it shows that alternation is less likely in times of successful macroeconomic performance, and that the effect of macroeconomic conditions on alternation is only partially conditional on the political-institutional context.

Members apart: a mass-elite comparison of mutual perceptions and support for the European Union in Germany and Italy

ABSTRACT The multiple crises faced by the European Union – economic stagnation, geopolitical insecurity, refugee and migration flows – and some side-effects of the integration process (e.g. fiscal austerity, transnational redistribution, borders protection) seem not only to have exacerbated the public-elite divide in almost all member states, but also re-vitalised the North-South rift. If public support and trust in the capacity of EU institutions to resolve problems have seriously declined over the last few years, mutual prejudices between Northern and Southern countries have been reinforced by recent developments within the EU. The article uses the cases of Germany and Italy as illustrative examples of this ‘within’ and ‘cross-country’ malaise. By using a longitudinal and cross-sectional approach, it systematically explores the changing orientations of public opinion and political leaders with regard to the European integration project, supranational cohesion, and, last but not least, the perceived image of the other member state in the last four decades. The article moves forward the theoretical discussion on the state of intra-European relations by offering a unique source of data to study how attitudes towards the EU have been shaped by domestic and external conditions and how, in turn, these attitudes have impacted on the reciprocal views of Italians and Germans.