On deliberative decision-making and disputed elections

Citizens form policy preferences through democratic deliberation

A recent study in Tanzania investigated the effect of democratic deliberation on public attitudes.  After Tanzania's discovery of major natural gas reserves, the researchers sent information about gas policy options to a nationally-representative group of Tanzanians. The researchers then invited a random subset of those Tanzanians to participate in intensive public deliberations about how to spend the gas revenues.  Information alone had no effect on any policy opinion, but information with deliberation (1) strengthened the public's preference for spending gas revenues on social services instead of infrastructure or direct cash transfers and (2) increased support for transparency and oversight measures. These changes were not driven by the views of males, the educated, the rich, or discussion facilitators.  This study shows that average citizens engage in meaningful deliberation to form and update their preferences about complex policy issues.

Disputing electoral results lowers voters’ trust in elections

Recent research studied the consequences of candidates in Latin America refusing to concede an electoral defeat.  The researchers combined data about disputed elections in the region with AmericasBarometer survey data of almost 100,000 respondents across 49 elections in 18 Latin American countries.  When a losing candidate rejected the election results, respondents who voted for that candidate expressed significantly less trust in the election than when a losing candidate accepted the results.  This finding could not be explained by variables measuring the quality of the electoral process, such as expert assessments of electoral integrity or the autonomy of the Electoral Management Body. This research demonstrates the power of political candidates to influence views of the democratic system; it also suggests that electoral authorities might maintain confidence in the electoral process by undertaking campaigns to emphasize that, in democracies, we expect losers to accept the results of elections.

Do you have a study we should share for a future Facty Friday? Send an email to drg.el@usaid.gov!”