Who receives clientelistic benefits? Social identity, relative deprivation, and clientelistic acceptance among turkish voters

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2023

Authors

Yildirim, Kerem

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd

Open Access Color

OpenAIRE Downloads

OpenAIRE Views

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Abstract

Why do voters accept clientelism? Previous research suggests that poorer voters are more likely to accept clientelistic benefits. However, identities may moderate the effect of poverty through identity-based economic comparisons across groups. The role identity plays in partisanship, and dense ethnic identity networks may make it easier for parties to enforce clientelism among specific groups. This paper presents evidence from a survey experiment in Turkey to argue that politicized Kurdish ethnic identity, combined with heightened perceptions of relative economic deprivation, explains why certain voter groups are more likely to accept clientelism. Additionally, experimental evidence shows that support for clientelism may depend on the quality of benefits rather than quantity. Focusing only on the amount of resources or the recipients' economic conditions may fail to explain why certain voters accept clientelism more in the Turkish context.

Description

Keywords

Kurdish Ethno-Nationalism, Machine Politics, Partisan Networks, Conflict, Citizens, Linkages, Kurdish Ethno-Nationalism, Machine Politics, Turkey, Partisan Networks, clientelism, Conflict, voting behavior, Citizens, ethnic identity, Linkages, survey experiments

Turkish CoHE Thesis Center URL

Fields of Science

Citation

0

WoS Q

Q2

Scopus Q

Q1

Source

Turkish Studies

Volume

24

Issue

2

Start Page

231

End Page

257