Politicians Support (and Voters Reward) Intra-Party Reforms to Promote Transparency

Pereira, Miguel M.; Coroado, Susana; de Sousa, Luís; Magalhães, Pedro C.

doi:10.1177/13540688231203528

Title

Politicians Support (and Voters Reward) Intra-Party Reforms to Promote Transparency

Author

Pereira, Miguel M.

Coroado, Susana

de Sousa, Luís

Magalhães, Pedro C.

Abstract

Political parties increasingly rely on self-regulation to promote ethical standards in office. The adoption of ethics self-regulation and its ability to induce change is likely to be a function of the responses from politicians and voters. Without external enforcement mechanisms, compliance requires support from legislators. In turn, if voters perceive self-regulation as cheap talk, officials have fewer incentives to acquiesce. The extent to which such efforts are rewarded by voters and supported by elected officials remains an open question. We examine this question in a paired conjoint experiment with elected officials and voters in Portugal and Spain. The results show that politicians support (and voters reward) financial disclosures, lobbying registries, and sanctions for MPs involved in corruption cases. Voters also reward term limits, and the effects are not moderated by ideological agreement. The findings suggest that parties can benefit from promoting transparency reforms and are not penalized by experimentation.

Language

English

Source (journal)

Party politics. - London

Publication

London : 2023

ISSN

1354-0688

DOI

10.1177/13540688231203528

Volume/pages

15 p.