| ID | 172541 |
| Title Proper | Relational State Building in Areas of Limited Statehood |
| Other Title Information | Experimental Evidence on the Attitudes of the Police |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Karim, Sabrina |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Under what conditions does state expansion into limited statehood areas improve perceptions of state authority? Although previous work emphasizes identity or institutional sources of state legitimacy, I argue that relationships between state agents and citizens drive positive attitude formation, because these relationships provide information and facilitate social bonds. Moreover, when state agents and citizens share demographic characteristics, perceptional effects may improve. Finally, citizens finding procedural interactions between state agents and citizens unfair may adopt negative views about the state. I test these three propositions by randomizing household visits by male or female police officers in rural Liberia. These visits facilitated relationship building, leading to improved perceptions of police; shared demographic characteristics between police and citizens did not strengthen this effect. Perceptions of unfairness in the randomization led to negative opinions about police. The results imply that relationship building between state agents and citizens is an important part of state building. |
| `In' analytical Note | American Political Science Review Vol. 114, No.2; May 2020: p.
536-551 |
| Journal Source | American Political Science Review 2020-05 114, 2 |
| Key Words | Limited Statehood ; Relational State Building ; Attitudes of the Police |