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Government Responsibility and Electoral Accountability in Federations

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  • Fred Cutler

Abstract

Because federalism can be a threat to accountability, a model of voting behavior in federations must accommodate voters' attributions of responsibility to each order of government for policy outcomes. This study uses a panel survey of Canadians in both federal and provincial elections to ask whether voters are able to hold governments accountable in a federal context. Voters may ignore issues where responsibility is unclear, they may reward or punish both the federal and provincial governments to the same degree, or the confusion of jurisdiction may sour them on the government or even the political system. Canadians who blamed both governments for problems in health care did not lake this judgment to their voting decision in either the 2000 federal election or the 2001 elections in Alberta and British Columbia, while those who could identify primary responsibility did so. Federalism and intergovernmental policymaking may reduce voters' ability to hold their governments accountable. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.

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  • Fred Cutler, 2004. "Government Responsibility and Electoral Accountability in Federations," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 34(2), pages 19-38, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:34:y:2004:i:2:p:19-38
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    Cited by:

    1. Lieberman, Evan S., 2011. "The perils of polycentric governance of infectious disease in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(5), pages 676-684, September.
    2. Rostislav Turovsky & Elizabeth Luizidis, 2021. "Autonomy Of Subnational Party Systems: Comparative Analysis Of Federations," HSE Working papers WP BRP 77/PS/2021, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    3. Ana Herrero-Alcalde & José Manuel Tránchez Martín & María Goenaga Ruiz de Zuazu, 2018. "Revisiting Responsibility Attribution within Multilevel Governments: The Role of Information," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 226(3), pages 37-58, September.
    4. Poullikka, Agni, 2024. "The 2013 Cypriot banking crisis and blame attribution: survey evidence from the first application of a bail-in in the Eurozone," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121228, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Adam Hill, 2015. "Does Delegation Undermine Accountability? Experimental Evidence on the Relationship Between Blame Shifting and Control," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), pages 311-339, June.
    6. Ailsa Henderson & Nicola McEwen, 2015. "Regions as Primary Political Communities: A Multi-Level Comparative Analysis of Turnout in Regional Elections," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 45(2), pages 189-215.
    7. Agni Poullikka, 2024. "The 2013 Cypriot Banking Crisis and Blame Attribution: survey evidence from the first application of a bail-in in the Eurozone," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 192, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    8. Lago-Peñas, Santiago & Lago-Peñas, Ignacio, 2013. "La atribución de responsabilidades políticas en Estados descentralizados [The atribution of political responsibilities in decentralized countries]," MPRA Paper 45045, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Berthold Rittberger & Helena Schwarzenbeck & Bernhard Zangl, 2017. "Where Does the Buck Stop? Explaining Public Responsibility Attributions in Complex International Institutions," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 909-924, July.

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