Ethnicity and voters’ evaluations of political leadership: “lab-in-the-field” experiments in Russian regions

Olga A. Avdeyeva and Richard E. Matland

Post-Soviet Affairs, 2020, vol. 36, issue 1, 83-100

Abstract: This paper presents an experimental test of ethnic-based bias in citizens’ evaluation of a political leader’s decision-making across three multi-ethnic regions of the Russian Federation (Sakha, Buryatia, and Tatarstan) and one mono-ethnic region (Arkhangel’sk Oblast). With variations in the intensity of ethnic loyalties, degree of titular ethnic group assimilation, and differences in an ethnic division of labor, Russian regions present an interesting site for the investigation of these conjectures. The experiment participants read a vignette describing a decision by a local mayor and assess the decision. We randomly vary the mayor’s ethnicity and policy choice. Our findings suggest that policy substance is the primary influence and dominates ethnicity when citizens evaluate public officials in three of the four regions. In the fourth region, Sakha in Northern Siberia, we provide analyses to explain the greater salience of ethnicity.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2019.1653063

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