Who Sees Corruption? The Bases of Mass Perceptions of Political Corruption in Latin America

The capacity of citizens to see political corruption where it exists and to link such perceptions to evaluations of public officials constitutes an important test of political accountability. Although past research has established that perceived corruption influences political judgments, much less is known regarding the critical prefatory matter of who sees corruption. This article develops a multifaceted theoretical framework regarding the possible bases of perceived corruption. Experiential factors - personal experience and vicarious experience with bribery - mark the starting point for our account. We then incorporate psychological dispositions that may colour judgments about corruption and that may strengthen or weaken the links between experiences and perceptions. Expectations derived from this framework are tested in a series of multi-level models, with data from over 30,000 survey respondents from 17 nations and 84 regions in the Americas

Personality and the political system: An exploration of the psychological roots of political support

The quality of democracy depends on mass participation in political life, for engaged citizens can represent their interests, hold elected officials accountable, and collaborate to solve societal problems. In spite of the benefits to participation, many individuals do not engage in public affairs. Scholars have sought to explain citizen participation for decades, and one factor that has received attention is public attitudes toward the political system. But what causes an individual to support or oppose political institutions, democratic principles, and other aspects of the political world? Researchers have offered several answers to this question, but I contend that the literature has not adequately explored the connection between personality and political support. Unlike some factors, the causal relationship between personality and support attitudes is fairly clear, as a substantial amount of the variation in personality traits is attributable to genetic variation across individuals. The roots of personality, in other words, predate a person’s initiation into the political world in late adolescence and early adulthood. In this dissertation, I build a two-step model that links personality traits to political support and support attitudes to citizen behavior. The first half of my theory applies a model from occupational psychology to understand how personality interacts with the environment to influence political support outcomes. This model, known as trait activation theory, expects personality effects to occur only when traits are activated by relevant cues in one’s surroundings. As I argue in my theory, the model has implications for the direct and conditional effects of personality on a variety of attitudes and behaviors, including views about the political system. My theory also contributes to the literature on the mediation hypothesis by emphasizing political support as a mediator for the relationship between personality and citizen behavior. The second half of my model thus points to the relevance of the personality–support relationship for behavioral outcomes such as political participation. For the empirical part of this dissertation, I explore three aspects of the model while incorporating public opinion surveys from as many as 24 countries. First, I provide a comprehensive account for the direct effects of personality on support for five objects of the political system: the political community, regime principles, regime performance, regime institutions, and political actors. Then, I investigate how the relationship between personality and support depends on contextual factors related to threat levels in one’s environment, such as the degree of political corruption. Finally, I explore how personality works through political support to influence citizen behavior. The findings in this dissertation emphasize the impact of personality on support attitudes and the downstream effect of this relationship on political participation. Based on the results of my dissertation, politicians and nongovernmental organizations could target their communications to groups based on the personality traits of those groups, encouraging political support and thereby promoting one of the hallmarks of citizen competence: engagement in public affairs

Personality and the political system: An exploration of the psychological roots of political support

The quality of democracy depends on mass participation in political life, for engaged citizens can represent their interests, hold elected officials accountable, and collaborate to solve societal problems. In spite of the benefits to participation, many individuals do not engage in public affairs. Scholars have sought to explain citizen participation for decades, and one factor that has received attention is public attitudes toward the political system. But what causes an individual to support or oppose political institutions, democratic principles, and other aspects of the political world? Researchers have offered several answers to this question, but I contend that the literature has not adequately explored the connection between personality and political support. Unlike some factors, the causal relationship between personality and support attitudes is fairly clear, as a substantial amount of the variation in personality traits is attributable to genetic variation across individuals. The roots of personality, in other words, predate a person’s initiation into the political world in late adolescence and early adulthood. In this dissertation, I build a two-step model that links personality traits to political support and support attitudes to citizen behavior. The first half of my theory applies a model from occupational psychology to understand how personality interacts with the environment to influence political support outcomes. This model, known as trait activation theory, expects personality effects to occur only when traits are activated by relevant cues in one’s surroundings. As I argue in my theory, the model has implications for the direct and conditional effects of personality on a variety of attitudes and behaviors, including views about the political system. My theory also contributes to the literature on the mediation hypothesis by emphasizing political support as a mediator for the relationship between personality and citizen behavior. The second half of my model thus points to the relevance of the personality–support relationship for behavioral outcomes such as political participation. For the empirical part of this dissertation, I explore three aspects of the model while incorporating public opinion surveys from as many as 24 countries. First, I provide a comprehensive account for the direct effects of personality on support for five objects of the political system: the political community, regime principles, regime performance, regime institutions, and political actors. Then, I investigate how the relationship between personality and support depends on contextual factors related to threat levels in one’s environment, such as the degree of political corruption. Finally, I explore how personality works through political support to influence citizen behavior. The findings in this dissertation emphasize the impact of personality on support attitudes and the downstream effect of this relationship on political participation. Based on the results of my dissertation, politicians and nongovernmental organizations could target their communications to groups based on the personality traits of those groups, encouraging political support and thereby promoting one of the hallmarks of citizen competence: engagement in public affairs

Introverted and Closed-Minded: The Psychological Roots of Support for Autocracy in Latin America

What activates individuals’ support for autocratic governments? Some suggest that the answer is perceptions of increased corruption and/or poor economic performance. We do not dispute this explanation but instead contend that it depends on individual differences in personality. We hypothesise that introverted and closed-minded citizens are generally resistant to democracy. When democracies appear unable to address problems, introverted and closed-minded citizens defer to authoritarian leaders for efficient solutions. We test our hypotheses with cross-national survey data from Latin America. Our findings have important implications for how we understand the roots of autocratic attitudes

Governance Obstacles to Geothermal Energy Development in Indonesia

Despite having 40 per cent of the world’s potential for geothermal power production, Indonesia exploits less than five per cent of its own geothermal resources. We explore the reasons behind this lagging development of geothermal power and highlight four obstacles: (1) delays caused by the suboptimal decentralisation of permitting procedures to local governments that have few incentives to support geothermal exploitation; (2) rent-seeking behaviour originating in the point-source nature of geothermal resources; (3) the opacity of central government decision making; and (4) a historically deleterious national fuel subsidy policy that disincentivised geothermal investment. We situate our arguments against the existing literature and three shadow case studies from other Pacific countries that have substantial geothermal resources. We conclude by arguing for a more centralised geothermal governance structure. (author's abstract

Governance Obstacles to Geothermal Energy Development in Indonesia

Despite having 40 per cent of the world’s potential for geothermal power production, Indonesia exploits less than five per cent of its own geothermal resources. We explore the reasons behind this lagging development of geothermal power and highlight four obstacles: (1) delays caused by the suboptimal decentralisation of permitting procedures to local governments that have few incentives to support geothermal exploitation; (2) rent-seeking behaviour originating in the point-source nature of geothermal resources; (3) the opacity of central government decision making; and (4) a historically deleterious national fuel subsidy policy that disincentivised geothermal investment. We situate our arguments against the existing literature and three shadow case studies from other Pacific countries that have substantial geothermal resources. We conclude by arguing for a more centralised geothermal governance structure

Governance Obstacles to Geothermal Energy Development in Indonesia

Despite having 40 per cent of the world’s potential for geothermal power production, Indonesia exploits less than five per cent of its own geothermal resources. We explore the reasons behind this lagging development of geothermal power and highlight four obstacles: (1) delays caused by the suboptimal decentralisation of permitting procedures to local governments that have few incentives to support geothermal exploitation; (2) rent-seeking behaviour originating in the point-source nature of geothermal resources; (3) the opacity of central government decision making; and (4) a historically deleterious national fuel subsidy policy that disincentivised geothermal investment. We situate our arguments against the existing literature and three shadow case studies from other Pacific countries that have substantial geothermal resources. We conclude by arguing for a more centralised geothermal governance structure

Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home (semester?), IPRO 334: Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home IPRO 334 IPRO Day Presentation Sp07

People are inadequately informed about their energy consumption behaviors in the home. Providing real time feedback at the point of decision making will enhance consumer awareness of energy consumption, and potentially lead to behavior modification. The IPRO 334 team will design and evaluate means of improving energy consumption awareness in the home. Team 334 will determine what metrics are most valuable to consumers and the best means to communicate that feedback.Deliverables for IPRO 334: Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home for the Spring 2007 semeste

Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home (semester?), IPRO 334: Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home IPRO 334 Abstract Sp07

People are inadequately informed about their energy consumption behaviors in the home. Providing real time feedback at the point of decision making will enhance consumer awareness of energy consumption, and potentially lead to behavior modification. The IPRO 334 team will design and evaluate means of improving energy consumption awareness in the home. Team 334 will determine what metrics are most valuable to consumers and the best means to communicate that feedback.Deliverables for IPRO 334: Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home for the Spring 2007 semeste

Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home (semester?), IPRO 334

People are inadequately informed about their energy consumption behaviors in the home. Providing real time feedback at the point of decision making will enhance consumer awareness of energy consumption, and potentially lead to behavior modification. The IPRO 334 team will design and evaluate means of improving energy consumption awareness in the home. Team 334 will determine what metrics are most valuable to consumers and the best means to communicate that feedback.Deliverables for IPRO 334: Resource Consumption Awareness in the Home for the Spring 2007 semeste