Social unrest and weak electoral competition are common in many developing
countries, but how dominant parties respond to discontent is not well understood. This paper examines how electing dominant party representatives affects social unrest in South Africa. The African National Congress (ANC) has held a hegemonic position in South African politics since the end of apartheid but has faced...
This paper investigates whether improved access to primary care physicians resulted in electoral benefits for the incumbent government in Brazil. In 2013, the Brazilian Workers Party introduced a large-scale program aimed at expanding primary health care access by employing and retaining thousands of doctors to under-served, vulnerable municipalities. Employing a difference-in-difference...
This paper first shows the potential of climate change to affect the stability of political systems. More specifically, using data from Africa, I show that experiencing extreme weather events decreases support for democracy in the population. Second, I show evidence that suggests that variation in food availability is a channel that connects weather events with support for democratic systems....
