Wealth of Parliamentarians vs. General Public: Evidence from 2013 General Elections of Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59926/jodprp.vol04/02Keywords:
Political representation, assets and liabilities, governance, political parties, ParliamentAbstract
This study compares net average assets of Members of Parliament (MPs) elected in the General Elections of 2013 in Pakistan and the public to examine whether the former are representative of common people on the basis of asset holding. The findings show that distribution of the net average assets of elected MPs is significantly different from the distribution of net average assets of the general public of Pakistan. All MPs, on average, fall in the top rich 5% people in the country. In other words, 95% MPs are not representative of the general people on the basis of asset holding. The study suggests that until the role of wealth is not decreased, there may not be any improvement in true representation of the people; and their basic issues such as health and education may remain unresolved.
The scope of this article is related to the following SDG / SDGs.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Abramowitz, A. 1991, ‘Incumbency Campaign Spending, and the Decline of Competition in U.S. Elections’, Journal of Politics, vol.53, no.1, pp. 34-56.
Bartels, L. M. 2018, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, New Jersey: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press.
Benoit, K. and Marsh, M. 2008, ‘The Campaign Value of Incumbency: A New Solution to the Puzzle of Less Effective Incumbent Spending’, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 52, no.4, pp. 874-890.
Block, F. 1977, ‘The Ruling Class Does Not Rule: Notes on the Marxist Theory of the State’, Socialist Revolution, May-June, no.33, pp. 6-28.
Brewer, M.D. and Maisel, L.S. 2020, Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Domhoff, G. W. 2010, Who Rules America?: Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance, Boston: McGraw Hill.
Ferguson, T. 1995, Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money Driven Political Systems, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gilens, M. 2012, Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America, New Jersey: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press.
Gilens, M. 2005, ‘Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness’, Journal of Public Opinion Quarterly, vol.69, no.5, pp. 778-796.
Gilens, M. and Page, B.I. 2014, ‘Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens’, Perspectives on Politics, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 564-581.
Gilens, M. and Thal, A. 2018, ‘Doing Well and Doing Good? How Concern for Others Shapes Policy Preferences and Partisanship among Affluent Americans’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 82, no. 2, pp.209-230.
Gius, M.P. 2010, ‘An Analysis of the 2006 Congressional Elections: Does Campaign
Spending Matter?’, Applied Economics Letters, vol.17, no.7, pp. 703-706, <https://doi.org/10.1080/13504850802298002>.
Green, D. and Krasno, J. 1988, ‘Salvation for the Spendthrift Incumbent: Reestimating the Effects of Campaign Spending in House Elections’, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 32, no. 4, 884-907.
Griner, S. and Zovatto, D. 2004 ‘Lectura Regional Comparada’ [Regional Comparative Lecture] in Griner, S. and Zovatto, D. De las Normas a las Buenas Prácticas: el Desafío del Financiamiento Político en América Latina [From the Norms to Good Practices: The Challenge of Political Financing in Latin America], pp. 297-234, San José: OAS-International IDEA.
Hall, P.A. 2020, ‘The Electoral Politics of Growth Regimes’, Perspectives on Politics, vol. 18, no. 1, pp.185-199, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592719001038.
Hertel-Fernandez, A. Mildenberger, M. and Stokes, L.C. 2019, ‘Legislative Staff and Representation in Congress’, The American Political Science Review, vol. 113, no. 1, pp.1-18.
Jacobson, G.C. and Carson, J.L. 2019, The Politics of Congressional Elections, Tenth Edition, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Kalla, J.L. and Broockman, D.E. 2016, ‘Campaign Contributions Facilitate Access to Congressional Officials: A Randomized Field Experiment’, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 60, no. 3, pp.545-558.
Lyles, L.D. 2013, ‘The Role of Wealth and Neoliberalism in Barack Obama’s Selection, Election, and Presidency’, Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.6, no. 6, pp. 277-302.
Monroe, A.D.1998, ‘Public Opinion and Public Policy 1980-1993’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 62, no.1, pp. 6-28.
Monroe, A.D. 1979, ‘Consistency between Public Preferences and National Policy Decisions,’ American Politics Quarterly, vol. 7, pp. 3-18.
Obasanjo, O. 2003, ‘Elections in Nigeria’, INEC-Civil Society Forum, November.
Page, B.I. and Gilens, M. 2020, Democracy in America?: What has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It, University of Chicago Press.
Page, B.I. and Shapiro, Y.R. 1983, ‘Effects of Public Opinion on Policy’, American Political Science Review, vol.77, no.1, pp. 175-90, DOI: 10.2307/1956018.
Paranhos, R. Filho, D. Rocha, E. and Junior, J.E. 2014, ‘Campaigning Finance in Comparative Prospective: A Nested Analysis Approach’, Panorama of Brazilian Law, vol. 2, no. 2, pp.225-250, <https://www.epublicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/pbl/article/view/34391>.
PILDAT 2009, ‘How Rich are Pakistani MNAs? 13th National Assembly of Pakistan. Key Points from an Analysis of the Declaration of Assets Submitted by MNAs for the Years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009’, Publication No: PM-022, Islamabad: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.
Przeworksi, A. and Wallerstein, M. 1982, ‘The Structure of Class Conflict in Democratic Capitalist Societies’, The American Political Science Review, vol. 76, no.2, pp. 215-238.
Put, G-J. Muyters, G. and Maddens, B. 2020, The Effect of Candidate Electoral Experience on Ballot Placement in List Proportional Representation Systems’, West European Politics, pp.1-22, <https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2020.1768664>.
Smith, M.A. 1999, ‘Public Opinion, Elections, and Representation within a Market Economy- Does the Structural Power of Business Undermine Popular Sovereignty?’, American Journal of Political Science 43, no. 3, pp. 842-863, DOI: 10.2307/2991837.
Winters, J.A. and Page, B.I. 2009, ‘Oligarchy in the United States?,’ Perspectives on Politics, vol. 7, no.4, pp. 731-751,<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3e61/6eec5011720fa898dbb9072e66aea8ff841f.pdf>.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Anwar Shah, Ashfaq Ahmad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
