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Democratic Deliberation and the Resource Curse

A Nationwide Experiment in Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2022

Justin Sandefur Open the ORCID record for Justin Sandefur [Opens in a new window] ,
Nancy Birdsall ,
James Fishkin  and
Mujobu Moyo
Justin Sandefur*
Affiliation:
Center for Global Development, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Nancy Birdsall
Affiliation:
Center for Global Development, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
James Fishkin
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Mujobu Moyo
Affiliation:
Center for Global Development, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: jsandefur@CGDEV.ORG
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Abstract

Oil and gas discoveries in developing countries are often associated with shortsighted economic policies and, in response, with calls to insulate resource management from populist impulses. The authors report on a randomized experiment that tested methods to overcome this apparent tension between sound resource governance and democratic politics. Soon after Tanzania's discovery of major natural gas reserves, the authors invited a nationally representative sample of voters to take part in an intensive public deliberation of policy options, at an event featuring nationally recognized experts and small-group discussions. Democratic deliberation reinforced the public's strong preference for rapid spending of gas revenues, but also increased support for various prudential and economically orthodox measures, such as the independent oversight of gas revenues, limits on government borrowing, and selling gas abroad rather than subsidizing fuel at home. These effects were driven by deliberation per se, rather than a pure information treatment, and show no evidence of contamination by facilitator effects or peer effects in group deliberations.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 564 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Trustees of Princeton University

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