From poverty to trust: Political implications of the anti-poverty campaign in China

Abstract

Despite the rapid decrease in poverty across the developing world, there have been few attempts to analyze the implication of poverty alleviation on regime legitimacy. Bridging the literature on poverty alleviation and political trust, this analysis examines the mechanisms through which poverty reduction affects trust in local elected and appointed officials. Using an original survey on the Target Poverty Alleviation campaign in China and causal mediation analyses, we find that beneficiary status is positively associated with political trust. The perception of anti-poverty governance quality, rather than economic evaluation, is the mediator through which beneficiary status affects political trust. Moreover, the intensified non-formalistic elite-mass linkage developed in the poverty alleviation campaign enhances political trust through the improvement of perception of governance quality. These findings have implications for mechanisms through which poverty reduction affects political trust and the type of political linkage that sustains regime legitimacy.

From big data to higher bureaucratic capacity: Poverty alleviation in China

“…We substantiate our propositions by conducting an in-depth case study of the pioneering big data-powered internet plus monitoring platform (IPMP) in China, a country with a large impoverished population and active governmental anti-poverty interventions (Ang, 2016;Zuo et al, 2021). The platform integrates multifaceted data from various governmental departments and is accessible to government officials at different levels and across bureaucratic agencies as well as to citizens in various localities.…”

Party Origins, Party Infrastructural Strength, and Governance Outcomes

“…This gives them more opportunities to accumulate expertise in service delivery compared with members of organizations that have only seasonal existence (Gibson et al 1985). In China's recent anti-poverty campaign, Communist Party cadres dispatched to villages played a pivotal role in delivering subsidies and assistance to poor peasants (Zuo, Wang, and Zeng 2023). They were able to do so largely due to their extensive work experience in grassroots party organizations and familiarity with rural issues.…”

Further Evidence on China’s B&R Impact on Host Countries’ Quality of Institutions

“…However, there is no significant effect, perhaps reflecting China's long-standing and strongly held foreign policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries. Another surprise is the positive impact on zVA, as China is a one-party state, but this could be reflective of the country's enormous success in mass poverty alleviation [61], leading to citizens feeling their voices are being heard [62]. This approach may have filtered through the country's B&R dealings.…”