The politics of social assistance in South Africa: How protests and electoral politics shape the Child Support Grant

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Yoruk, Erdem; Gencer, Alper Suekrue
• 署名单位: Koc University; University of Oxford; Washington University (WUSTL)
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/gove.12464
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES; PROTECTION; LESSONS

摘要

Since the 1990s, South Africa, like many other countries from the Global South, has provided extensive social assistance for the poor. The literature on these policies, however, is largely dominated by structuralist accounts, and it largely overlooks political factors. We conducted quantitative analyses regarding the South African flagship Child Support Grant (CSG) program and investigated how contentious and electoral political dynamics jointly shape the provision of this program. Based on a logistic regression analysis, we measured the effect of protest participation, voting preference, and their interaction on the likelihood of CSG receipt. Our analysis showed that CSG receipt is much higher among uncontentious supporters of ANC and contentious nonsupporters, as well as those who join violent protests. This lends support for our argument that CSG is being used as a tool for electoral politics and containment of unrest, providing fresh evidence for political mediation theories of social policy.