Blurring Lines of Responsibility: How Institutional Context Affects Citizen Biases Regarding Policy Problems
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929920982871 |
| Date | 01 February 2022 |
| Published date | 01 February 2022 |
| Author | Ridvan Peshkopia,Douglas Page |
| Subject Matter | Early Results |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920982871
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(1) 148 –157
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929920982871
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Blurring Lines of Responsibility:
How Institutional Context
Affects Citizen Biases
Regarding Policy Problems
Douglas Page1*
and Ridvan Peshkopia2,3*
Abstract
Existing research suggests that individuals assign responsibility for policy problems based on prior
biases like partisanship. However, what remains speculation is whether institutions that blur lines
of responsibility elicit more biased responsibility-assignment when compared to institutions with
clearer lines of responsibility. European Union enlargement provides an opportunity to examine
responsibility-assignment for policy problems within multiple countries, where the EU triggers biases
(pro- and anti-EU membership) when it works to export the policies required for membership.
In surveys of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, we examine responsibility-assignment
to governments for inequality in pay between women and men, which the EU asks prospective
members to address. We find that biased attributions of blame for pay inequality are strongest
in the Bosnian regions where multilevel governance is the most pronounced, while the unitary
governments of Albania, Bosnia’s Republika Srpska, and Kosovo do not yield biased responsibility-
assignment. Our results are consequential for multilevel governance.
Keywords
policy responsibility, European Union, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo
Accepted: 3 December 2020
Introduction
Existing research suggests that institutional structures blurring lines of responsibility
make it more difficult for voters to hold governments accountable (Anderson, 2000;
Hellwig, 2001; Hellwig and Samuels, 2008; Powell and Whitten, 1993; Vries et al., 2011).
1Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, USA
2Department of Political Science, University for Business and Technology, Prishtinë, Kosovo
3Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
*Authors share equal contribution
Corresponding author:
Ridvan Peshkopia, Department of Political Science, University for Business and Technology, Kalabria,
Prishtinë 10000, Kosovo.
Email: ridvan.peshkopia@ubt-uni.net
982871PSW0010.1177/1478929920982871Political Studies ReviewPage and Peshkopia
research-article2020
Early Results
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