A Situational Theory of Pork Barrel Politics: The Shifting Logic of Discretionary Allocations in India

A rich panel dataset on Indian states is used to propose a situational theory of distributive politics which states that incentives for exclusive targeting of affiliated states in dominant party systems drive national ruling parties towards particularism, while the shrinking opportunity to indulge in such a policy in multiparty coalition systems creates a universalisation effect. Additionally, the disaggregated analysis of discretionary grants brings to the fore the fact that the shift from particularism to universalism occurs for schematic grants, which provide an opportunity for credit claiming. The ad hoc grants, which are like side payments, remain subject to par ticularism. [GIGA Working paper No. 298].