Research on Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea typically offers one of two explanations for the choices voters make, and the way these choices contribute to those countries’ poor political governance. The first explanation focuses on culture’s influence on the expectations that voters hold of politicians, contending that the Big Man style of local leadership traditionally found in both countries has shaped voter expectations in ways that cause voters to demand local or personal benefits from MPs rather than good national governance. The second explanation hinges on rational choice models of voter behaviour and does not include culture in its list of explanatory variables. In this paper I argue that neither explanation fits well with key features of these countries’ politics. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data I show that, while voters are broadly rational and can readily distinguish modern politics from traditional leadership, culture still matters. In particular, informal institutions, associated with the countries’ cultural contexts, influence voter behaviour and electoral collective action, and through this political governance.

中文翻译：

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文化是原因吗？所罗门群岛和巴布亚新几内亚的选择、期望和选举政治

对所罗门群岛和巴布亚新几内亚的研究通常会为选民做出的选择以及这些选择导致这些国家政治治理不善的方式提供两种解释中的一种。第一种解释侧重于文化对选民对政治家期望的影响，认为两国传统上发现的地方领导的大人物风格以某种方式塑造了选民的期望，导致选民要求国会议员提供地方或个人利益，而不是好的国家治理。第二种解释取决于选民行为的理性选择模型，并且在其解释变量列表中不包括文化。在本文中，我认为这两种解释都不符合这些国家政治的关键特征。我利用定量和定性数据表明，虽然选民普遍理性，可以很容易地将现代政治与传统领导方式区分开来，但文化仍然很重要。特别是，与国家文化背景相关的非正式机构通过这种政治治理影响选民行为和选举集体行动。