Hostname: page-component-68c7f8b79f-b92xj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-12-15T20:56:35.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

More than Money: The Political Consequences of Reparations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2025

ELSA VOYTAS Open the ORCID record for ELSA VOYTAS [Opens in a new window]
ELSA VOYTAS*
Affiliation:
Independent Researcher, United States
*
Elsa Voytas, Independent Researcher, United States, elsavoytas@gmail.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can material reparations change political participation? To examine whether material reparations can increase political engagement among survivors of state violence, I use content analysis of survivor testimonies, interviews, and plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of reparations approval for surviving victims of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. After being approved for reparations, survivors are more likely to register to vote compared to those not yet enrolled in the reparations program. I present evidence that the symbolic value of reparations payments holds particular significance for survivors and suggest that the transitional justice experience provides an opportunity for them to revise their views of the state. These findings indicate that in post-violence contexts, policy experiences can be a consequential determinant of future political behavior, potentially expanding electoral engagement as societies move toward building peace and consolidating democracy.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , First View , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Aguilar, Paloma, Balcells, Laia, and Cebolla-Boado, Héctor. 2011. “Determinants of Attitudes Toward Transitional Justice: An Empirical Analysis of the Spanish Case.” Comparative Political Studies 44 (10): 1397–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almond, Gabriel, and Verba, Sidney. 1963. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amat, Consuelo. 2023. “State Repression and Opposition Survival in Pinochet’s Chile.” Comparative Political Studies 57 (3): 506–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balcells, Laia, Palanza, Valeria, and Voytas, Elsa. 2022. “Do Transitional Justice Museums Persuade Visitors? Evidence from a Field Experiment.” Journal of Politics 84 (1): 496–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bautista, Maria Angélica. 2016. “Social and Political Effects of State-Led Repression: The Chilean Case.” The Pearson Institute Discussion Paper No. 27.Google Scholar
Bautista, Maria Angélica, González, Felipe, Martínez, Luis, Muñoz, Pablo, and Prem, Mounu. 2023. “The Geography of Repression and Opposition to Autocracy.” American Journal of Political Science 67 (6): 101–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belk, Russell, and Wallendorf, Melanie. 1990. “The Sacred Meanings of Money.” Journal of Economic Psychology 11 (1): 35–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellows, John, and Miguel, Edward. 2009. “War and Local Collective Action in Sierra Leone.” Journal of Public Economics 93 (11–12): 1144–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bies, Robert J., and Tripp, Thomas M.. 1996. “Beyond Distrust: ‘Getting Even’ and the Need for Revenge.” In Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, eds. Kramer, Roderick M. and Tyler, Tom R., 246–60. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blattman, Chris. 2009. “From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda.” American Political Science Review 103 (2): 231–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradford, Ben, Murphy, Kristina, and Jackson, Jonathan. 2014. “Officers as Mirrors: Policing, Procedural Justice and the (Re)Production of Social Identity.” British Journal of Criminology 54 (4): 537–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brounéus, Karen. 2010. “The Trauma of Truth Telling: Effects of Witnessing in the Rwandan Gacaca Courts on Psychological Health.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 54 (3): 408–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callaway, Brantly, and Sant’Anna, Pedro. 2021. “Difference-in-Differences with Multiple Time Periods.” Journal of Econometrics 225 (2): 200–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callaway, Brantly, and Sant’Anna, Pedro. 2022. “Did: Treatment Effects with Multiple Periods and Groups.” R package version 2.1.2. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/did/did.pdfGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Andrea. 2003. How Politics Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cilliers, Jacobus, Dube, Oeindrila, and Siddiqi, Bilal. 2016. “Reconciling After Civil Conflict Increases Social Capital but Decreases Individual Well-Being.” Science 352 (6287): 787–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comisión Nacional Prisión Política y Tortura. 2005. “Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre Prisión Política y Tortura (Valech I).” Report. https://bibliotecadigital.indh.cl/items/77e102d5-e424-4c60-9ff9-70478e618d78.Google Scholar
Comisión Asesora Presidencial para la Calificación de Detenidos Desaparecidos, Ejecutados Políticos y Víctimas de Prisión, Política y Tortura. 2011. “Informe y Nómina de Personas Reconocidas como Víctimas en la Comisión Asesora Presidencial para la Calificación de Detenidos Desaparecidos, Ejecutados Políticos y Víctimas de Prisión, Política y Tortura (Valech II).” Report. https://bibliotecadigital.indh.cl/items/b1c30660-a5f3-467d-a571-d39b109d9645.Google Scholar
Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación. 1991. “Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación.” Report. https://bibliotecadigital.indh.cl/items/edb83a4d-9121-48ee-8e66-09fe31e926fe.Google Scholar
Contreras, Gonzalo, and Navia, Patricio. 2013. “Diferencias Generacionales en la Participación Electoral en Chile, 1988–2010.” Revista de Ciencia Política 33 (2): 419–41.Google Scholar
Conway, Mary Margaret. 1991. Political Participation in the United States. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Cropanzano, Russell, Byrne, Zinta S., Bobocel, D. Ramona, and Rupp, Deborah. 2001. “Moral Virtues, Fairness Heuristics, Social Entities, and Other Denizens of Organizational Justice.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 58 (2): 164–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancy, Geoff, Pham, Phuong, Sikkink, Kathryn, Thoms, Oskar Timo, and Vinck, Patrick. 2024. “TJET Database of Transitional Justice Mechanisms, 1970–2020.” https://transitionaljusticedata.org.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancy, Geoff, and Thoms, Oskar Timo. 2022. “Do Truth Commissions Improve Democracy?” Comparative Political Studies 55 (4): 555–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, Roman, and Choi, Susanne. 2005. “Forgiveness and Transitional Justice in the Czech Republic.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (3): 339–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Chaisemartin, Clément, and D’Haultfœuille, Xavier. 2020. “Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects.” American Economic Review 110 (9): 2964–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Greiff, Pablo. 2008. The Handbook of Reparations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De la O, Ana. 2013. “Do Conditional Cash Transfers Affect Electoral Behavior? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico.” American Journal of Political Science 57 (1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desmet, Pieter, De Cremer, David, and van Dijk, Eric. 2011. “On the Psychology of Financial Compensations to Restore Fairness Transgressions: When Intentions Determine Value.” Journal of Business Ethics 95 (S1): 105–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devine, Daniel. 2024. “Does Political Trust Matter? A Meta-Analysis on the Consequences of Trust.” Political Behavior 46: 2241–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donno, Daniela, Morrison, Kelly, and Savun, Burcu. 2022. “Not All Elections Are Created Equal: Election Quality and Civil Conflict.” Journal of Politics 84 (1): 134–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Esberg, Jane. 2021. “Anticipating Dissent: The Repression of Politicians in Pinochet’s Chile.” Journal of Politics 83 (2): 689–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuevas, Victor, Espinoza, Rojas, María Luisa Ortiz, and Baeza, Paz Rojas. 2003. Comisiones de Verdad: ¿Un Camino Incierto? Santiago, Chile: Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEPU).Google Scholar
Flack, Evan, and Jee, Edward. 2022. “Bacondecomp: Goodman-Bacon Decomposition.” R package version 0.1.1. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=bacondecomp.Google Scholar
Folger, Robert. 1998. “Fairness as Moral Virtue.” In Managerial Ethics: Moral Management of People and Processes, ed. Marshall, Schminke, 13–34. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
García-Ponce, Omar, and Pasquale, Benjamin. 2015. “How Political Repression Shapes Attitudes Toward the State: Evidence from Zimbabwe.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Gibson, James L. 2004. “Does Truth Lead to Reconciliation? Testing the Causal Assumptions of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process.” American Journal of Political Science 48 (2): 201–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, James L. 2006. “The Contributions of Truth to Reconciliation: Lessons from South Africa.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (3): 309–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giraudier, Élodie. 2013. “The Justice of Transition in Chile (1990-1994), Looked by the French Press.” Revista Historia y Justicia. https://doi.org/10.4000/rhj.6642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Donald, Gerber, Alan, and Nickerson, David. 2003. “Getting Out the Vote in Local Elections: Results from Six Door-to-Door Canvassing Experiments.” Journal of Politics 65 (4): 1083–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Ocantos, Ezequiel. 2020. The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman-Bacon, Andrew. 2021. “Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing.” Journal of Econometrics 225 (2): 254–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imai, Kosuke, Kim, In Song, and Wang, Erik. 2023. “Matching Methods for Causal Inference with Time-Series Cross-Sectional Data.’’ American Journal of Political Science 67 (3): 587–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS). 2018a. “Ley Rettig Enero de 2018.”Google Scholar
Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS). 2018b. “Ley Valech Enero de 2018.”Google Scholar
Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS). 2018c. “Pensión Anual de Reparación de la Ley 19.992 Valech II, Rettig.”Google Scholar
Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS). 2018d. “Pensión Anual de Reparación de la Ley 19.992 Valech, Rettig.”Google Scholar
Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS). 2018e. “Beneficiarios que no han hecho efectivo el cobro de pensión.”Google Scholar
Jacobs, Alan, and Kent Weaver, R.. 2014. “When Policies Undo Themselves: Self-Undermining Feedback as a Source of Policy Change.” Governance 28 (4): 441–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kao, Kristen, and Revkin, Mara. 2023. “Retribution or Reconciliation? Post-Conflict Attitudes Toward Enemy Collaborators.” American Journal of Political Science 67 (2): 358–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, In-Song, Rauh, Adam, Wang, Erik, and Imai, Kosuke. 2024. “PanelMatch: Matching Methods for Causal Inference with Time-Series Cross-Sectional Data.” R package version 2.2.0. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/PanelMatch/index.html.Google Scholar
Kitagawa, Risa. 2023. “From Political Violence to Political Trust? How Transitional Justice Affects Citizen Views of Government.” International Studies Quarterly 67 (1): squad013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumlin, Staffan, and Rothstein, Bo. 2005. “Making and Breaking Social Policy: The Impact of Welfare-State Institutions.” Comparative Political Studies 38 (4): 339–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laplante, Lisa, and Theidon, Kimberly. 2007. “Truth with Consequences: Justice and Reparations in Post-Truth Commission Peru.” Human Rights Quarterly 29 (1): 228–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer, and Fox, Richard. 2001. “Political Participation of the Urban Poor.” Social Problems 48 (3): 362–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgar Allan, Lind, and Tom, Tyler. 1988. The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Lira, Elizabeth. 2006. “The Reparations Policy for Human Rights Violations in Chile.” In The Handbook of Reparations, ed. Pablo de, Greiff, 55–101. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupu, Noam, and Peisakhin, Leonid. 2017. “The Legacy of Political Violence Across Generations.” American Journal of Political Science 61 (4): 836–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luzzi, Mariana. 2014. “Pagar para Reparar. Debates Públicos y Dilemas Privados ante las Políticas de Reparación Económica a las Víctimas del Terrorismo de Estado en Argentina.” In Muerte, Política y Sociedad en la Argentina, eds. Gayol, Sandra and Kessler, Gabriel, 251–76. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Edhasa.Google Scholar
Maldonado, Arturo, and Seligson, Mitchell A.. 2014. “Electoral Trust in Latin America.” In Advancing Electoral Integrity, eds. Norris, Pippa, Frank, Richard W., and Martinez, Ferran. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2005. Soldiers to Citizens: The GI Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mullen, Elizabeth, and Okimoto, Tyler G.. 2015. “Compensatory Justice.” In The Oxford Handbook of Justice in the Workplace, eds. Cropanzano, Russell S. and Ambrose, Maureen L., 477–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Navia, Patricio. 2004. “Participación Electoral en Chile, 1988-2001.” Revista de Ciencia Política XXIV (1): 81–103.Google Scholar
Nickerson, David. 2015. “Do Voter Registration Drives Increase Participation? For Whom and When?” Journal of Politics 77 (1): 88–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, Tricia, Payne, Leigh, and Reiter, Andrew. 2010. Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.Google Scholar
Oskoii, Kassra. 2020. “Perceived Discrimination and Political Behavior.” British Journal of Political Science 50 (3): 867–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pham, Phuong Ngoc, Vinck, Patrick, Marchesi, Bridget, Johnson, Doug, Dixon, Peter J., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 2016. “Evaluating Transitional Justice: The Role of Multi-Level Mixed Methods Datasets and the Colombia Reparation Program for War Victims.” Transitional Justice Review 4 (1): 60–94.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 45 (4): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pop-Eleches, Cristian, and Pop-Eleches, Grigore. 2012. “Targeted Government Spending and Political Preferences.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 7 (3): 285–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rambachan, Ashesh, and Roth, Jonathan. 2023. “A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends.” Review of Economic Studies 90 (5): 2555–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rambachan, Ashesh, and Roth, Jonathan. 2024. “HonestDiD: Robust Inference in Difference-in-Differences and Event Study Designs.” R package version 0.2.6. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/HonestDiD/index.html.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramírez, Ricardo. 2013. Mobilizing Opportunities: The Evolving Latino Electorate and the Future of American Politics. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, Margaret, Stewart, Brandon, and Tingley, Dustin. 2015. “stm: R Package for Structural Topic Models.” R package version 1.3.7. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/stm/vignettes/stmVignette.pdf.Google Scholar
Rojas, Paz, Uribe, Viviana, Méndez, Juanita, Díaz, Carmen Gloria, and Espinoza, Víctor. 2002. Pre Informe - Testimonios de Tortura en Chile. Santiago, Chile: Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo.Google Scholar
Roth, Jonathan. 2024. “Interpreting Event-Studies from Recent Difference-in-Differences Methods.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Roth, Jonathan, and Sant’Anna, Pedro. 2023. “Efficient Estimation for Staggered Rollout Designs.” Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics 1 (4): 669–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, Jonathan, and Sant’Anna, Pedro. 2025. “staggered: Efficient Estimation Under Staggered Treatment Timing.” R package version 1.2.2 https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/staggered/staggered.pdf.Google Scholar
Rozenas, Arturas, and Zhukov, Yuri. 2019. “Mass Repression and Political Loyalty: Evidence from Stalin’s ‘Terror by Hunger.”’ American Political Science Review 113 (2): 569–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Servicio Electoral de Chile. 2010. “Padrón 2010.” Accessed November 11, 2016.Google Scholar
Sikkink, Kathryn. 2011. The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Soss, Joe. 1999. “Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning, and Political Action.” American Political Science Review 93 (2): 363–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liyang, Sun, and Abraham, Sarah. 2021. “Estimating Dynamic Treatment Effects in Event Studies with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects.” Journal of Econometrics 225 (2): 175–99.Google Scholar
Sveaass, Nora, and Sønneland, Anne Margrethe. 2015. “Dealing with the Past: Survivors’ Perspectives on Economic Reparations in Argentina.” International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation 4 (4): 223–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, Tom, and Blader, Steven. 2003. “The Group Engagement Model: Procedural Justice, Social Identity, and Cooperative Behavior.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 7 (4): 349–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, Tom, and Huo, Yuen. 2002. Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Vargas, Mauricio. 2022. casen: Metodos De Estimacion Con Disenio Probabilistico y Estratificado en Encuesta CASEN (Estimation Methods with Probabilistic Stratified Sampling in CASEN Survey). R package version 0.2.0, https://pacha.dev/casen/.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Brady, Henry. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Nie, Norman, and Kim, Jae-On. 1978. Participation and Political Equality: A Seven Nation Comparison. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Viaene, Lieselotte. 2010. “Life is Priceless: Mayan Q’eqchi’ Voices of the Guatemalan Reparations Program.” The International Journal of Transitional Justice 4 (1): 4–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voytas, Elsa, and Crisman, Ben. 2023. “State Violence and Participation in Transitional Justice: Evidence from Colombia.” Journal of Peace Research 61 (6): 1069–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voytas, Elsa. 2025. “Replication Data for: More than Money: The Political Consequences of Reparations.” Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/TLLZUI.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Lauren. 2019. “The Psychology of State Repression: Fear and Dissent Decisions in Zimbabwe.” American Political Science Review 113 (1): 140–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Lauren. 2020. “Who Dissents? Self-Efficacy and Opposition Action After State-Sponsored Election Violence.” Journal of Peace Research 57 (1): 62–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, Alisa, Berg, Justin, and Zlatev, Julian. 2021. “Emotional Acknowledgment: How Verbalizing Others’ Emotions Fosters Interpersonal Trust.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 164 (1): 116–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yuhua. 2021. “The Political Legacy of Violence During China’s Cultural Revolution.” British Journal of Political Science 51 (2): 463–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wielbelhaus-Brahm, Eric. 2010. Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies: The Impact on Human Rights and Democracy. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelizer, Viviana. 1994. The Social Meaning of Money. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zhukov, Yuri, and Talibova, Roya. 2018. “Stalin’s Terror and the Long-Term Political Effects of Mass Repression.” Journal of Peace Research 55 (2): 267–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Voytas supplementary material

Voytas supplementary material
Download Voytas supplementary material(File)
File 388 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.