Comments on: How Far do Perception Surveys Take Us in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations? http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2012/06/27/how-far-do-perception-surveys-take-us-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-situations/ Weekly Insight and Features from Asia Tue, 21 May 2013 11:17:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Brennan Kraxberger http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2012/06/27/how-far-do-perception-surveys-take-us-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-situations/comment-page-1/#comment-5325 Brennan Kraxberger Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:06:39 +0000 http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/?p=14337#comment-5325 Measuring the popular legitimacy of state institutions and the status of social contracts is difficult, but worth doing. When possible, public perceptions surveys should be pursued, and qualified with contextual methodological statements. The call for triangulation is quite appropriate. It is possible to infer the status of political legitimacy from common indicators. Of overriding importance is the ability of governments to collect revenues without the application of coercive force. Even though some states rely very little on revenues collected from the masses of their citizens, a renewed focus on tax collection could be quite rewarding. Tax evasion is universal, but the frequency of evasion varies enormously, and that is a key pattern to watch. Measuring the popular legitimacy of state institutions and the status of social contracts is difficult, but worth doing. When possible, public perceptions surveys should be pursued, and qualified with contextual methodological statements.

The call for triangulation is quite appropriate. It is possible to infer the status of political legitimacy from common indicators. Of overriding importance is the ability of governments to collect revenues without the application of coercive force. Even though some states rely very little on revenues collected from the masses of their citizens, a renewed focus on tax collection could be quite rewarding. Tax evasion is universal, but the frequency of evasion varies enormously, and that is a key pattern to watch.

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