Who Sues Government?: Evidence From the Moscow Theater Hostage Case

Abstract

Courts can better protect rights when citizens are willing and able to litigate in response to government abuses of power. However, if people are not socialized to the possibility of litigating against governments, why do some individuals decide to litigate? Using an original survey of victims in the Moscow theater hostage incident, we find that litigants in a postcommunist context are motivated by political disadvantage, defined as their perception that they are not well represented by political institutions. The effect of political disadvantage on litigation is intensified by the perception that courts, too, are not fair, suggesting that general alienation from the political system may play an important role in the decision to initiate antigovernment litigation in new states.

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