# **2.2.2 Past state success due to citizen cooperation**

A state’s ability to implement policy often requires active citizen cooperation. This is especially true for public health policy. In this treatment arm, we provide respondents with the information that citizens cooperated in the past. In response to this information, respondents may change their perceptions of the associated public benefit of cooperation and update their beliefs about others’ likelihood of cooperating today. In particular, respondents in this group receive the same information detailed above about the Punjab government’s success in handling the dengue outbreak – but with an emphasis on the importance of citizen cooperation in achieving this success. We share details from Rehman et al. (2016) showing how citizen hotlines helped the government identify dengue hotspots and target resources more effectively.

# **2.2.3 Religious authority**

Respondents may be more likely to support government guidelines if a credible and respected non-state actor _also_ supports government guidelines. This may be particularly true when these guidelines are perceived to conflict with long-held practices, such as congregational prayers. In this case, a religious authority’s endorsement of the guideline to avoid congregational prayers may be enough to convince a respondent of its legitimacy. The Pakistan government, perhaps following this line of thinking, tried first to secure the support of religious authorities within the country. Failing to do so, they requested an edict from the Grand Imam of of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority in Sunni Islamic thought.<sup>10</sup> This edict provided a religious justification for the suspension of Friday congregational prayers and, furthermore, declared unlawful any action undermining confidence in state protective measures. Respondents in this treatment – group received an overview of the edict. Note that while the edict explicitly encourages – support for the government’s policy the edict is less focused on information pertaining to perceptions of state capacity.

> 10According to numerous news articles, the President of Pakistan requested this edict after leading religious authorities _within_ the country refused to support the government’s restrictions on congregational prayers. For more information, please refer to the following news articles:

> The Dawn (2020). “Egypt’s Al-Azhar issues fatwa permitting Juma prayers’ suspension in Pakistan” _The Dawn_ , March 26. https: _//_ www.dawn.com/news/1543801. (last accessed on Sep 1, 2020) The Nation (2020). “President Alvi’s request, Egypt’s Al-Azhar issues Fatwa permitting suspension of Friday prayers”, March 25. https: _//_ nation.com.pk/25-Mar-2020/president-alvi-s-request-egypt-s-al-azharissues-fatwa-permitting-suspension-of-friday-prayers. (last accessed on Sep 1, 2020). The fact that the President of Pakistan explicitly sought out the support of Al-Azhar University is a strong indicator that Pakistani state officials believe in the relevance of this type of messaging. More generally, similar actions by government actors around the world suggest a widely held belief that appeals to religious authorities are an effective strategy to achieve compliance and support for government policies.

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