Africa\u27s Unresponsive Democratization: the Relationship between Regime Type and the Quality of Life in Africa

Scholars and policy makers alike argue that leaders of democracies should find it in their interest to provide high levels of social services due to a fear of being voted out of office. Yet, I find that Africa\u27s newer democracies provide levels of social services strikingly similar to what the continent\u27s existing non-democracies supply. This dissertation seeks to explain why this is the case. I start by exploring the determinants of Africa\u27s most recent wave of democratization, and find that much of Africa\u27s 1990s democratic wave can be attributed to changes in foreign circumstances rather than from pressures from domestic democratic movements. I argue democratization has become disassociated with social services on the continent because of this exogenous nature of political liberalization. Rather than institutionalizing electoral incentives to provide social services, leadership of exogenously derived democracies become principally accountable to the foreign actors for whom political change was meant to appease. However, foreign actors are effectively unable and unwilling to demand political reforms that will institutionalize a more responsive democracy. This dynamic threatens any electoral incentive a ruling party might have to produce higher levels of social services. I test this argument quantitatively and find support for the notion that exogeneity of political change has dampened the impact that democratization has had on social service delivery in Africa. Additionally, through in-country, qualitative fieldwork I examine how citizens demand social services and how the government responds to such demands in Zambia, a country whose democratization was heavily influenced by foreign pressure. There, I found that while there were important initial strides made by Zambia\u27s post-transition government to institutionalize a higher level of responsiveness in social services, later erosions in Zambia\u27s checks and balances undermined these gains. Finally, using Afrobarometer\u27s cross-national survey data, I explore what impact foreign influenced democratization has on citizens\u27 attachment to and satisfaction with democracy. I find that exogenously derived democratization has a small negative impact on people\u27s attachment to democracy and satisfaction with the way democracy works in their country. I conclude by discussing some of the policy implications of these findings

Why are the poor more vulnerable to bribery in Africa? The institutional effects of services

Whereas most studies find the poor in Africa to be more vulnerable to bribery because of their lower socio-economic status, this paper proposes institutional differences as an alternative explanation. Because poor people are unable to afford privately provided services, they must use public services. In relying on the state more often, the poor become more vulnerable to bribery. Analyses of Afrobarometer data show that the poor are not more likely to pay bribes for state monopolised services. The poor’s disproportionate vulnerability to bribery for choice services is a function of their greater likelihood to have contact with the state

The limitations of education for addressing corruption: lessons from attitudes towards reporting in Papua New Guinea

Educated citizens are often considered more likely to report corruption; this belief shapes anti-corruption campaigns. However, we know little about how other factors may interact with education's impact on willingness to report corruption. This paper examines data from a household survey undertaken in Papua New Guinea. It finds that when respondents were better educated and believed corruption would be addressed by the government, they were more willing to report various types of corruption to officials. However, the positive effects of education on willingness to report corruption are significantly diminished when citizens lack trust that authorities will address corruption.This report was commisioned by Developmental Leadership Progra