Understanding political participation in West Africa: the relationship between good governance and local citizen engagement

2016 ◽  
Vol 83 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 136-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Ann Krawczyk ◽  
Jennie Sweet-Cushman
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression Model ◽  
Citizen Engagement

Strengthening citizen participation in West Africa is an increasingly important aspect of democratic development – especially in mitigating setbacks arising from poor governance. This article uses Round 4 Afrobarometer data to explore what stimulates local-level participation by examining determinants against the backdrop of eight West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. Using a negative binomial regression model, our results are evaluated within the framework of good governance, and show that local context, specifically relative to citizens’ perceptions of and attitudes about the performance of local government, matters when it comes to local political participation. Points for practitioners This study provides public administrators with a framework for understanding what drives local-level, non-electoral citizen participation in West Africa, and helps them understand how to increase local citizen engagement and build a more democratic society through the pursuit of good governance principles. In addition, this study highlights the critical importance of local government performance, and the role of citizens’ attitudes and evaluations, in local civic engagement.

Democracy in Unequal Terms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell J. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
Cross National

This chapter summarizes the results of this study: changes in social structure and participation patterns are increasing social-status-based inequality in political participation. Those with higher educational levels, incomes, or occupation have greater political voice, while lower-status individuals are less politically involved. Moreover, the politically rich are getting richer, and the politically poor are getting poorer. The chapter then discusses the implications of these results. The chapter considers claims that participation erodes governance and some form of epistocracy (rule by the knowledgeable) is preferable. Cross-national analysis shows that well-governed democracies have high levels of citizen participation, including both conventional and contentious forms of action. In addition, the size of the SES participation gap is negatively related to good governance. The conclusion discusses ways that democracies might narrow the participation gap and give voice to those citizens who need government support.

scholarly journals Impact of the Informal Institutional Forces on the Local Government Elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Niaz Ahmad ◽  
Abida Bano ◽  
Ashfaq Rehman
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Formal Institutions ◽  
Political Awareness ◽  
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Grass Root Level

Local government is visualised as a tool for promoting political participation, downward accountability, which consequently leads to the establishment of good governance at the grass-root level. In the establishment of the local government system, the main ingredients of good governance, such as participation and downward accountability, reckon almost on the nature of elections. However, societies marked with strong cultural and socially embedded informal institutions, already existed from generations, hinder formal institutions to play its intended role. In Pakistan, some socio-cultural features like gender, ascribed status, and economic background of the individuals influence the entire process of elections adversely. This paper attempts to assess the processes of the local government elections in District Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. It aims to highlight the deterministic role of other informal institutional forces that affect the outcome of local elections. It investigates, how the process of local government elections is influenced in Pakistan and how do people decide whom to vote for in these elections. The study argues that policymakers should work on strengthening the formal institutions of elections through measures such as monitoring by media, referendums, auditing, evaluations, education, and political awareness as alternatives to ensure good governance at the local level in Pakistan.

Turns of Direct Democracy at the Local Level in Latvia

2022 ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Lilita Seimuskane ◽  
Maris Pukis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Government ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Study Participation ◽  
The Government

The chapter provides analysis of obstacles for the introduction of direct citizen participation in the decision-making process at the local self-governments in Latvia, as well as intents of national government to widen participative democracy by formalization of consultation mechanisms. Within the scope of this study, participation is seen as an interaction form of relationship between citizens and a local government. The highest form, according to Arnstein's gradation theory of a ladder of citizen participation, refers to the participation degree called partnership, delegated power, and is described by Teorell as a citizen voice in the government. Situation and perspective of local government referendums are analysed. Consultation is implemented at the level by involving the residents in the work of local government commissions and implementing public deliberations. Administrative territorial reform, performed by 2021 elections, will decrease the number of local governments to a third of their current level.

scholarly journals Commonwealth Local Government Forum’s support of Local Councils Associations in Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Local Council ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Development Outcomes ◽  
Effective Development

After a brief overview of the recent developments in the legal framework for local government in Pakistan, this paper summarises the objectives and activities to date of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum’s project ‘Strengthening the Associations of Local Governments and their Members for Enhanced Governance and Effective Development Outcomes in Pakistan’. The project seeks to strengthen local democracy and good governance through the local council associations in the four provinces of Pakistan: Baluchistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project seeks to support local government to deal with the unique challenges of inclusive representation and equitable and effective service delivery. Building on the recently promulgated provincial local government acts, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of the local councils’ associations to raise the voice of local government and ensure they are able to play their appointed developmental role at the local level.  The project main components are to strengthen how the local council associations actively provide services to their members and advocate for the betterment of local government in Pakistan and pilot the territorial approach to local development (TALD) so as to align the general methodology to the Pakistan context.

scholarly journals Territorial Policy Agenda Revised

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-236
Author(s):  
Jurga Bučaite˙-Vilke ◽  
Aiste Lazauskiene
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Consolidation Process ◽  
Local Contact ◽  
Local Decision ◽  
Citizen Perceptions ◽  
The Relationship

This paper contributes to the ongoing debates on the relationship between municipality size and non-electoral citizen participation at the local level. We use the data from Lithuania as a case of strongly consolidated local government structures. We discuss three main points. First, our focus is on the limited question of how municipality size affects the intensity of citizens’ non-electoral participation in local decision-making, taking into account citizens’ participatory capacities, contact with municipal authorities and local agents, and municipal performance evaluations. Second, we consider the specificity of the territorial rescaling policy agenda in Lithuania, which is characterised by the long-term direction of the territorial consolidation process. Third, representative population survey data serve as a reasonable platform for testing the hypothesis on the relationship between different citizen participatory practices and municipality size. We assumed that citizen perceptions of municipal problem-solving capacities, local government accessibility, and assessment of local government performance could vary in municipalities of different size. We also expected to find significant correlation between citizen assessment of municipal performance, local government accessibility (varying by local contact activity), and citizen perception of municipal problem-solving capacities by producing statistical clusters of citizen participatory capacity types. The limitations of quantitative statistical approaches constitute a barrier to explaining the subjective perceptions of local citizens hold about their non-electoral participatory behaviour. Our conclusions demonstrate that the perceived potential of non-electoral democratic participation capacities is relatively limited in both small and large Lithuanian municipalities. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that citizens in large municipalities are more likely to establish local contact activity and have better perceptions of municipal problem-solving capacities than those in small municipalities.

The impact of gender, race and class on women’s political participation in post-apartheid South Africa: challenges for community development

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Hicks ◽  
Sithembiso Myeni
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experiences Of Women

The inclusion of women, and women’s participation in politics has been identified as key prerequisites for the development of an inclusive democracy and the promotion of good governance in post-apartheid South Africa. Yet women still face a series of barriers to their active participation in development policy-making and political processes, barriers that have been compounded by structural inequalities of race and social class. This chapter draws upon a recent study, implemented by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), to investigate institutional and structural barriers to women’s full political participation and representation, impacting both on experiences of women in political parties, and on ordinary women’s shaping of development priorities and decision-making at the local level.

scholarly journals Enhancing Citizen Participation for Development in Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Abel Kinyondo ◽  
Riccardo Pelizzo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Older People ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Rural Tanzania ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The Government

The literature has repeatedly emphasized that citizen participation is requisite for good governance. Indeed, when citizens participate in various public activities, they can voice their demands, they can invite the government to respond to their demands, and they can keep government accountable. In other words, in the presence of citizen engagement activities, voices can be raised to governments accountable. While the literature has clearly established this link, less is known about the levels of citizen engagement in rural areas in developing countries like Tanzania; precisely areas where good governance is most needed to secure some progress along the developmental path and take the population out of poverty. Using an original dataset comprising of 1,265 respondents, we find that citizen participation in rural Tanzania varies across various types of activities. We also find that that the participation rate for men is higher than that of women and that the participation rate for older people is higher than it is for younger ones. Given the fact that Tanzania’s population is largely youthful, and women are slightly more than men, we recommend for the removal of barriers that women and youths face as far as their civic rights to participate in developmental activities is concerned.

scholarly journals Decentralization of Authorities in Ukraine; As an Efficient Instrument for Strengthening Local Democracy in The Modern Stage Of Government

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6786-6792
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Active Form ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Public Budget ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Everyday Problems

The article deals with the issue of the decentralization of power in Ukraine, the unification of territorial communities, the development of a democratic local government, the establishment of local democracy, the factors that influence this process, the forms of participation of residents in solving everyday problems of the community. The purpose of the research paper is to reveal the mechanisms of decentralization of power at the local level, identify the main tendencies that appear during its implementation, ways to improve local governance and develop local democracy in the current crisis. In result, the study has established that the found in the developed democratic countries, the Institute of Local SelfGovernment – is a unique area that promotes the introduction of such signs of democracy as a community of tasks, joint responsibility, universal agreement, brotherhood, tolerance, equality. So, local democracy is necessary; it should be developed, strengthened in all directions. Has been established that the active form of citizen participation in community affairs is the implementation of the idea of the participation budget or public budget. The project had supported in virtually all regions of Ukraine and, thanks to it, people managed to solve a large number of local affairs under its responsibility, while increasing transparency and accountability of management structures and deepening decentralization processes on the ground.

scholarly journals Design Criteria for Improving Safety Performance of Rural Intersections

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Biancardo ◽  
F. Russo ◽  
W. Zhang ◽  
R. Veropalumbo
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Crash Risk ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression Model ◽  
Skew Angle ◽  
Safety Performance Function ◽  
The One

This paper, on the one hand, aims to identify significant crash risk factors at unsignalized three-leg intersections connecting rural two-lane two-way roads and minor roads with a STOP control on the approaches (3ST) and, on the other, to make adjustments to the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) procedure, fine-tuning its Safety Performance Function (SPF) based on observation of the local context. Over an 8-year period of study, a total of 240 crashes on 35 3ST intersections were observed, with no geometric-infrastructure adjustments or changes in the Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) and surrounding context noted at the intersections investigated. To obtain reliable results, the study period was divided into two groups: (a) 5 years to calibrate a new SPF, and (b) the remaining 3, not included in the first dataset, were used to validate the results. A negative binomial regression model was adopted to calibrate the new SPF. It was found that the AADT on the major and minor roads, the intersection skew angle, the co-occurrence of left and right-turn lanes on the major roads, and lighting seriously affect the crash scenario.

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