Political Accountability Research Articles

Political accountability and legislative behavior in Africa: evidence from the 2019 Kenyan Sugar Bill in the context of the political economy of sectoral policy

ABSTRACT Recent research on African legislatures, once considered rarely autonomous, has found that some broad-scale mass movements, including pro-poor campaigns, hold legislators accountable. This article meanwhile examines the conditions under which narrow local constituency issues, shaping partisan differences, can hold relevant representatives and parties accountable while prioritizing over executive pressures and clientelist personal gains. I argue that this sort of political accountability in legislatures can be observed concerning sectoral policy interests, which, in Africa, are often geographically concentrated along ethnicity and party support lines. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches including interviews, news coverage reviews, and a statistical analysis of legislative debates on the 2019 Sugar Bill in Kenya, I show that the growing and collective efforts of sugar farmers to influence their local representatives and parties to support the legislation, tying them to the same electoral fate, prompt legislators to speak in favor of their local interests. This implies that sector-based policy concerns, when addressed by organized policy backers, are used as an effective mechanism for maintaining party unity and accountability in the legislature.

Critical Contextual Empiricism and the Politics of Knowledge

What are philosophers doing when they prescribe a particular epistemology for science? According to science and technology studies, the answer to this question implicates both knowledge and politics, even when the latter is hidden. Exploring this dynamic via a specific case, I argue that Longino’s “critical contextual empiricism” ultimately relies on a form of political liberalism. Her choice to nevertheless foreground epistemological concerns can be clarified by considering historical relationships between science and society, as well as the culture of academic philosophy. This example, I conclude, challenges philosophers of science to consider the political ideals and accountability entailed by their prescribed knowledge practices.

The Political Psychology of Cancel Culture: Value Framing or Group Identity?

“Cancel culture” has become a prominent phrase in US political commentary, with supporters and opponents relying on different value-based arguments to express their views. At the same time, these camps often fall along predictable partisan political lines. What, then, are the real motivations for promoting and opposing behaviors sometimes labeled as “canceling” in contemporary American politics? We explore this question through survey data from Pew in 2020 and two original survey experiments, conducted on the 2021 CES and a 2023 online sample. We examine how Americans define the term “cancel culture,” to what extent cancel culture is linked to both a range of core democratic values, and the role of partisanship in shaping support or opposition to specific behaviors. We observe a significant range of views about cancel culture and document connections to various political values. From our experiments, we find that partisanship is a potent driver of support for and understanding of cancel culture and that value-based framing has a weaker impact as compared to partisanship. Cancel culture provides an important case study of how Americans process conflicting norms and values, including free speech and political accountability, beyond the typical constraints of the formal political system.

Partisanship and the Pandemic: How and Why Americans Followed Party Cues on COVID-19

The United States underperformed its potential in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors use original survey data from April 2020 to March 2022 to show that political partisanship may have contributed to this inconsistent response by distinguishing elites and citizens who took the crisis seriously from those who did not. This division was not inevitable; when the crisis began, Democrats and Republicans differed little in their viewpoints and actions relative to COVID-19. However, partisans increasingly diverged when their preferred political leaders provided them with opposing cues. The authors outline developments in party politics over the last half century that contributed to partisan division on COVID-19, most centrally an anti-expertise bias among Republicans. Accordingly, Republicans’ support for mitigation measures, perception of severity of COVID-19, and support for vaccines gradually decreased after the initial outbreak. Partisan differences also showed up at the state level; Trump's vote share in 2016 was negatively associated with mask use and positively associated with COVID-19 infections. Diverging elite cues provided fertile ground for the partisan pandemic, underscoring the importance of political accountability even in an era of polarization.

Local Chief Executive Political Accountability In Indonesia: A Historical-Legal Analysis

This paper discusses the local chief executive’s (LCE) political accountability in the Local Government Acts (LGAs). Using historical and theoretical approaches, this article examines the influence of the political interests of the regimes on the changes of provisions on LCE’s political accountability in the LGAs from 1945 to date. The LCE was accountable to the local council (DPRD) from 1945-1958 and 1999-2004; and to the central government from 1959-1998. While since 2004, the LCEs are only had to report -but not be accountable- to the Central Government, local council and the local community. Two important academic questions arise when dealing with this phenomenon. First, to what extent are the political interests of the democratic and authoritarian regimes shaped the changes of provisions on LCE political accountability in the LGAs? Second, how do the provisions conform to the accountability principles? This study’s result shows that the rulers’ political orientation shaped the LCEs’ political accountability system and ignored the principles of accountability, leading to the inconsistent institutional design of LCE accountability. Furthermore, the LGA has yet to regulate the electoral/political accountability of LCEs, which should be a consequenceof adopting the LCE direct election. We recommend precise arrangements on the accountability principle in the Constitution to avoid the politicization of laws by legislators according to their political interests and improve the role of Citizens through a recall petition to strengthen the enforcement mechanisms.

Reanimating Public Happiness: Reading Cavarero and Butler beyond Arendt

Abstract This article takes as its point of departure Hannah Arendt’s discussion of public happiness, contextualising it within her thoughts on politics, democracy and revolution. It draws on Arendt’s discussion of how the expression “pursuit of happiness” has historically shifted from a public understanding of happiness into an increasingly privatised one. The article engages with Arendt’s account of public happiness in order to reanimate her radical democratic critique of how representative politics reduces the scope of political action and participation; and how the notion of happiness in a neoliberal era can only be interpreted in economistic and subjectivist terms. Furthermore, the article turns to examine how recent works in contemporary political thought, namely, those by Adriana Cavarero and Judith Butler, extend and transform the stakes of Arendt’s account of public happiness. On one hand, Cavarero’s notion of surging democracy is considered as an account of radical politics that keeps alive the Arendtian concern with public happiness by contextualising it within contemporary political struggles and social movements. On the other hand, Butler problematises Arendt’s discussion of politics for its neglect of precarity; however, this article argues that Butler’s work on assembly extends Arendt’s by highlighting possibilities of resistance, radical democracy and even public happiness amid experiences of loss and grief. Although prima facie it might appear that happiness and precarity are opposed to each other, this article points towards contemporary political practices, such as those of Ni Una Menos, that are critically reanimating public happiness through the intertwining of affective registers that range from joy to grief.

Facebook Political Ads and Accountability: Outside Groups Are Most Negative, Especially When Hiding Donors

Facebook Political Ads and Accountability: Outside Groups Are Most Negative, Especially When Hiding Donors

Exploring the Nexus: Tax Compliance and Sustainable Development in Namibia

Tax revenue collection serves as the bedrock for states to avail infrastructure, essential national needs and development, encompassing critical sectors such as education, healthcare, and social welfare. This study explored and answered a question on which factors influence domestic taxpayers’ compliance in Namibia. This study tested the nine factors unpacked by Trifan et al., (2023) against 113 domestic taxpayers’ messages sent between June 2022 and December 2023 regarding tax concerns. This study was underpinned by established tax compliance explanations, including, political accountability social norms, deterrence factors, and fiscal exchange. A qualitative approach was adopted, by collecting messages from taxpayers through the Namibia Revenue Agency ‘s (NamRA) Facebook page and published Short Message Services (SMS) by the Namibian News Paper. The data were quantified to provide a better understanding as to what extent categorized taxpayers’ messages contributed to tax compliance in Namibia. The results revealed that five factors (trust in tax authority, perceived fairness, tax legislation and procedures simplicity, personal financial and economic factors, and malfunctioning of integrated tax administration (ITAS), were found to have a likelihood influence on tax complaisance in Namibia.

Walhi's Strategy to Fight for Justice in Environmental Permit Cancellation: Case Study of Construction of PLTU Tanjung Jati A Cirebon

The issue of environmental permits for PLTU Tanjung Jati A is a serious problem because the publication does not include an analysis of the release of CO2 emissions which have an impact on environmental damage and climate change. This research aims to describe Walhi West Java's strategy in its efforts to cancel the environmental permit for PLTU Tanjung Jati A through its international and national networks. In line with this aim, this research uses a case study approach with data collection carried out through in-depth interviews and analysis of related documents. The theory used by the Transnational Advocacy Network (TAN) theory as an analytical tool was put forward by Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink. The results of this research, Walhi West Java has implemented four TAN strategies, namely Information Politics by disseminating information and findings, Symbolic Politics by carrying out campaign actions with symbols, Leverage Politics by collaborating with stronger actors, and Accountability Politics by supervising actors who advocated to walk with the commitments that have been set. Based on these four strategies, Walhi West Java is very optimal in carrying out Information Politics and Leverage Politics strategies. The weakness is that the Political Accountability strategy has not been fully successful because the Tanjung Jati A PLTU project is still in the policy documents and RUPTL. Walhi West Java's TAN implementation strategy succeeded in bringing victory over the Head of DPMTSP regarding the cancellation of environmental permits.

Examining the international political and legal accountability of states for genocide, ecocide, and weapons of mass destruction: current norms, practices, and political implications

The article reveals the international framework of political and legal liability of states for committing acts of genocide, ecocide, and using weapons of mass destruction. It is emphasized that these areas form a separate legal responsibility institution within international law. The author emphasizes the lack of unity between theoretical and practical aspects of legal regulation of using weapons of mass destruction, as well as the role that liability plays in the progressive development of law. The paper also highlights topical issues related to the paradigm shifts in modern international law due to the cases of genocide, ecocide, and WMD. The study aims to analyze international legal norms and practices of holding states accountable for the crimes of genocide, ecocide, and use of weapons of mass destruction. The following methods were employed in the course of this research: systemic, comparative legal, historical and legal, structural and functional, and generalization. The article emphasizes that most international crimes are committed with the support or under the control of collective entities, especially states. Nevertheless, international law has tended to impose responsibility for such crimes not only on certain people but also on states. The predominant response of the international community to international crimes was to impose responsibility on specific persons to the extent that it has been directed through international responsibility law. In this regard, it has been symbolized by prosecuting particular criminals through international criminal courts and tribunals.

The political economy of urban party switching in African elections: Evidence from Zambia

Abstract Zambia experienced its third electoral turnover in the 2021 election. While the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) lost votes across the territory, the electoral collapse in urban Zambia was particularly remarkable. This paper argues that economic performance voting can explain urban party switching in Zambia. The argument is supported by a unique panel survey of Zambian voters in the period 2019–2022. We show that urban voters were more likely to desert the PF, even when we control for ethnicity. We also show that they were more likely to evaluate the economy poorly and more likely to change their electoral preferences in view of such poor economic evaluation. Our results stress that African elections should not be understood as static expressions of stable political cleavages but may function as real opportunities for political accountability. However, the extent to which voters are willing to re-evaluate their vote choice varies across space.

Local News Reporting and Mass Attitudes on Infrastructure Investment

AbstractA growing body of research documents how shrinking local newsrooms undermine political accountability and local fiscal and policy performance in the United States. We extend this work to examine political impacts from the level of information content in local news, which has been jeopardized by reductions in newsroom staffing. To understand how information content affects public response to news coverage of a local issue, we focus on the case of preventive spending on infrastructure maintenance and repair. Inefficiently low levels of infrastructure investment are often attributed to low public knowledge about the risk of failure events. In a preregistered survey experiment, we test how the level and type of information in a news article affect support for infrastructure investment across two different types of infrastructure risk (repeated nuisance versus catastrophic failure). For both types of risk, we find that more information-rich reporting, whether investigative or event-driven, increases public support for preventive spending and imposes accountability penalties on local leaders who fail to invest in prevention.

Civility norm violations and political accountability

AbstractIntroductionThis short article investigates how violations of civility norms by politicians affect attitudes about the importance of norms and demand for political accountability after wrongdoing.ResultsOur main findings are twofold: (1) support for norms and (2) demand for punishing norm‐breaking increases when parties hold political officials accountable for their actions—especially in the case of in‐group norm‐breaking.ConclusionsThese findings contribute to a growing literature on Americans’ support for norms by implying that elites play an important role in sustaining the standards of democratic exchange. When elites impose punishment on copartisan elites, they signal to the public that accountability is acceptable.

Between Jerusalem and Babylon: Catholic Discourses of Israel and National Identity in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (ca. 1560–1625)

Abstract This article examines how English Catholics imagined Jerusalem and Israel in relation to themselves, their nation and their Church. While English Protestant uses of Jerusalem imagery have been well-studied, their inter-confessional context has received less attention, and yet it was crucial to shaping them. Catholic deployments of Old Testament images and typology were no less sophisticated and significant than Protestant ones; English Catholic texts show how multivalent imagery of Jerusalem and its antithesis, Babylon, could be used both to express and to attempt to resolve tensions between the officially Protestant nation and the “true” Church. Exploring Catholic conceptions of Jerusalem, England and the Church is valuable because it offers insight into the culture that formed English Catholic recusants, missionaries, exiles and politicians, but also because it is important to a properly integrated account of the religious politics of England.

Do Institutional Quality and Natural Resources Affect the Outward Foreign Direct Investment of India?

The institutional quality and natural resources of the host country are among the essential determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). The present study is performed to examine the role of the host country’s institutional quality and natural resources on Indian OFDI for the panel of 15 countries concerning the period from 2001 to 2020. The study uses the fixed-effect panel regression model and found that host nations’ political stability, voice and accountability, absence of violence or terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption attract FDI from India. Further, the government’s efficacy and regulatory quality do not have a considerable impact on Indian OFDI. The study also found that the natural resources of the host nation play an important role in the international diversification of investments made by Indian investors. It is recommended to the government of host nations to strengthen their institutional quality as good-quality institutions add to the growth of entrepreneurship, encourage investment, and therefore stimulate the economic growth of the economy.

Do political and social accountability arrangements increase citizens’ legitimacy perceptions? A vignette experiment in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT This study investigates the effects of social and political accountability arrangements on citizens’ legitimacy perceptions. Accountability arrangements are often suggested to improve the perceived legitimacy of governmental organizations. Based upon a pre-registered vignette experiment with a representative sample of N = 1574 citizens from the Netherlands, we show that social accountability (accountability to citizens) increases legitimacy perceptions, but that political accountability (accountability to politicians) does not affect legitimacy perceptions. These patterns are highly similar for both decision winners and losers, with accountability slightly more important for losers. This has important implications for our understanding of the impact of accountability for perceived legitimacy.

Analysis of Political Party Accountability and Financial Assistance in the Context of Indonesian Democracy

In the contemporary era characterized by globalization and swift democratic progress, Indonesia encounters distinctive challenges of rising political expenses. This article utilizes qualitative research methodologies to examine the consequences of increasing political costs on the dynamics of Indonesian democracy, specifically concerning accountability and financial support for political parties. The main findings suggest that the financial assistance to political parties in Indonesia has not adequately tackled the forthcoming challenges that Indonesian democracy may encounter. In contrast, political parties persist in facing challenges in accountability mechanisms for the funds they acquire. The provision of financial aid may be perceived as a feasible approach to mitigate the financial burdens associated with political campaigns. However, in the absence of adequate mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability, there is a possibility of corruption and concerns regarding the scope of funding. This article further emphasizes the significance of political education as a fundamental obligation of political parties to uphold democratic efficacy. This study places particular emphasis on the ramifications of providing financial assistance to political parties for the future trajectory of Indonesian democracy. To ensure the continued progress of democracy in Indonesia and realize the “Golden Indonesia 2045” vision, stakeholders must possess a comprehensive comprehension of the matter and effectively tackle the obstacles that arise from the significant political expenses involved.

Political accountability under moral hazard

AbstractViewing the relationship between politicians and voters as a principal–agent interaction afflicted by moral hazard, we examine how political careers are shaped by the incentives that voters provide incumbents to work in the public interest. When moral hazard binds, the optimal way for voters to hold politicians accountable is to provide re‐election incentives that evolve dynamically over their careers in office. Under these incentives, first‐term politicians are among the most electorally vulnerable and the hardest‐working; politician effort rises with electoral vulnerability; electoral security increases following good performance and decreases following bad performance; and both effort and electoral vulnerability tend to decline with tenure. In extensions, we study limited voter commitment, voluntary retirement from politics, and adverse selection.

Author's Response: Unity through Division—Developing an Alternative Account of Indonesian Politics

Author's Response: Unity through Division—Developing an Alternative Account of Indonesian Politics

Cultural Change in Iran: Women's Rights and the Middle Class

The influence of Western culture and the efforts of domestic intellectuals merely scratched the surface of pre-existing and traditional practices towards women in nineteenth-century Iran. However, they led to the rise of social movements, such as the women's rights movement. Modernisation and economic growth drove ongoing processes of industrialization and urbanization during the twentieth century in Iran. Modernization also changed the social structure by creating a new middle class. It is expected that economic growth and educational attainment would empower the new middle class to demand greater political accountability, which, in turn, would lead to women's empowerment. The new middle class participated in the 1979 revolution, the outcome of which was to accelerate the rise of religious leadership. The revolutionary government renewed traditional Shiʿite practices, including traditional norms concerning women. Since the revolution, despite the imposition of Islamic law, the level of literacy and access to higher education, particularly for women, has escalated. This has led to women's awareness of their rights and their struggles to realize them in practice. However, unexpectedly, the new middle class hesitated in turning revolutionary and in joining the protestors. This research assumes that education enables women to confront their traditional roles in the family. Nevertheless, changing women's position is a process of cultural change that is coherent with both socio-economic development and the rise of a strong middle class.