Why has democracy failed to secure better governance and accountability in Africa? This article from Afrobarometer finds that how Africans understand their own roles and responsibilities for securing vertical democratic accountability – between leaders and the public – is important. Democracy in Africa remains unclaimed by ‘voters’ who have embraced multiparty elections but failed to grasp their rights as ‘citizens’ – notably to regularly demand accountability from leaders.
Most African regimes do not meet the minimum requirements of representative democracy. It has been argued that they are more characteristic of ‘delegative democracies’, where citizens delegate authority to a strong president. However, analysis of interview data from 18 African countries indicates that the majority favour a system of horizontal checks and balances on executive power. Nevertheless, the legislative and judicial branches of government remain weak in Africa. As a result modes of vertical accountability that both enable direct popular control of leaders and enhance horizontal accountability are of increased importance.
Analysis of interview data reveals that Africans do not fully appreciate that democratisation endows them with the right to monitor their leaders between elections. There is widespread support for elections and responsive government, but low popular demand for the accountability of legislative representatives to voters, although this is subject to significant national variations:
- Social and attitudinal factors account for only five percent of the variability in demand for vertical accountability.
- Low demand for accountability is better understood at the country level, being determined by historical legacies and institutional choices.
- The likelihood of demand for public accountability increases in countries with a longer history of independence.
- The legacy of national liberation movements’ resistance to political competition and pluralism has created political cultures that discourage bottom-up accountability.
- Africans who were socialised under strong presidential rule have limited experience with representative democracy and are more likely to default to delegative democracy.
- Plural electoral systems have a more positive effect than proportional and mixed systems on popular demands for accountability. Plural systems allow citizens to identify a single representative, whom they can hold accountable.
Most Africans are receiving less accountability than they want, perceiving that politicians rarely keep campaign promises after elections. Perceptions of the supply of vertical accountability are largely determined by individual’s attitudes to politicians’ behaviour:
- In countries where the demand for vertical accountability is higher, the perceived supply of responsive government is lower. Conversely, in countries where fewer people say they want accountability, they are more likely to report they are actually getting it.
- An accountable leader is popularly perceived as one who listens to constituents’ needs. Unresponsive leadership is the largest determinant in the perceived low supply of vertical accountability.
- If citizens think that leaders benefit from impunity from law enforcement, then they doubt vertical accountability is being supplied.
- Levels of confidence in the effectiveness of elections to replace unresponsive leaders, along with the time representatives spend in their constituencies, are also significant in determining the perceived supply of accountability.
- External agencies can implement programmes to help increase popular demand for accountability, and methods of securing it. However, ultimately it is only citizens who can guarantee representative democracy.
