Who is democracy good for? Elections, rural bias, and health and education outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa

Journal article

How do African governments respond to democratic electoral competition? Although the common perception is that African governments have sought to win elections by combining various types of electoral fraud, clientelism, and ethnic mobilization, I argue that democratic elections in Africa have also induced governments to compete for votes by providing basic services. One implication of this is a rural bias in the impact of democracy on basic health and education outcomes. Using individual-level data from 27 African countries, I investigate the theoretical claim that competitive elections create incentives for African governments to implement prorural policies in order to satisfy the rural majority. The results demonstrate that democratic elections significantly increase access to primary education and reduce infant mortality rates, but only for children in rural areas. As the argument expects, these effects are conditional on the level of urbanization.

Authors: Harding, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Journal: Journal of Politics
• Volume: 82
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 241-254
• Publication date: 2019-11-14
• Acceptance date: 2018-09-17
• DOI: 10.1086/705745
• EISSN: 1468-2508
• ISSN: 0022-3816
• Language: English
• Keywords: Africa; rural; democracy; elections