Citizen political knowledge and accountability: Survey evidence on devolution in Kenya

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Opalo, Ken Ochieng'
• 署名单位: Georgetown University
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/gove.12498
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: decentralization; AFRICA; women; RESPONSIBILITY; preferences; governance; LAND; men

摘要

Devolution complicates citizens' ability to assign responsibility for the provision of public goods and services to different tiers of government. Misattribution of responsibility limits the effectiveness of electoral accountability in the nested principal-agent relationships comprising voters, politicians, and bureaucrats. This raises two important questions. First, how do citizens learn about the functions of different tiers of government under devolution? Second, how do levels of political knowledge condition citizens' evaluations of subnational governments? Using cross-sectional and panel survey data from Kenya (2014-2018), this article shows that voters accumulate knowledge through exposure to government services, and that gender and partisanship mediate knowledge accumulation. In addition, exposed citizens are more likely to give positive evaluations of subnational politicians, despite the fact that such exposure may reveal subnational governments' low capacity, ineffectiveness, and governance gaps. These findings advance our understanding of the dynamics of political accountability under devolution.