
Do local elections foster local democracy? – Party Strategies in the first Elections at the County Level in Kenya
Short description
This project aims to examine when local democracy becomes a vehicle for increased accountability and when it does not, by looking at the behavior of the main political actors, the politicians. The strategies they choose to mobilize votes are important keys to whether democratic accountability is distorted or not. Where they choose clientelist or ethnic strategies, promising club goods to certain groups, there is the potential for local governance to be undermined. Where they choose programmatic strategies, promising public goods for all, there is the chance for it to be enhanced. Therefore, this project aims to answer the key research question of what factors explain the different mobilization strategies adopted by politicians in the first local county elections in Kenya.
Other participants
D’Arcy, Michelle, PI, Trinity College Dublin
Publications
Cornell, A., & D’Arcy, M. (2014). Plus ça change? County-level politics in Kenya after devolution. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 8(1), 173–191.
Michelle D'Arcy, Agnes Cornell, Devolution and corruption in Kenya: Everyone's turn to eat?, African Affairs, Volume 115, Issue 459, April 2016, Pages 246–273.
Cornell, D'Arcy. 2016. Devolution, Democracy and Development in Kenya. Research report. Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy.