Voice in Local Development: Participation, Empowerment, and Accountability in Kenya

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Brian Wampler (President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement, President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement, Boise State University) Michael Touchton (Professor, Department of Political Science, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Miami)

Voice in Local Development

Participation, Empowerment, and Accountability in Kenya

Brian Wampler (President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement, President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement, Boise State University), Michael Touchton (Professor, Department of Political Science, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Miami)

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English

Oxford University Press
10 April 2025

Public administration; Central government; International institutions

Series: Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations

Many governments in semi-democratic regimes have adopted participatory democratic institutions to promote development and accountability. But limited resources, weak civil society, and a history of authoritarian politics make building subnational democratic institutions daunting. This book addresses several important questions surrounding participatory democratic institutions: do participatory institutions expand accountability, empower citizens, and advance development in these environments? Through administering a survey with embedded experiments surrounding citizens' development policy preferences to over 11,000 respondents in five Kenyan counties, Touchton and Wampler collect parallel qualitative data through participant observation and over 80 elite interviews and find limited evidence for transformative change from Kenyan PB. This book makes several contributions to advance academic and policy debates on participatory institutions and their impact on governance, accountability, democracy. First, it identifies the vital importance of competitive elections within representative democracy to empower citizens and CSOs as part of the broader causal chain leading to improvements in governance, accountability, and democracy. Next, it develops arguments for how three factors--a new socio-political context, changes to core operational rules, and different configurations of PB actors--interact to influence how PB programs function. Finally, it helps policymakers by redefining the parameters of the types of outcomes that are likely to emerge from new PB programs. This approach will be widely read among policymakers in national and local governments, international organizations, such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID, and international advocacy organizations.

Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, gender and political representation, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, comparative political thought, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The focus of the series is on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest.

Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham), Peace Medie (University of Bristol), and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira (University of Oxford)

By: Brian Wampler (President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement Boise State University), Michael Touchton (Professor, Department of Political Science, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Miami)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 20mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 235mm
Weight: 569g
ISBN: 9780198930594
ISBN 10: 0198930593
Series: Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations
Pages: 316
Publication Date: 10 April 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Michael Touchton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. Touchton studies the comparative political economy of development and underdevelopment. His interests include how countries attract investment, how they reduce poverty and promote human development, how they advance public health, and how they redevelop following the departure of major industries. Touchton is the author of three books and more than 40 articles, including several in top journals, such as the American Political Science Review, the Lancet, and Nature. He has received considerable support for this research from the National Science Foundation and the World Bank. Brian Wampler is the President's Professor of Public Scholarship and Engagement at Boise State University. Wampler is a political scientist, with a focus on democracy, participation, civil society, and institution-building, having conducted field research in Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Spain, and the United States. Wampler has worked with a diverse group of public organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, the Brazilian national government, and the Hewlett Foundation. He is the author of multiple books and more than 50 articles and book chapters. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the World Bank and Boise State University.