Droits politiques ou biens publics? Analyse économétrique des représentations de la démocratie en Afrique

Leonard Wantchekon, Gwendolyn Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In democracies there is a trade-off between efficiency in the provision of public goods and the extent of political representation. Our paper shows how this trade-off plays out in translating intrinsic versus instrumental understandings of democracy into different levels of satisfaction with democratic outcomes. We use public opinion data in eighteen African countries to demonstrate that citizens who value democracy instrumentally report lower levels of satisfaction when fractionalization is high. However, citizens who value democracy intrinsically report higher levels of satisfaction under the same circumstance. In addition, we find that more educated citizens tend to value democracy intrinsically, as opposed to instrumentally. Other potential indicators, such as wealth, age and gender, have no predictive power. Finally, we discuss the contribution our findings make to debates about such issues as ethnic fractionalization, electoral systems, political institutions and economic development.

Original languageFrench
Pages (from-to)97-117
Number of pages21
JournalAfrique Contemporaine
Volume220
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Cultural Studies
  • Development
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Political Science and International Relations

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Droits politiques ou biens publics? Analyse économétrique des représentations de la démocratie en Afrique'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this