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Local-Level Accountability in a Dominant Party System
[journal article]
Abstract This article investigates accountability in South Africa's dominant party system by studying how the African National Congress (ANC) reacts to electoral incentives at the local level. It compares the ANC's degree of responsiveness to voters across municipalities with different levels of political co... view more
This article investigates accountability in South Africa's dominant party system by studying how the African National Congress (ANC) reacts to electoral incentives at the local level. It compares the ANC's degree of responsiveness to voters across municipalities with different levels of political competition. The analysis focuses on whether and under which conditions the ANC is more likely to renominate better quality municipal councillors. It examines the relationship between renomination as ANC municipal councillor and local government performance - as measured by voter signals, service delivery and audit outcomes. The results show that the ANC does indeed adapt its behaviour to electoral incentives. In municipalities where the ANC has larger margins of victory, performance matters little for renomination. In contrast, in municipalities with higher electoral competition, local government performance is strongly correlated with renomination. These results suggest the need to expand dominant party research to topics of voter responsiveness and sub-national behaviour.... view less
Keywords
party; Republic of South Africa; election campaign; regional policy; party system; municipal council; local politics; nomination of candidates
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
accountability; dominant parties; electoral competition; South Africa; African National Congress; ANC; Kommunen; African National Congress; Haftpflicht; Regionalregierung
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 51-75
Journal
Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics, 53 (2018) 1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2016.1
ISSN
1477-7053
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
With the permission of the rights owner, this publication is under open access due to a (DFG-/German Research Foundation-funded) national or Alliance license.