Governance Beyond the State: Social Institutions and Service Delivery

Session Submission Type: Full Submitted Panel

Session Description

Despite a surge of interest in “good governance” over the past two decades, scholars and policymakers have yet to reach a consensus regarding the concept’s definition and measurement. The quality of governance is typically measured at the country level, based on expert opinion and quantitative indicators of the impartiality and capacity of state institutions to deliver on their mandates. Such measures mask important subnational variation, and also fail to capture the role of non-state actors, who occupy a vital position when it comes to solving collective action problems and providing collective benefits to communities in developing countries. Developing an understanding of governance that goes beyond national-level state institutions can also help to pinpoint the features of governance that matter most when it comes to improving service delivery and other development outcomes. These outcomes in turn serve as important forces of legitimacy – of governments and politicians as well as non-governmental organizations and community groups.

The papers in this panel pursue this line of inquiry drawing on original data drawn from across regions, and using a variety of research methodologies. Landry et al. make theoretical and methodological contributions to analyses of the relationship between governance and development, looking at how inferences drawn from nationally- and locally-representative surveys differ when it comes to the relationship between governance and development. In a related vein, the Carlitz et al. study draws on an original survey conducted with over 8,000 households in Malawi to document significant variation in the nature and quality of local governance across both geographic areas (region, district, and village) and within different imagined communities that extend beyond geographic boundaries. McMurry considers how extending legal recognition to traditional institutions in the Philippines impacts on governance and political accountability at the local level, leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in the granting of land titles. She finds that land titling increases in-group identity and the legitimacy of indigenous leadership, while also improving outcomes that rely on high levels of local collective action. Land titling has varying effects on local government accountability, however. Finally, Hartmann looks at the impact of an externally imposed governance intervention – a community-driven development (CDD) program – finding that it has no effect on political participation, but a positive effect on incumbent candidate vote share. This finding points to the limits of ‘top-down’ initiatives to instill ‘bottom-up’ behaviors to promote good governance. Overall, these papers advance our understanding of how different communities govern themselves, and how these different patterns of governance relate to their well being and opportunities for improving their lives.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 12: COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Individual Presentations

• Lost in Aggregation: why the level of analysis matters - Pierre F. Landry, NYU-Shanghai; Ellen M. Lust, University of Gothenburg; Sebastian Nickel

• Exploring Subnational and Cross-Sectoral Variation in the Quality of Governance - Ruth Carlitz, University of Gothenburg; Kristen Kao, University of Gothenburg; Ellen M. Lust, University of Gothenburg; Lise Rakner, University of Bergen; Pierre F. Landry, NYU-Shanghai

• The effects of indigenous land titling on identity and local governance - Nina Katherine Siegel McMurry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Community Driven Development, Political Participation, and Incumbent Voting - Felix Hartmann, University of Gothenburg

Chair

• Adrienne LeBas American University

Discussants

• Rachel Sigman Naval Postgraduate School

• Adrienne LeBas American University