Contrasting Expected and Actual Political Behavior in Africa and the Middle East

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Under what conditions does political behavior deviate from the expectation? This panel explores this question as it plays out in several different policy and geographic contexts in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Harris, Honig and Lust, for example, examine the gap between gendered norms around land rights, and their actual practices. They assess when and why people diverge from the norms of the socio-political institutions, with a focus on the impacts of changes in local balances of power. Brass and co-authors, study how expectations around the political effects of service provision deviate from expectation. They show that whereas policymakers and donors expect the provision of electricity to enhance participation, it is actually associated with reduced participation for most subsets of the population. Civil society organization memberships is one of the few factors that appears to mitigate this effect. Hern and Zeira contrast Western expectations of how people understand democracy with those of Africans and Arabs, who are more likely to see democracy as a system for distribution material goods like jobs, money, and basic necessities. They show that the way people understand democracy is linked to their political behavior. Finally, Friesen compares expected electoral versus actual support for political parties in democratic versus authoritarian regimes. He presents a new way to estimate true party support in authoritarian contexts. Papers in this panel use a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods, and their analyses draw on data from more than 30 countries.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Individual Presentations

• Gender, Land Rights and Social Institutions in Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya - Adam Harris, University College London; Lauren Honig, Boston College; Ellen M. Lust, University of Gothenburg

• Civil Society, Service Provision & Political Participation: What Relationship? - Jennifer N. Brass, Indiana University, Bloomington; Christopher Gore, Ryerson University; Alesha Porisky, Northern Illinois University; Lauren M. MacLean, Indiana University, Bloomington; Elizabeth Baldwin, Indiana University

• Beliefs About Democracy & Patterns of Political Behavior in Africa & Middle East - Erin Accampo Hern, Syracuse University; Yael Zeira, Syracuse University

• Puzzling Out Genuine Political Party Support in Sub-Saharan Africa - Paul Friesen, University of Notre Dame

Chair

• Jennifer N. Brass Indiana University, Bloomington

Discussants

• Jaimie Bleck University of Notre Dame

• Nicole E. Wilson Massachusetts Institute of Technology