People-Centered Integration? Citizens’ Expectations for Regional Organizations

• In Event: International Actors and Public Attitudes Toward Cooperation

Abstract

African regional organizations, such as the African Union, emphasize increased integration politically and economically. The long-run approach is to ensure that regional organization decision-making is informed by a broader set of non-state actors, including civil society and the citizenry. In much the way the European Union has sought to become more politically inclusive with elections to the European Parliament and citizen consultation on policy matters, so too do African regional organizations – at least on paper – commit to a “people-centered” approach to institution making and consultation. To date, there is little data on how Africans perceive efforts to include citizens and non-state civil society actors in regional institutions and decision-making. In particular, the paper examines citizens’ views of regional parliaments and consultative frameworks. This paper considers two related questions: What explains citizens’ present perception of inclusion in regional institutions, such as the African Union, and the regional decision-making process? And, what shapes citizens’ expectations for greater inclusion? Using data from an original survey fielded in Ghana and Zimbabwe and the Afrobarometer survey, the results show that partisanship and assessments of the condition of democracy in one’s country shape citizen expectations for inclusion with the embrace of people-centered and consultative regional institutions.

Author

• Peter Penar, Davidson College