IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIAL WELFARE RESEARCH (JPASWR )

E-ISSN 2504-3597
P-ISSN 2695-2440
VOL. 9 NO. 4 2024
DOI: 10.56201/jpaswr.v9.no4.2024.pg64.83

---

Democratic Governance and Economic Development: A Comparative Study of African Countries

Adue, Stephen Barinaadaa Numyone

---

Abstract

This study examined democratic governance and African economic development from 2000-2019. The objective was to compare democratic governance and development of selected African countries. Time series data was sourced from Word Bank data base. Economic development was measured by per capita income, life expectancy rate, human development index and gross domestic products. The countries used in the study were Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Gambia, Angola, Kenya and Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics was used to illustrate the movement of the variables within the study scope. The study found that democratic governance has volatile effect on economic development of African countries. We recommend that for African development, governments need a long-term perspective of effective institution building for structural transformation. Democracy should not be viewed as the dictatorship of the majority but the protection of the minority by taking into account their preoccupations

keywords:

Democratic Governance, Economic Development, African Countries

---

References:

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J.A., Yared, P., (2008). Income and democracy.
American Economic Review, 98 (3), 808-842.
Akinsanya, A.A. and Erunke, C.E. (2010). The “Founding Fathers” of the 1979 Nigerian
Constitution, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. Being a
paper presented at the 22nd International Conference of the Association of Nigerian Studies
and Development, New York, USA. Sept 16-19.

Anderson, K. (2010). Distortions to Agricultural Incentives: A Global Perspective, 1955-2007.
London, Palgrave Macmillan. Barro, R., 1996. Democracy and Growth. Journal of
Economic Growth, 1 (1), 1-27.
Appadorai, A.( 2003). Substance of Politics. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Bach, J.-N. (2011). Abyotawi democracy: Neither revolutionary nor democratic. Journal of
Eastern African Studies, 5(4), 641-663.

Bako, S. (2007). Rise and Consolidation of Garison Democracy in Nigeria, 1999 – 2007”, ABU
Political Scientist, 1(1).

Barro R., 1999. Determinants of Democracy. Journal of Political Economy, 107 (6), 158-182.
Bates R. H. (1981). Markets and States in Tropical Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
Universty of California Press,
Bates, R. H., Block, S., (2010). Revisiting African Agriculture: Institutional Change and
Productivity Growth. Cambridge MA, Weatherhead Center.
Becker, G., (1983). A Thoery of Competitition among Pressure Groups for Political Influence.
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 98, 371-400.
Besley, T. and T. Persson, (2011). Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of
Development Clusters. Princeton University Press.
Binder, M., Offermanns, C.J.,( 2007). International investment positions and exchange rate
dynamics: a dynamic panel analysis. CFS Working Paper No. 2007/23.
Bratton, M. and N. van de Walle (1997). Democratic Experiments in Africa. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press.
Burnside, C., and D. Dollar. (2000). Aid, Growth and Policies, American Economic Review
90(4), 847-868.
Dalgaard, C.-J. and Hansen, H. (2001). On aid, growth and good policies. Journal of
Development Studies, 3(7), 17–41.
Dalgaard, Carl-Johan, Henrik Hansen, and Finn Tarp. (2004). On the Empirics of Foreign Aid
and Growth. The Economic Journal 114(496):191–216.
Dunning, T., (2004). Conditioning the Effects of Aid: Cold War Politics, Donor Credibility,
and Democracy in Africa. International Organization, 58 (2), 409-423.
Epstein, D., Bates, R.H., Goldstone, J., Kristensen, I., O’Halloran, S. (2006). Democratic
Transitions. American Journal of Political Science, 50 (3), 551-569.
Erunke, C.E. (2011). The 2011 Elections and Consolidation of Democracy in Nigeria. Being a
Doctoral Research Seminar paper presented at the Benue State University, Makurdi,
October.
Erunke, C.E. and Baba’Umma, B.B. (2008). “The 2007 General Elections in Nigeria and its
Implications for the Survival of Nigeria’s Fledging Democracy, African Journal of Modern
Society, 1(1).
Gibson, C. and J. D. Long (2012). Ethnicity, Performance, and Elections in Africa: An
Experimental Approach.
Hoffman, B. D. & Long, J. D. (2012). Parties, Ethnicity and Voting in African Elections.
Comparative Political Studies Forthcoming.
Howard, M & Roessler, G (2009). Post-cold War Political Regimes: When do Elections Matter?’,
In Lindberg, S. (ed). Democratization by Elections: A New Mode of Transition, Johns
Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 3(4),.101-125.
International Crisis Group. (2009). Ethiopia: Ethnic federalism and its discontents. Africa Report
No. 153, 18. Available at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/horn-of-
africa/ethiopia-
eritrea/Ethiopia%20Ethnic%20Federalism%20and%20Its%20Discontents.pdf.
International Monetary Fund. (2012). Staff report for the 2012 article IV consultation. IMF country
report No. 12/287
Ishiyama, J. (2009). Alternative electoral systems and the 2005 Ethiopian parliamentary elections.
African Studies Quarterly, 10(4), 37-55.
Lipset, S.M., (1959). Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and
Political Legitimacy. The American Political Science Review, 53 (1), 69-105.
London. Beynon, J. (2002). Policy implications for aid allocations of recent research on aid
effectiveness and selectivity’, in Arvin, B.M. (ed.), New Perspectives on Foreign Aid and
Development, Praeger, Westport,CT.
Mattes, R. and J. Piombo (1999). Opposition Parties and the Voters in South Africa's General
Election of 1999. Democratization 8(3): 101-128.
Mimeo. Gundlach, E., Paldam, M., (2009). The Agricultural and Democratic Transitions.
Causality and the Roundup Model. Kiel Institute for the World Economy Working Paper
No. 1521.
Ndulu, B. J., O'Connell, S.A., S., Bates, R.H., Collier, P., Saludo, C. (2008). The Political
Economy of Economic Growth in Africa, 1960-2000. New York, Cambridge University
Press.
Odofin, A.P. (2007). The Trajectory of Democratic Struggle in Nigeria, the Necessity of its
Continuity and Sustenance of its Purpose: Challenges for Contemporary Nigerian Youth,
ABU political scientist, 1(1).
Pearce, J et al. (2018). Briefing: Angola’s Elections and the Politics of Presidential Succession.
African Affairs, 117(466), 146–160.
Posner, D. and D. Young, (2007). The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa. Journal
of Democracy 18(3): 126-140.
Posner, D. N. and D. J. Simon (2002). Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in Africa's
New Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 35(3): 313-336.
Powell, J. M. and C. L. Thyne (2011). Global instances of coups from 1950 to 2010: A new
dataset. Journal of Peace Research 48(2), 249-259.
Przeworski A., Alvarez, M.A., Cheibub, J.A., Limongi, F., (2000). Democracy and
Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990, Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge UK.
Robert, M., & Mulu, T. (2016). Ethiopians’ views of democratic government: Fear, ignorance,
or unique understanding of democracy? Working Paper No. 164.
Tronvoll, K. (2009). Ambiguous elections: The influence of non-electoral politics in Ethiopian
democratization. Journal of Modern African Studies, 47(3), 449-474.

DOWNLOAD PDF

---

Back