You Can't Eat Democracy
There is an urgent need to make democracy work for voters in African states
I: What is the point of democracy?
You cannot eat democracy. This claim is favored by autocrats who proselytize the false choice between democracy and development and often dismissed by those with strong normative attachments to democracy as an end in itself.
Yet the claim resonates with real voters in the real world. Surveys show that voters’ assessment of political institutions and processes is closely tied to perceived impacts on material outcomes. The answer to the question what have you done for me lately? is a common motivator of vote choice. From rich to poor countries, when the rubber meets the road most voters think of politics in material terms.
The implication of this reality is clear: democracies that aren’t visibly effective in addressing citizens’ demands and that cannot improve their material conditions risk collapse. This is especially true in low-income countries (like many across Africa).
This is not to say that religion, ethnicity/race, caste, or ideology …