Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Ethnicity, Civic Participation, and Public Goods in Kenya

本项目通过考察肯尼亚几个不同的议会选区对该国选区发展基金（CDF）管理的差异，分析了发展中民主国家肯尼亚当地公共产品支出的决定因素。它关注当地的人口特征，如种族分裂和公民对公共生活的参与，如何共同影响政治家在公共工程项目中针对特定社区的动机。原始的调查研究和访谈数据将检验这些社会特征在多大程度上导致政治家将某些群体的利益置于其他群体之上，以及政治家如何以符合其政治目标的方式管理资金。在这样做的过程中，本研究有助于增加关于发展中国家民主治理效能的概括性知识，在这些国家，政府努力向其公民提供基本服务。智力优势：最近关于种族和公共产品的研究有助于澄清种族多样性对公共产品提供水平产生负面影响的机制。然而，这项研究往往过于关注多样性本身，而不是考察种族分裂的政治显著性。这种关注倾向于在真空中审查种族，与实际分配决策发生的政治机构和社会背景隔离开来。通过批判性地考察种族认同如何与这些背景特征相互作用，本研究将为发展中国家民主国家的分配政治提供更完整的图景。此外，通过系统地比较不同公民参与水平的选区，该研究促进了对理论的检验，这些理论表明，广泛的公民参与可以促使立法者承担更大的公共责任。更广泛的影响：这项研究直接讨论了有关非洲新民主国家表现的实际问题。了解民族认同和公民社会行为如何影响公共产品的提供，对于确保代议制治理和促进公平发展至关重要。这些信息将对决策者有用，他们迫切希望将公共产品提供的机会扩大到更广泛的人口群体。此外，这些研究人员将能够在肯尼亚的学术界、在这些研究人员正在获得研究隶属关系的大学以及在美国的研讨会和会议上广泛地分享研究结果。该项目的调查数据也将向公众提供。

This project analyzes the determinants of local public goods spending in a developing democracy, Kenya, by examining variation in the management of the country's Constituency Development Fund (CDF) between several different parliamentary constituencies. It focuses on how local demographic features like ethnic divisions and civic participation in public life jointly shape the incentives of politicians to target particular communities for public works projects. Original survey research and interview data will examine the extent to which these social features lead politicians to privilege the interests of certain groups over others, as well as how politicians manage the fund in ways that are consistent with their political goals. In so doing, this study contributes to the growth of generalizable knowledge about the efficacy of democratic governance in the developing world, where governments struggle to deliver basic services to their citizens.Intellectual Merit: Recent work on ethnicity and public goods has helped clarify the mechanisms by which ethnic diversity negatively impacts levels of public goods provision. However, this research too often focuses on diversity itself rather than examining the political salience of ethnic divisions. This focus tends to examine ethnicity in a vacuum, isolated from the political institutions and social contexts in which actual distributive decisions take place. By critically examining how ethnic identity interacts with these contextual features, the present study will offer a more complete picture of distributive politics in developing-world democracies. In addition, by systematically comparing constituencies with varying levels of civic participation, the study facilitates a test of theories suggesting that widespread civic engagement can induce greater public accountability from legislators.Broader Impact: This research speaks directly to matters of practical concern about the performance of new democracies in Africa. Understanding how ethnic identity and the behavior of civil society impact public goods provision is essential for ensuring representative governance and promoting equitable development. The information will be useful to policymakers eager to expand access to public goods provision to broader segments of the population. In addition, the investigators will be able to share the results of the research broadly within academic communities in Kenya, at the universities with which the researchers are obtaining research affiliations, as well as in seminars and conferences in the United States. Survey data from this project will likewise be made publicly available.