Government Responsiveness in Developing Countries
Date of Publication
2021 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Political Stability
Keywords
Political Stability, Political stability, developing countries, government response, public service, bureaucratic
Description
When and how do governments deliver public good and service outputs in response to citizen preferences? We review a large current literature on government responsiveness, with a focus on public good and service delivery in developing countries. We identify three common types of actors present in these accounts: politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens. Much of this literature examines only interactions between dyads of these actors. Specifically, the study of electoral accountability and constituency service emphasizes relationships between citizens (or voters) and politicians. Studies of bureaucratic incentives and political oversight of bureaucrats emphasize interactions between politicians and bureaucrats. Finally, studies of bureaucratic embeddedness and citizen oversight of bureaucrats elaborate interactions between bureaucrats and citizens. We argue that an emerging literature that considers interactions between all three types of actors provides rich theoretical and empirical terrain for developing our understanding of responsiveness and accountability in low- and middle-income countries and beyond
Government Responsiveness in Developing Countries
When and how do governments deliver public good and service outputs in response to citizen preferences? We review a large current literature on government responsiveness, with a focus on public good and service delivery in developing countries. We identify three common types of actors present in these accounts: politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens. Much of this literature examines only interactions between dyads of these actors. Specifically, the study of electoral accountability and constituency service emphasizes relationships between citizens (or voters) and politicians. Studies of bureaucratic incentives and political oversight of bureaucrats emphasize interactions between politicians and bureaucrats. Finally, studies of bureaucratic embeddedness and citizen oversight of bureaucrats elaborate interactions between bureaucrats and citizens. We argue that an emerging literature that considers interactions between all three types of actors provides rich theoretical and empirical terrain for developing our understanding of responsiveness and accountability in low- and middle-income countries and beyond
