Ethnicity is not public service destiny: The political logic of service distribution in South Africa

Porten, John; Rhee, Inbok; Gibson, Carl H.

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105962

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…This is important to the present ends because our difference-in-differences analysis locates protests at the ward level. Mayors are not elected directly but as candidates for councils from party lists; then, they are appointed to municipal councils by majority vote (Porten et al, 2022;Berliner and Wehner, 2022).…”

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Municipal councils, which are headed by mayors, have a constitutional mandate to deliver basic public services, including piped water, sewage and sanitation, refuse collection, and electricity (Porten et al, 2022;Berliner and Wehner, 2022). Since the deficient provision of these services is one of the key causes of the protests (Porten et al, 2022;Booysen, 2007;Burchardt, 2022), we focus on three salient public services, namely water, sanitation, and electricity. More than 25 years after the democratic transition, large segments of the South African population still lack access to these services or experience frequent disruptions.…”

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water and sanitation are in the purview of municipalities. Therefore, citizens, if sufficiently informed, should find it easier to attribute blame for such failures to municipal councils, mayors, and ward councillors (Porten et al, 2022). The supply of electricity is less straightforward and involves more actors, of which the most important is Eskom, the national electricity company of South Africa, which accounts for approximately 90% of production and is also heavily involved in distribution (Porten et al, 2022;Bowman, 2020;.…”

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, citizens, if sufficiently informed, should find it easier to attribute blame for such failures to municipal councils, mayors, and ward councillors (Porten et al, 2022). The supply of electricity is less straightforward and involves more actors, of which the most important is Eskom, the national electricity company of South Africa, which accounts for approximately 90% of production and is also heavily involved in distribution (Porten et al, 2022;Bowman, 2020;. Eskom is subject to the authority of the Department of Public Enterprises, which is part of the national government, but the company and the municipalities share the responsibility for distributing electricity to consumers.…”

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, some municipalities acquire electricity from sources other than Eskom (Porten et al, 2022, p. 7). Most municipalities rely heavily on Eskom for the production and distribution of electricity; in others, councils play a more important role in distribution (Porten et al, 2022). This arrangement makes it difficult for citizens to attribute responsibility for failures directly to municipal councils or to the national government.…”

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essays on Democracy, Redistribution, and Inequality

Koob

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Economic inequality continues to thrive in democracies across the world. This is puzzling because theory predicts that the ideals of democracy should induce more equal societies. At the same time, high levels of inequality tend to undermine democratic institutions. It may be that many democracies are trapped in a vicious cycle of persistent economic inequality and democratic backsliding, which may be difficult to alter. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the general question of why inequality persists in democracies with a focus on the means by which the poor can exert political influence to remedy persistent inequality and why they may fail to do so. The dissertation consists of three independent chapters. Each addresses the links between democracy, redistribution and inequality from different angles. In Chapter 1, I examine the general link between democracy and economic inequality by analysing the distributional dynamics of economic growth in democracies relative to autocracies. The chapter shows that democracies are, on average, no better than autocracies when it comes to inclusive economic growth (growth that is associated with a reduction in economic inequality). However, when countries are classified according to their de facto implementation of democratic institutions, liberal democracies do foster inclusive growth in both relative and absolute terms. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 focus on the political power of the poor to influence redistributive policies in electoral democracies. Each chapter examines different forms of political action that are available to the poor. Chapter 2 focuses on voting and on the impact of clientelism, which may shape how elections serve to channel demand for programmatic redistribution into the political system. The chapter shows that clientelism adversely affects voter support for political candidates regardless of efforts to provide programmatic redistribution. Chapter 3 focuses on protest as an alternative (or complementary) form of political action to influence redistribution when the electoral process is curtailed. The chapter shows that the poor may hold some de facto political power by virtue of protests. However, the magnitude of that power depends on the choice of protest tactics. The dissertation arrives at these novel insights by employing both observational and experimental quantitative research designs with an emphasis on causal inference. The research questions are analysed both across countries and among individual voters in two unequal electoral democracies; Brazil and South Africa. The dissertation adds to the understanding on the causes of equilibria of persistent inequality, low programmatic redistribution, and democratic backsliding, which are liable to emerge when poor citizens are deprived of political power - at the ballot box or in the streets.

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Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Case Of South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essays on Democracy, Redistribution, and Inequality

Koob

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Primary elements of the indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and their reflection in international cases

Zadorin

Gladun

2022

Law Enforcement Review

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The article touches upon the issues of law enforcement and court practice related to the collective rights of aboriginal communities.The purpose of the article is to reveal the content of the right to self-determination through the prism of the most significant cases related to indigenous peoples.The methodological basis of research is the general principles of scientific knowledge, widely used in works in the field of law: system-structural, formal-legal, comparative-legal, historical, methods of analysis and synthesis, analogies, etc. Particular attention was paid to the formal legal method, which was used by the authors of the study to analyze international judicial practice on the rights of indigenous peoples, as well as, in some cases, the national legislation of the countries participating in a particular case.The main results, scope of application. The right to self-determination of indigenous peoples is multicomponent and includes a number of specific elements and facets of interpretation. The authors have made an attempt to reveal the fundamental elements of the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples, which, in their opinion, consist of: the right to sovereignty as such, or autonomy and recognition as collective subjects of law, the right to land and resources, traditional nature management, autonomous education, mothertongue and culture.For each of the above-mentioned elements, a specific case is described, which was considered in international courts, primarily in the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the ECHR and etc.Conclusions. International recognition of a state through inclusion in the UN General Assembly is impossible without the permission of the Security Council; the issue of “effective occupation” has played and continues to play a large role in the issue of governance and sovereignty over a specific space and territory, and not only settlers, but also traditionally living indigenous peoples play a significant role;Indigenous peoples living in the coastal zone should have the right to dispose of income from the exploitation of the continental shelf; the relationship with the land is not only a matter of ownership and production, but a material and spiritual element that indigenous peoples must fully enjoy, if only to preserve their cultural heritage and pass it on to future generations; the status of “national minority” deprives the indigenous people of priority in the use of land for traditional reindeer herding; means of ensuring freedom of expression of indigenous peoples is an important element for the promotion of identity, language, culture, self-identification, collective rights.

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Ethnicity is not public service destiny: The political logic of service distribution in South Africa

Cited by 2 publications

References 115 publications

Essays on Democracy, Redistribution, and Inequality

Essays on Democracy, Redistribution, and Inequality

Primary elements of the indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and their reflection in international cases

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