Did aid promote democracy in Africa?: the role of technical assistance in Africa’s transitions

Gibson, Clark C., Hoffman, Barak D. and Jablonski, Ryan S. (2015) Did aid promote democracy in Africa?: the role of technical assistance in Africa’s transitions. World Development, 68 . pp. 323-335. ISSN 0305-750X

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Abstract

Did foreign aid impede or catalyze democratization in Africa in the 1990s? We argue that after the Cold War, donors increased their use of technical assistance in aid packages, improving their monitoring capacity and thus reducing autocrats’ ability to use aid for patronage. To remain in power, autocrats responded by conceding political rights to their opponents—from legalizing opposition parties to staging elections. We test our theory with panel data for all sub-Saharan African countries. While other factors played pivotal roles in Africa’s political liberalization, we find technical assistance helps to explain the timing and extent of Africa’s democratization.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03057...
Additional Information:	© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Library of Congress subject classification:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Sets:	Departments > Government
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2015 11:27
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61777/

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