Votes and Budgets: Comparative Studies in Accountable Governance in the South

Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 1999 by Skidmore-Hess, Daniel

Healey, John and William Tordoff (eds.). Votes and Budgets: Comparative Studies in Accountable Governance in the South. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

This highly coherent and accessible volume provides four case studies in the accountability of public administration in four post-colonial democracies: Botswana, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, and Zambia. The case studies are each written by specialists and can stand alone as individual contributions to the literatures on developmental administration and democratization. Additionally, Tordoff provides a chapter on one-party states that includes very informative discussions of Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia during the period of Kaunda's single-party Second Republic (1972-1991).

Tordoff's contribution includes a survey of East and Southeast Asian one party states, although this portion suffers from a degree of haphazardness in exposition. For example, Tordoff claims that Malaysia is one of the "clearly better" (p. 233) prospects for democracy in Asia, yet does not give even a paragraph's worth of attention to the institutional patterns that underlie this claim. Malaysia could be a very valid point of comparison with the African contexts that Tordoff is an established authority on. Like many African states, Malaysia must mediate a high level of ethnic friction that intersects with diverse political and economic interests.

Healey's first chapter introduces the volume's framework and method which emphasizes the public responsiveness of parties, parliaments, and bureaucracies as well as the transparency of policy development. The standard of democratic accountability used throughout this work is rigorous and no case study fails to find the flaws and fissures of state-society alienation that characterizes even the most accountable, professional, and efficient democratic regimes. Yet Healey's introduction is not entirely transparent, in that it does not fully delineate the framework's bases in democratic theory and the particular research traditions of pluralism, development theory, and institutional political analysis.

The book's method becomes clearer in each case-study, however, as each contributor returns to the same set of analytical categories, discussing legislative-executive dynamics, the role of party competition in providing programmatic (ideological) choice, the influence of interest groups and independent media, and the role of external donors and lending agencies. Each chapter of country cases concludes with an "accountability audit" that ably summarizes the degree of accountability in each country's economic policy system.

Healey also contributes the case study of Botswana, perhaps the best of the four, in which he describes that nation's remarkable democratic stability since independence. Healey does give due credit to the role of diamond-mining in creating a degree of prosperity that has helped make it possible for the Botswana government to provide an increasing range of social services. There are criticisms, however, such as the lack of transparency in planning administration which is partially attributable to the dominance of the Botswana Democratic Party.

The professionalism of the Botswana civil service is noted, as well as the autonomous role of the central bank and the generally non-ethnic modes of public distribution. On the other hand, there is bias toward the San (so-called, "Bushmen") minority and the cattle owning elite's interests do predominate in such areas as land use, water, and conservation policy. These problems are described in an effective and balanced manner by the author. If there is any criticism to be made, it is that the international and regional dependency of Botswana's economy should be given more emphasis. This theme is well-established in the literature, especially through the contributions of Jack Parson (who is cited here). After all, as Healey himself so well describes, the Botswana state overwhelmingly relies on the wealth and revenues generated by diamond exports. Hence the potential pitfalls and possible alternatives to this situation need to be canvassed. Yet, as Healey also ably explains, political opposition in Botswana is diffuse and poorly organized, although admirably well tolerated.

Jane Harrigan's study of Jamaica does make repeated references to the international economic dependency of that nation. Harrigan provides some indication of the roles of different economic sectors and this is very useful material as well. She also provides a helpful description of changes in national economic policy under the leadership of alternating political parties (Jamaican Labour Party and People's National Party).

Another key theme that emerges in Harrigan's chapter is the role of clientelism in Jamaican elections and public service provision. Patronage is portrayed in negative terms as responsible for the political violence that has marred Jamaican elections as well as post-election retributionism. Clientelism is given attention in the studies of Sri Lanka and Zambia as well. The strong but largely implicit assumption of the book is that clientelistic politics is a severe threat to public accountability that prevents the development and modernization of a polity. There is much to be said about the negative effects of public corruption in many contexts, especially the post-colonial. However, it is critical that scholars endeavor to more adequately study this complex social relationship. There is a sizable literature on patron-client politics in post-colonialism (see the work of James Scott, for example) which emphasizes that patronage is related to the hegemony of privileged social groups and is a means of gaining consent from crucial subaltern groups such as peasants and workers. Unfortunately, this critical literature is not given its due in this book.