The impact of elections: voting, political behaviour and democracy in sub-Saharan Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: History
Abstract
This research project analyses the chequered history of elections in sub-Saharan Africa. While ballots in much of the continent continue to be linked to corruption, violence and political instability, recent elections in some countries have apparently confirmed a democratic transition. Combining the techniques of history and political science, the project will re-examine the relationship between an individual's experience of elections and their political attitudes and behaviours. Do particular experiences of elections predispose individuals to reject malpractice or, alternatively to accept, or even demand it? If so, do voters become one of the barriers to, as well as the agents of democratic consolidation? The project will focus on three African countries whose political and electoral histories have been very different - Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. Our findings will foster greater understanding of democratisation in these three countries and beyond, and will inform the continued efforts of policy-makers and practitioners to promote transparent and accountable government through free and fair elections.
This comparative project brings a team of historians and political scientists together to ask why it is that elections work better in some places and times than others. It aims to test the extent to which the quality of elections is shaped by popular expectations and demands, and challenges the idea that poor elections are solely the product of the undemocratic attitudes of state officials. It considers how different sorts of electoral experiences can lead individuals to have different political attitudes and expectations, and investigates when and how the evolution of anti-rigging attitudes and good electoral practice supports positive cycles of democratic consolidation. One of our key aims is to demonstrate how such cycles come into being so that we can show how positive experiences of democratic consolidation can be encouraged in previously authoritarian contexts.
The project covers about sixty years of history, from the immediate pre-independence elections to the present day. It covers three countries - Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. These were similar in their institutional colonial legacy: all were British territories, which saw the rapid elaboration of an electoral system in the very last years of colonial rule - but their post-independence histories differed substantially. All now share first-past-the-post and multi-party electoral systems, but with very different levels of democratic consolidation.
Our research will use multiple research techniques to interrogate a diverse body of material, from archival records to qualitative interviews to quantitative survey data and cutting-edge 'laboratory' work. This will allow the project team to focus on the processes of the elections themselves, and how these have both revealed and remade ideas about political action. Elections were - and are - performances which draw in vast numbers of people, and consume vast state and public resources and energy. But they are also negotiated events, the product of influences that are international, national and sometimes very local. Although the practice of election is typically intended to be uniform and consistent, the experience of voters and of politicians and election officials actually varies within any given election, and across time.
Drawing on this innovative combination of research methods, the project will make a major contribution to academic debates, and will achieve consistent high-level policy engagement through consistent engagement with policy-makers and timely production of briefings tailored to the needs of governments, international agencies and research users. As a result, the project will inform a range of players involved in the making and remaking of elections across the continent.
This comparative project brings a team of historians and political scientists together to ask why it is that elections work better in some places and times than others. It aims to test the extent to which the quality of elections is shaped by popular expectations and demands, and challenges the idea that poor elections are solely the product of the undemocratic attitudes of state officials. It considers how different sorts of electoral experiences can lead individuals to have different political attitudes and expectations, and investigates when and how the evolution of anti-rigging attitudes and good electoral practice supports positive cycles of democratic consolidation. One of our key aims is to demonstrate how such cycles come into being so that we can show how positive experiences of democratic consolidation can be encouraged in previously authoritarian contexts.
The project covers about sixty years of history, from the immediate pre-independence elections to the present day. It covers three countries - Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. These were similar in their institutional colonial legacy: all were British territories, which saw the rapid elaboration of an electoral system in the very last years of colonial rule - but their post-independence histories differed substantially. All now share first-past-the-post and multi-party electoral systems, but with very different levels of democratic consolidation.
Our research will use multiple research techniques to interrogate a diverse body of material, from archival records to qualitative interviews to quantitative survey data and cutting-edge 'laboratory' work. This will allow the project team to focus on the processes of the elections themselves, and how these have both revealed and remade ideas about political action. Elections were - and are - performances which draw in vast numbers of people, and consume vast state and public resources and energy. But they are also negotiated events, the product of influences that are international, national and sometimes very local. Although the practice of election is typically intended to be uniform and consistent, the experience of voters and of politicians and election officials actually varies within any given election, and across time.
Drawing on this innovative combination of research methods, the project will make a major contribution to academic debates, and will achieve consistent high-level policy engagement through consistent engagement with policy-makers and timely production of briefings tailored to the needs of governments, international agencies and research users. As a result, the project will inform a range of players involved in the making and remaking of elections across the continent.
Planned Impact
This project speaks directly to the question of the conditions under which democratisation is successful, a topic of great significance to the millions of people who live in emerging democracies.
Non-academic users
The project is primarily concerned with questions of the management of elections, public attitudes towards and involvement in elections, and the performance of democracy, and the findings will be of great relevance to donor and civil-society efforts to strengthen electoral systems and the quality of democracy around the world. Users will include:
(1) NGOs, policy makers, and pro-democracy advocates in the three countries under study. These users will benefit from new information and high quality analyses of the relationship between electoral experience and political behaviour and attitudes, which will enable them to better understand public support/resistance to free and fair elections and to design better interventions.
(2) International promoters of free and fair elections in the UK policy community (FCO, DfID), in the international donor community (European Union, United Nations Development Program, US government) and in regional consultative bodies (African Union, East African Community). These users will benefit from comparative lessons on how new forms of electoral practice can reshape established expectations, and findings that will set out the conditions under which public support for free and fair elections is most likely to grow.
(3) Legislators, political actors, interest groups, and citizens in the three countries under study will benefit from a greater understanding of the relationship between national level political leaders, electoral systems, electoral commissions, and popular attitudes. In particular, the project will generate new ideas about the nature of the barriers to free and fair elections, and the measures that can be taken to overcome them.
Principal academic beneficiaries
(1) Academics studying elections, political culture and democratisation, who will benefit from advances in the study of the relationship between electoral process and political consciousness.
(2) Academics from a variety of disciplines who will benefit from a new network of interdisciplinary elections research through collaborative panels at international conferences, as well as dissemination workshops and conferences.
(3) Research assistants in the three countries under study, who will gain in capacity and research skills through training and the experience on an inter-disciplinary comparative project.
To maximise impact, dissemination strategies have been tailored to the specific needs of the academic and policy communities:
(1) Academic dissemination through specialist, comparative, and case study articles in international journals. Project findings will be publicised via conferences in Nairobi and London, and drawn together into a monograph co-authored by the investigators and submitted to a major university press.
(2) Policy and public dissemination through policy briefs, a final research report of 10,000 words, one-page press releases, media engagement, and the two conferences.
User engagement, including the training of research assistants in communication and dissemination techniques will be the responsibility of Willis, Cheeseman and Lynch, who collectively have a track-record of high-impact research including:
(1) Multiple high-quality and widely-cited publications
(2) Policy briefings for the Cabinet Office, FCO, DfID, the World Bank, the US Department of State, and the Electoral Commission of the Government of Kenya.
(3) Ongoing research on the 2013 Kenyan elections, funded by the UK government's Africa Conflict Prevention Pool, and involving regular high-level briefings for staff from FCO, DfID and the Ministry of Defence, as well as representatives from foreign ministries of European Union partners
(4) Media appearances on television, radio, and print media in the UK and elsewhere.
Non-academic users
The project is primarily concerned with questions of the management of elections, public attitudes towards and involvement in elections, and the performance of democracy, and the findings will be of great relevance to donor and civil-society efforts to strengthen electoral systems and the quality of democracy around the world. Users will include:
(1) NGOs, policy makers, and pro-democracy advocates in the three countries under study. These users will benefit from new information and high quality analyses of the relationship between electoral experience and political behaviour and attitudes, which will enable them to better understand public support/resistance to free and fair elections and to design better interventions.
(2) International promoters of free and fair elections in the UK policy community (FCO, DfID), in the international donor community (European Union, United Nations Development Program, US government) and in regional consultative bodies (African Union, East African Community). These users will benefit from comparative lessons on how new forms of electoral practice can reshape established expectations, and findings that will set out the conditions under which public support for free and fair elections is most likely to grow.
(3) Legislators, political actors, interest groups, and citizens in the three countries under study will benefit from a greater understanding of the relationship between national level political leaders, electoral systems, electoral commissions, and popular attitudes. In particular, the project will generate new ideas about the nature of the barriers to free and fair elections, and the measures that can be taken to overcome them.
Principal academic beneficiaries
(1) Academics studying elections, political culture and democratisation, who will benefit from advances in the study of the relationship between electoral process and political consciousness.
(2) Academics from a variety of disciplines who will benefit from a new network of interdisciplinary elections research through collaborative panels at international conferences, as well as dissemination workshops and conferences.
(3) Research assistants in the three countries under study, who will gain in capacity and research skills through training and the experience on an inter-disciplinary comparative project.
To maximise impact, dissemination strategies have been tailored to the specific needs of the academic and policy communities:
(1) Academic dissemination through specialist, comparative, and case study articles in international journals. Project findings will be publicised via conferences in Nairobi and London, and drawn together into a monograph co-authored by the investigators and submitted to a major university press.
(2) Policy and public dissemination through policy briefs, a final research report of 10,000 words, one-page press releases, media engagement, and the two conferences.
User engagement, including the training of research assistants in communication and dissemination techniques will be the responsibility of Willis, Cheeseman and Lynch, who collectively have a track-record of high-impact research including:
(1) Multiple high-quality and widely-cited publications
(2) Policy briefings for the Cabinet Office, FCO, DfID, the World Bank, the US Department of State, and the Electoral Commission of the Government of Kenya.
(3) Ongoing research on the 2013 Kenyan elections, funded by the UK government's Africa Conflict Prevention Pool, and involving regular high-level briefings for staff from FCO, DfID and the Ministry of Defence, as well as representatives from foreign ministries of European Union partners
(4) Media appearances on television, radio, and print media in the UK and elsewhere.
Organisations
Publications
Cheeseman N
(2019)
Kenya's 2017 elections: winner-takes-all politics as usual?
in Journal of Eastern African Studies
Cheeseman N
(2018)
Digital dilemmas: the unintended consequences of election technology
in Democratization
Cheeseman N
(2021)
New book reveals what drives election rigging and when citizens resist it
in The Conversation
Cheeseman N;
(2017)
'Why the Kenyan opposition refuses to go quietly'
Cheeseman Nic
(2017)
GHANA: THE EBBING POWER OF INCUMBENCY
in JOURNAL OF DEMOCRACY
Cheeseman, N
(2017)
'How election monitors are failing'
Cheeseman, N
(2016)
How democracy looks different in Ghana
Cheeseman, N
(2017)
'Kenya: the roots of the current impasse'
Title | Contribution to exhibition on 'Voting matters: citizenship and technologies of African elections' at Nairobi Museum, Kenya, October-November 2015 |
Description | Justin Willis was one of three academics who designed and created this exhibition. He helped to write the story and captions, to identify and gather items, and he spoke at the opening event. the exhibition was displayed first at Nairobi Museum, and then in Dar Es Salaam at the Alliance Francaise. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | The exhibition was well attended, but neither of the venues operate any systems for accurately counting footfall, let alone assessing changes in attitude or opinions among attendees. There was some media coverage: http://220.181.168.86/NewJsp/news.jsp?fileId=321720 |
URL | http://ifra-nairobi.net/event/voting-materiality-conference |
Description | The project set out to test three hypotheses: 1. The quality of elections is not just determined by official rules and regulations, but is also shaped by popular expectations and demands, for good or ill. 2. Popular and elite ideas of acceptable electoral behaviour are formed by people's experiences and perceptions,. 3. Elections remake the way that people think about politics and citizenship The findings confirm the first and second hypotheses. Elections must be understood in terms of moral economy: that is, they are produced through a contestation between different ideas of civic virtue, which pit bureaucratic models of accountability against clientship; and a vision of state order against the expectations of communities. Since the 1950s, politicians and officials in all three countries have felt constrained by public expectations. The ubiquity of gift-giving - the distribution of cash or material items - arises not simply from politicians' attempts to bribe, but from voters' demand for displays of candidates' commitment to their community. Public, officials, and politicians are all well aware of a rhetoric that condemns malpractice; but experience pushes them to safeguard their personal and collective interests, so that electoral behaviours constantly flout regulations. Elections by secret ballot and individual suffrage are often assumed to be bound up with a particular kind of citizenship and a stable, law-bound, political order: all citizens are equal, all have equal voice, all are equally-constrained and protected by the law. Our model of moral economy suggests, however, that elections continue to be a contest between different ideas of civic virtue; our third hypothesis is therefore only partly sustained. This is evidenced across all three cases: a willingness to espouse the virtue of a bureaucratic electoral citizenship is everywhere combined with an apparently contrary sense of the importance of clientship and community. Ghana's distinctive recent electoral history owes more to the particular history of party politics there - which has allowed the development of parties as rival corporate interest groups - than to profound changes in popular attitudes. Overall, the findings suggest that 1. Elections by secret ballot and adult suffrage are largely, if not wholly, naturalized; people expect to exercise at least some political choice in this way. 2. Such elections are popular, even where (as in Uganda) overall control of government is not in doubt. They are perhaps popular because of their ambivalence: they evoke contrasting ideas of virtue, and allow the public to make multiple material and moral demands of leaders. 3. But elections are also problematic: in all three countries, the cost of acquiring political office is high, and likely to encourage abuse of office; and political office is still seen as a route to wealth, for individuals and communities, justifying malpractice. 4. Electoral observation and voter education, the standard tools of external intervention to ensure that formal regulations are followed, are of limited effect; though they encourage an awareness of bureaucratic virtue, the moral economy often favours alternative models of virtue. |
Exploitation Route | Our plans for this are set out in the 'Academic Beneficiaries' and 'Pathways to impact' documents, and we will continue to pursue these. |
Sectors | Government Democracy and Justice Security and Diplomacy |
URL | http://democracyinafrica.org/moral-economy-elections-africa/ |
Description | The overall findings from the project have been presented to research users in the UK and Kenya through multiple events over a number of years. We have twice made presentations to the FCO Africa directorate in the UK; public lectures in the UK and Kenya have been attended by audiences including diplomats, development practitioners, politicians, civil society activists and journalists. We have produced online op-eds for international media (the Washington Post Monkey Cage blog; the online Newsweek Europe magazine, Foreign Policy), and for two newspapers in East Africa, reflecting on both specific and comparative lessons from the project. A museum exhibition on 'The materiality of elections' created in 2015 with input from the project, was displayed in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Bordeaux and Paris. Throughout 2018, Cheeseman drew on comparative findings to brief the Head of DFID and the UK High Commissioner in Zimbabwe on the upcoming elections. Cheeseman also used the Kenyan case study in a Learning Module on African Politics provided by the University of Birmingham to staff working in Africa within the FCO and DFID. In March 2019 Willis drew on comparative findings from this project in devising a session on elections in Sudan as part of a study day for UK government staff from the Sudans Unit. We have also provided tailored feedback on particular research findings from each of the three study countries to diplomats and development practitioners. In Ghana we met twice with staff at the British High Commission in 2016 to brief them on research findings: the first meeting involved the High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner and political officer; the second involved the Deputy High Commissioner. In Uganda, we provided a briefing for the donor support group on elections in Kampala in January 2016. We were actively involved from 2014 in providing analysis to inform the forward planning of the FCO for elections in Kenya in 2013 (briefings in Nairobi in September 2014, January 2016 and February 2017; in London November 2014 and July 2016) and continue to be involved in discussions ahead of the next elections in 2022 (with briefings in Nairobi in October 2018 and May 2019 and in London in March 2019 in London). We also engaged with donors more widely, through the EU mission to Kenya and through the Donor Group on Elections which coordinates electoral support from UK, US, EU and other governments (January 2016, February 2017, May 2017, August 2017, October 2018, May 2019). In February 2017, the project team worked with a research NGO, the Rift Valley Institute, to design and deliver a course on Kenya's elections, aimed at those involved in election support and monitoring, and drawing on historical and comparative lessons. This was heavily over-subscribed, and eventually involved 43 participants. In January 2017, the project team were involved - with other academics - in a successful bid from the UK government's East African Research Fund for a project on 'Kenya's 2017 election: early warning and long-term monitoring'. Lynch acted as the research lead for this project, which led to further engagements with FCO and DfID, as the original project was extended due to the annulment of the first round of the presidential elections. The project team produced three rounds of interim reports in advance of the Kenya elections and just after them (focussing on election management and the dynamics of electoral politics at a local level); and a final set of 'lessons learned' reports. Each set of reports was presented and discussed at a meeting with the High Commissioner and his staff in Nairobi; the reports were used internally by FCO and DfID; and members of the team also presented results to UK based FCO/DfID staff at several meetings. The project has been used as a model in advance planning for UK support around Kenya's 2022 elections. |
First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Kenya elections, 2017: Early-warning and long-term monitoring |
Amount | £198,433 (GBP) |
Organisation | East Africa Research Fund |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Kenya |
Start | 01/2017 |
End | 12/2017 |
Title | Interview transcripts from 'Impact of elections' project |
Description | These are transcripts of interviews undertaken as part of the 'Impact of elections' project in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This will provide a resource for researchers on elections in Africa |
URL | https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::Summary&eprintid=855591 |
Description | Briefing for Donor Support Group on Elections on lessons for electoral support in kenya, in advance of the 2017 elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In January 2016 we were asked to make a presentation to the Donor Support Group on Elections at the Danish Embassy in Nairobi. The group consists largely of political officers from EU/US/Five Eyes countries. We gave a short presentation based on our 'Lessons learned' document on the 2013 elections, and then answered questions. The meeting lasted 90 minutes. We were asked to continue providing information and advice in the run-up to 2017. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Briefing for EU Heads of Mission, Nairobi |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 30 May 2017 Lynch gave a briefing on the forthcoming Kenya elections to a meeting of EU Heads of Mission at the EU offices, Nairobi |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for European External Action Service |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | 27 September 2017: Nic Cheeseman provided a briefing for the European External Action Service at its Headquarters at Rond Point Schuman in Brussels, policy makers and academics, Egmont Institute, Brussels, Belgium |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for FCO London staff, November 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | In the wake of the October 2017 election rerun, Willis provided a briefing to UK-based FCO staff on the details and implications of the rerun. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for FCO staff |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Nic Cheeseman briefed representatives from the Africa Directorate of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the UK government at a training day organised by the University of Birmingham at Sandhurst. He talked about the impact of elections in Africa, drawing on the case of recent Kenyan elections. The event was attended by over 45 people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for FCO staff |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2020, Lynch give a briefing to London-based FCO staff working on Africa, on 'Social media and political mobilisation in Africa'. This drew partly on other research conducted with Elena Gadjanova. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Briefing for FCO staff as part of Kenya election consultancy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Lynch and Willis gave a briefing and presentation of interim reports to FCO/DfID staff at the British High Commission in Nairobi as part of Kenya elections project on 17 May 2017 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for Minister |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | 22 October 2017: Nic Cheeseman briefed the UK Africa Minister, Rory Stewart, on elections on the continent, including the Kenyan elections, using this experience to speak to the potential for free and fair polls in Zimbabwe in 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for UK diplomatic and development staff |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | On 27 May 2019 two members of the resarch team (Willis and Lynch) were involved in a two-hour briefing and discussion on governance and politics in Kenya, and possible ways for the UK to support continued governance reform. The meetinf was attended by staff based at the UK High Commission in Nairobi. The staff were drawn from FCO and DfID, and included political officers and governance advisers. The High Commissioner and Deputy High Commssioner were present. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Briefing for donor Deepening Democracy Group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 19 May 2017 Lynch and Willis gave a briefing and discussed policy with representatives from the donor Deepening Democracy Group, which coordinates donor support for elections in Kenya and involves diplomats and development practitioners from US, EU and Five Eyes partners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing for donor Democracy and Human Rights Working Group on electoral culture and prospects for Uganda's 2016 elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Nic Cheeseman, Gabrielle Lynch and Justin Willis were asked to make a presentation to the group of donors who work on elections in democracy in Uganda; the presentation was based largely on survey work undertaken as part of the ESRC project, but also drew on interview and archival elements of the research. The audience was composed of political officers from embassies and practitioners directly involved in electoral support. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Briefing for new UK High Commissioner to Kenya |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | At the request of the new British High Commissioner to Kenya, Nic Hailey, the project team for 'Impact of elections' (Justin Willis, Gabrielle Lynch and Nic Cheeseman) met with him and his political officers in January 2016 to provide a briefing on Kenyan politics and the prospects for the 2017 election. We were asked to continue to provide such briefings in the future. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Briefing on Kenya elections for UK FCO staff |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 2 August 2017 Willis gave a presentation on the imminent Kenya elections to UK-based FCO staff working on Kenya |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Briefing on prospects for Kenya's election for EU Heads of Mission, Nairobi |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Myself and the two Co_investigators on the Impact of Elections project were asked to brief the EU heads of mission on Kenya's electoral politics and the prospects for the 2017 election. The meeting took the form of a short presentation based around a precirculated document on lessons learned from the 2013 elections, followed by questions and discussion. A list of participants and supporting emails are available. We were asked if we would continue meeting with the HoMs over the coming months, and agreed to do so. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Course for donors and civil society on Kenya's 2017 elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | In February 2017 my two colleagues and I designed and delivered an intensive two-day course on Kenya's 2017 elections, working in cooperation with the Rift Valley Institute, a research charity based in UK and Kenya. The course drew on our wider knowledge of Kenya, as well as the current ESRC project, and emphasised historical and comparative lessons. We recruited three Kenyan colleagues to work with us in delivering the course. The course attracted 43 participants, all involved in some way in preparing for Kenya's 2017 elections, around 15 of whom were from Kenyan civil society organisations. Participants also included senior staff from the US Embassy, the State Department, the Australian, Canadian, Dutch, Danish and South African embassies/high commissions; USAID; and the private sector. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | FCO round table on lessons from Kenya's elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Willis and Lynch participated in a closed round table discussion at FCO, with the British High Commissioner to Kenya; the FCO head of Africa team; the Kenya desk officer for FCO; the FCO head of East Africa team and two staff from FCO Research Analysts group. The meeting discussed future policy options for HMG in Kenya. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | FCO study day March 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Willis Cheeseman and Lynch made presentations based on the project as a part of a panel on 'The moral economy of elections', which was part of a study day for FCO staff working on Africa organized by Willis and held at the British Academy on 1 March 2018 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Final presentation for Kenya elections project |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | As the final event of the consultancy on Kenya's 2017 elections, Willis and Lynch attended a meeting at the British High Commission in Nairobi with the High Commissioner and members of staff from FCO and DfID. The meeting discussed the written reports submitted as part of that consultancy, which are not public, and discussed future policy options for HMG in terms of electoral support and political engagement in Kenya. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Interview with Radio France International |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Justin Willis was interviewed by Radio France International on the prospects for Uganda's coming elections, and the nature of electoral politics in Uganda. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Involvement in 'Rethinking democracy' conference, Nairobi, September 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | In September 2019 Willis took part in the conference 'Rethning Democracy', organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Nairobi. Willis gave a lecture - 'Do we need elections at all?' and took part in debate and question and answer sessions. The participants were primarily members of Kenyan political parties and governance-related NGOs, but also included some diplimats, a senior German politician and academics from the US and South Africa. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://youtu.be/ivzjWkxjkkc |
Description | Meeting with Donor Group on Elections, Nairobi |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | In February 2017 my two colleagues and I were asked again to address a meeting of the Donor Group on Elections, which coordinates support from allied countries (notably the UK and US, and the EU as a group) for Kenya's 2017 elections. We discussed the current situation, the effectiveness of existing support, and possible areas for further support. We have been asked to address the group again in April. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Meeting with the preparatory team for the EU Observer Mission to Kenya's 2017 elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In February 2017 we met with the preparatory mission sent by the EU to Kenya in advance of the 2017 elections; such missions routinely come several months before elections. We met over dinner, at the invitation of the EU Ambassador to Kenya, whose political advisor also attended. We discussed the prospects and preparations for the elections, and agreed to make ourselves available to brief the long-term observer teams when these are deployed, around April/May. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Moral economy lecture London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The findings of the project were summarised in a public lecture followed by discussion at the British Academy on 13 June 2017. The event was attended by more than 70 people in person and was live-streamed to a wider audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Presentation to Donor Group on Elections, Nairobi, May 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 28 May 2019 Willis and Lynch gave a short presentation, followed by a discussion, to the Donor Group on Elections (DGE) in Nairobi. DGE brings together diplomats and professional staff from a number of diplomatic missions (broadly, EU and NATO/Five Eyes) as well as UN agencies involved in electoral support. The presentation focussed on the edited collection on the 2017 elections which Willis, Lynch and others had just published; the discussion revolved around future electoral support policy. The event was held in the German Embassy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Public discussion on electoral technologies at Nairobi Museum, October 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of the 'Voting matters' conference, Justin Willis and two French colleagues organized a public panel discussion on electoral technologies at Nairobi Museum. The event was chaired by Justin Willis, and the panel included staff from Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, civil society activists and international experts in election support. It was as a result of this event that Willis and other members of the team were asked to meet with the Donor Support Group; the event also led to the publication of a short discussion piece by one of the participants, http://www.idea.int/africa/technology-or-credibility-what-comes-first.cfm |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.idea.int/africa/technology-or-credibility-what-comes-first.cfm |
Description | Public lecture at Makerere University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | In November 2015 Justin Willis gave a public lecture at Makerere University, titled '"A vlaid electoral exercise"?: international observation ond the 1980 Uganda election'. The lecture was followed by commentaries from Paul Ssemogerere, former leader of the Democratic party and presidential candidate; andthe Hon. Ali Kirunda-Kivejinja, deputy second prime-minister delegate and presidential advisor, and a public debate. A number of requests were made for copies of the lecture, from journalists and politicians. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://chuss.mak.ac.ug/news/do-international-observers-ensure-credible-elections |
Description | Radio interview on BCC |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC World Service, Newshour, 7 January 2017, Nic Cheeseman, Expert Guest on African Elections to discuss recent events in Ghana, Gambia, and ongoing developments in Ivory Coast |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04n04pw |
Description | Working lunch with High Commissioner |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 12 August 2017 Lynch and Willis met with the British High Commissioner and Political Officer over lunch to discuss the elections and possible policy in the wake of these. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |