APSA Workshop

Complementing the discussion of theoretical and methodological research on goods provision, significant time was dedicated to hands-on statistical training in the use of R, a free, open-source statistical package. The training was partly intended to improve participants’ skills as “consumers” of quantitative research on distributive politics and in political science more generally. But they were also “producers” – for example, analyzing evidence of vote-buying in pre-release Afrobarometer (Round 5) survey data, and replicating the calculations behind the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index.

Additionally, participants presented their own research manuscripts in plenary sessions, followed by small group sessions to allow for feedback and revisions to their work. The research sessions were complemented by professional development sessions on oral and written presentation skills, publication strategies, conference participation, and networking.

Site visits and presentations at the National Institute of Statistics, the National Institute of Health and the Institute for Social and Economic Studies provided insight into some of the ways that government and independent research groups collect and rely on empirical data to understand the crippling effects of HIV-AIDS, the persistence of poverty, inequality, and the distribution of goods across the country. In all cases, government officials and researchers stressed the challenges of data collection and analysis and the difficulties that presents with public goods distribution in the areas of healthcare or poverty alleviation. Particularly illuminating were the efforts by researchers at the National Institute of Health to engage in cross-national epidemiological studies of cholera and malaria in order to develop treatments that are appropriate for Mozambique.

Participants also had a chance to appreciate Mozambican arts and crafts at the National Arts Museum and the FEIMA craft market, and enjoy a relaxing day on the beach at Macaneta. Four of the co-leaders of the workshop, Carlos Shenga, Sylvia Croese, Anne Pitcher and Rod Alence also presented current research at a public symposium attended by government officials and the public. The session attracted 150 people and was covered by all the major Mozambican news organizations.

Aside from these off-site excursions and special programs, all academic sessions were convened at the Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP), located in the Maputo city center. This facility provided first-class education and conference facilities for the duration of the workshop. A special word of thanks is due to workshop co-leader Carlos Shenga, ISAP’s Academic Director; and Rodolfo Manhice, lecturer and head of the ISAP Resource Centre, who provided invaluable assistance in facilitating this workshop. We also greatly appreciate the support of Eduardo Chilundo, the Director General of ISAP, for agreeing to host the event.

This Workshop Proceedings report provides a full description of how the 2014 workshop deepened linkages between participating scholars and their respective institutions, highlighting the substantive, methodological, academic writing, publishing and networking activities that took place each day. Additional information can be found on the project’s permanent website.

The seventh annual Africa Workshop organized by the American Political Science Association (APSA) met in Maputo, Mozambique from June 30 to July 11, 2014. The event was part of a multi-year initiative to support political science research and teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa through a series of residential academic workshops at African universities and research institutions. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Africa Workshops program is a major component of APSA’s efforts to support research networks linking US scholars with their colleagues overseas and engage political science communities outside the United States.

The 2014 Africa Workshop was held in partnership with the Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP) in Maputo. Twenty-four scholars from ten different countries attended the workshop. In addition, the workshop had five co-leaders: Brian Min and Anne Pitcher (US-based), Rod Alence, Sylvia Croese, and Carlos Shenga (Africa-based). Together the group consisted of 15 men and 14 women, and represented twenty-four academic institutions.

Under the theme “Distributive Goods and Distributive Politics” the workshop was intended to give students a theoretical and empirical understanding of distributive politics across different regions and under different regime types. The two week program consisted of structured sessions on theory, method, and research. Theory sessions were organized on the following questions:

• What is distributive politics? What goods do governments distribute?
• Whom do governments target with distributive goods and services? Core or swing voters? The poor or the elite? Supporters or opponents?
• Where do distributive goods and services go? Urban or rural areas? Regions populated by co-ethnics of the President or of the majority party in the legislature?
• When does distribution occur? Do elections matter to the timing of goods distribution? Are there electoral cycles to distribution?
• How do politicians make credible promises? What mechanisms such as clientelistic networks, monitoring or coercion do politicians rely on to gauge whether citizens respond to their promises?
• Why do some politicians distribute and some don’t’? Are distributive politics effective, efficient, desirable? Are voters responsive?

Rod Alence – University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Rod Alence is Associate Professor and currently serves as Head of the Department of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He is a specialist on the political economy of governance and development in Africa. His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Modern African Studies, and the Journal of African History. He was a Fulbright scholar in Ghana in 1992, and his Ph.D. (Stanford, 2001) won the American Political Science Association prize for best thesis in political economy. He spent the 2008-2009 academic year as Visiting Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Michigan (UM), and he has taught several courses on quantitative research methods in Africa under the auspices of the UM African Social Research Initiative and of the Afrobarometer project. A major focus of his current work is the political economy of institutions and natural resources in Africa.

Sylvia Croese – Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Sylvia Croese is a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University. Her PhD thesis, entitled Post-war state-led development at work in Angola: The Zango housing project in Luanda as a case study, looked into the ways in which distributive policies such as housing are used to contribute to regime legitimacy and survival in the city of Luanda, thereby bringing together two theoretical bodies of work: one on political regimes and one centered around urban studies in Africa. Her current research further examines how governments that are formally democratic, but authoritarian in practice manage their rapidly growing cities and how this in turn affects city dwellers’ perceptions of and engagements with the state.

Brian Min – University of Michigan, USA

Brian Min is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He studies the political economy of development with an emphasis on distributive politics, public goods provision, and ethnic conflict. His current research uses satellite imagery of nighttime lights and other geo-coded data to show how the distribution of electricity is shaped by electoral politics across the developing world. He has recently completed a book manuscript on the subject, entitled Power and the Vote. Min received the 2011 Gabriel Almond Award from APSA for best dissertation in comparative politics for the project. He has conducted studies on behalf of the World Bank using satellite imagery and ground surveys to evaluate the Bank’s power sector investments in Senegal, Mali, Vietnam, and India. He has also conducted research on ethnic politics and conflict, including the construction of the Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) dataset of all politically relevant ethnic groups around the world from 1946–2005. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the World Bank, and the International Growth Centre and appears in outlets including World Politics, Annual Review of Political Science, and the American Sociological Review. Min received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and BA from Cornell University.

Anne Pitcher – University of Michigan, USA

Anne Pitcher has an A.B. in Political Science and History from Duke University and an M.Phil. and D. Phil. in Politics from Oxford University, England. She is a Professor of African Studies and Political Science at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include comparative political economy, party politics, and private sector development in Africa. She has conducted fieldwork and/or surveys in Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Zambia and Uganda. Her publications include Politics in the Portuguese Empire (Oxford University Press, 1993), Transforming Mozambique: The Politics of Privatization, 1975-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and many articles in scholarly journals and edited collections. Her most recent book, Party Politics and Economic Reform in Africa’s Democracies (Cambridge, 2012), won Honorable Mention for the Best Book in 2012 Award from the African Politics Conference Group, an organized section of the American Political Science Association and a coordinate organization of the African Studies Association.

Carlos Shenga – Higher Institute of Public Administration

Carlos Shenga is a lecturer of governance, public policy and administration, and Academic Director at the Mozambique Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP). In 2008 and 2012 Carlos led nationwide research on the quality of democracy and governance in Mozambique on behalf of the Afrobarometer network and in 2013 led the girl education challenge project for ORB International/Coffey International/DFID. Recently he has been collaborating with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), and Comparative National Election Studies Project (CNEP). In December 2014 Carlos is expecting to be awarded PhD in Political Studies at the University of Cape Town where he conducted research for the African Legislature Project in the Democracy in Africa Research Unit (DARU) of the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR). His publications include articles on “Legislative Institutionalization in Mozambique” (Africa Peace and Conflict Journal); with Robert Mattes “Uncritical Citizenship: Mozambicans in Comparative Perspective” (book chapter: Voting and Democratic Citizenship in Africa, edited by Michael Bratton. Lynne Reinner publisher); with João Pereira and Sandra Manuel, “Mozambique: From Civil War to Loyal Opposition” (book chapter, Against all Odds: Opposition Political Parties in Southern Africa, edited by Hussein Solomon); “Elezioni del 2009 in Monzambico: la trasparenza è nel cuore della critica” (Africhi e Orienti); “The Influence of Ethnicity on Electoral Process in Mozambique” (OpenSpace); with João Pereira, “Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy in Southern Africa. Mozambique”, (South African Journal of International Affairs).

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai – University of Ghana, Ghana

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (PhD) is a Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), and an Honorary Research Fellow at The School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UK. Prior to joining the UGBS, he worked as Research Officer at the Accra-based Institute for Democratic Governance and as post-doctoral Research Associate with the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) and the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre (ESID), both at the University of Manchester. Dr. Abdulai holds a First Class Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Ghana, an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a PhD in Development Politics from the University of Manchester (UK). His areas of interests and specialization include the politics of development (particularly on issues of inequality and poverty reduction), democratization, human rights and elections in Africa, extractive sector governance (specifically mining and oil) and its impact on development outcomes, and state-civil society relations. His work has been published in Democratization; Labour, Capital and Society; World Politics Review; and the Journal of Financial Crime, among others. 

Abubakar Abdullahi – Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

I am Abubakar Abdullahi currently teaching with the Department of Political Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto-Nigeria. I started my teaching career with Sokoto State Polytechnic in 2001 and later Usmanu Danfodiyo University, sokoto in 2006. I hold B.Sc degree in Political Science, Masters in Public Administration and M.Sc Political Science from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. I am currently at the final stage of my Ph.D degree in Political Science with bias in Public Policy. Similarly, I have participated in national and international conferences and published in national and international Journals. 

Samuel Adams – Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Ghana

Samuel Adams is a Lecturer at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra (GIMPA), Ghana. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry (University of Science and Technology, Ghana), a Master of Business Administration from Lincoln University (Jefferson City, Missouri) and a PhD from Old Dominion University, Virginia- USA. His PhD is in Public Administration and Urban Policy. Dr. Adams’ research interests are in the areas of Governance, Political Economy, Economic Development of Africa and Globalization. His articles have been published in journals such as Journal of Policy Modeling, Journal of Developing Societies, Social Science Quarterly, and Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. Dr. Adams is currently working on a series of papers on democracy, government spending, elections and voting behavior, decentralization and trade and financial liberalization. Dr. Adams has been at GIMPA since 2007 and teaches Public Administration, Public Policy, and Politics of Public Sector Management. 

Olugbemiga Samuel Afolabi – Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

My names are AFOLABI, Olugbemiga Samuel. I have Bachelor, Masters’ and PhD degrees in Political with specialization in Democratic and Electoral studies, Political Theory, and Comparative and African Politics. These areas have dominated my research interest in finding solutions to man’s socio-political problems. My primary area of interest is Comparative Politics with bias for Democratic and Electoral Studies, Political Theory, Democratization and Good governance. My research interest has focused on issues relating to challenges and problems of democracy, especially emerging democracies in Africa. My research interest also spawned the consideration of African State as a concept and institution of governance, Civil Society in its entirety and how these concepts and issues have affected democratization in Nigeria and the whole of Africa. That is why the title of my research for this workshop is “Godfatherism, public Goods and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria.” I have recently published a book about the factors affecting democratization in Nigeria. The book, an edited work, is on Political Economy of Democratization in Nigeria. I am also actively working on a book on Politics and Society in Africa. Also, my research interest includes empirical survey and questions about the varieties of democracy (V-Dem) project based in Sweden, on whose board I serve as Regional Manager, Anglophone East and Central Africa as well as serving as the Principal Investigator and Programme Director, Centre for Nigeria Election Study (CNES). The Centre has just recently hosted a conference in April, 16 and 17, 2014 whose theme is on “Political Clientelism, Social Harmony and Quality of Government in Nigeria.” My interest on issues of democracy, elections, governance and African politics are all intricately linked to what the theme of the workshop. I have published locally and internationally. 

Adegbenga Isaac Aladegbola – Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria

Dr Isaac Adegbenga Aladegbola teaches Political Science and Public Administration at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria. He had taught in the same discipline at the college of Education Ikere-Ekiti, Nigeria for eleven years. He holds a PhD Degree in Political Science from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 2013. He had earlier obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education from University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria now Ekiti State University in 2004 and became a licensed teacher after obtaining his Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Certificate. He has published a number of articles and attended some academic conferences locally and internationally in areas relating to Democracy, Poverty and Development, Public Administration and Public Policy Issues. Some of his recent conferences include: The Scramble for Africa conference and Africa Day Expo on the fifty years of the OAU in Pretoria, South Africa and the 8th annual Africa Young Graduate and Scholars Conference (AYGS) in Johannesburg in February, 2014. Among his recent works are: The fifty years of Poverty and Inequality in Africa: Between Failed Responses and New Options; The Political Economy of the New Slave trade in Africa; Curriculumnising Public Service Ethical Education as a Strategy for Improved Service Delivery in Africa. He is a member of the Nigeria Political Science Association, the Pan Africa Solidarity Education Network (PASEN) and a Regional Director of the Apostolic Faith Directorate of Youth Development in Ekiti, Osun and Ondo States of Nigeria. 

Dominic Degraft Arthur – University for Development Studies, Wa, Ghana

Mr. Dominic Degraft Arthur is a graduate of the University of Ghana, Legon. Mr. Arthur’s special interest focuses on Institutional Dimensions in Governance and Development, Adminstrative Reform especially in the Public Sector, Issues in International Politics, Issues in Patronage Politics and Public Services Provision in Africa, Citizen’s Engagement and Local Governance and Comparative International Development Studies especially in developing countries. Mr. Arthur is a lecturer in the Department of Social, Political and Historical Studies, University For Development Studies, Wa- Tamale, Ghana. Currently, Mr. Arthur is pursuing a collaborative PhD program (Political Science) which is being financed by the Faculty of Integrated Development studies, University for Development Studies, Wa- Tamale Ghana and the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark. 

Alpha Ba – Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal

Dr. Alpha Ba, PhD in Political Sociology at University of Gaston Berger. My works focused in powers dynamics and local mutations in Sénégal. I work primarily on issues of local power in Senegal. Author of several publications on the subject, he has participated in several research projects on the issue and is currently working with The Afrobarometer Sénégal team since 2005.

Ruth Carlitz – University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Ruth Carlitz is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has spent a significant amount of time working and conducting research in East Africa, including 2.5 years in Tanzania working with the local NGO HakiElimu prior to beginning graduate school. Her dissertation examines government accountability and public goods provision in Tanzania, with an emphasis on the water sector. She has also recently conducted research on transparency and accountability for organizations including the International Budget Partnership, the Institute of Development Studies, and DFID’s Accountability Programme in Tanzania. When she is not playing around with data or conducting fieldwork, Ruth enjoys running, hiking, and cooking.

Liza Rose Cirolia – University of Cape Town, South Africa

Liza Rose Cirolia is an urban planner and housing practitioner. She received her undergraduate degree in Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. She received her MCRP from University of Cape Town in 2011. Over the past ten years, Liza worked with various academic institutions and NGOs in the Bay Area, Rio de Janerio, Nairobi, and Cape Town. The majority of her work has focused on youth activism, urban citizenship, and, more recently, land and housing struggles. Liza has a diverse range of current academic interests. She is particularly interested in using Southern Urban Theory and African Urbanism debates to reflect on and valorize emergent (and contested) participatory and spatial practices in American cities (such as Oakland, Detroit, and New Orleans). She is also interested in the relationships between the new wave of powerful political imaginaries (Utopian experiments from Tatu City to the WesCape) and the more grounded and ‘everyday’ social, economic, and political dynamics in African cities. Currently, Liza is the co-ordinator of the Sustainable Human Settlements CityLab. The CityLab is a three year joint project with the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements and the African Centre for Cities. The lab offers an interdisciplinary and multi-scalar platform by which to explore critical debates, drawing into conversation the messy and conflicted domains of theory, policy, and practice.”

Delidji Eric Degila – National School of Administration, Benin

Dr. Delidji Eric Degila is an Associate Professor of International Relations at National School of Administration (ENA), Republic of Benin. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor of African Politics at Waseda University in Japan, as well as an Adjunct Researcher/Lecturer at Jean Moulin University in France. He holds a Phd in Political Science at Jean Moulin University in France, and has been graduated as a diplomat at National School of Administration (ENA) of Benin. His main interests are: International Security and Conflicts studies; International Relations, Africa in the contemporary International Relations; Diplomacy and Global Governance; International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law, and Contemporary Geopolitics. He is committed in many academic societies and associations, and currently leads the African Initiative of the ISA’s Global South Caucus. Dr. DEGILA is conducting currently a research on the place of African States in the contemporary global governance, with a focus on multilateral especially UN system.

Chika Ezeanya – University of Rwanda, Rwanda

Chika Ezeanya is a researcher, author, essayist, teacher and public intellectual whose works focus on Africa’s advancement. She holds a Ph.D. in African (Development and Policy) Studies from Howard University in Washington D.C. and has worked as a World Bank consultant out of the head office in Washington D.C., in Rwanda and in Nigeria. The core of Chika’s research, teaching and writing center on the need for Africa to chart an authentic path to advancement based on indigenous knowledge and home-grown strategies. She is also interested in education, of the kind that can generate personal and societal transformation across Africa and herald an era of widespread innovation. Chika is currently affiliated with the University of Rwanda. She blogs at www.chikaforafrica.com. 

Laura Freeman – University of Cape Town, South Africa

Laura Freeman is a PhD candidate in Political Studies at the University of Cape Town. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding minority group aggression in war – namely the Banyamulenge of eastern DRC. Laura is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town, where she has lectured on conflict and political theory. She is also a research associate at the Safety and Violence Iniative (SaVI), where she is examining rebel behaviour in Africa. Her other interests include: humanitarian aid; international political economy; transitional justice; and teaching at tertiary institutions in developing countries. 

Diana Greenwald – University of Michigan, USA

Diana Greenwald is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, where she focuses on the politics of revenue mobilization in transitional settings, including new states, aspiring states, and conflict/post-conflict states. She has conducted research in the Palestinian Territories, and has also spent time in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco. Diana is the founder and graduate student coordinator of the Workshop on Modern Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan. She was a 2010-2011 Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies Student Fellow. Prior to coming to Michigan, Diana was a Research Assistant for the Middle East Youth Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Diana graduated from Georgetown University (B.A. 2006, Magna Cum Laude) where she majored in Government and minored in Arabic and Studio Art. 

Osaretin Idahosa – University of Benin, Nigeria

Dr. Osaretin Idahosa holds a Ph.D degree in International Relations and teaches courses in the said discipline and Political Science in the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. His major interest is in African Government and Politics, Religion and Politics, Theory of Extremism and Strategic International Relations. Also, he is interested in cross-fertilisation of ideas and research findings with academics who might be working in similar relevant areas of academic interests. 

Michael Jana – University of Malawi, Chancellor College, Malawi

Michael Jana is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Studies at University of the Witwatersrand. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at University of Malawi, Chancellor College. He has been doing research and teaching Political Science courses at both Universities of Malawi and Witwatersrand since 2005. His research area of interest is Political Sociology especially the relationship between the representative state institutions and the people. 

Marc Kalina – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Marc Kalina is a PhD student with the School of BUilt Environment and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. His research interests focus on development and environmental issues surrounding large scale infrastructure provision in developing nations. For his dissertation he is examining environmental governance and public participation processes associated with the Nacala Corridor, a multi-dimensional transport network in Northern Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. At the moment he is in the midst of organising and conducting ongoing field-work in and around Nampula, Mozambique and is expected to submit his dissertation in early 2015. He is currently based in South Africa where he is a contractor researcher for the City of Durban. He also splits time in Maputo, Mozambique where he holds the post of Research Associate at Eduardo Mondlane University’s Centre for Policy Analysis. Mr. Kalina also has extensive research and professional experience in East and Southeast Asia where he has lived and worked.

Itumeleng Makgetla – Yale University, USA

Tumi is a second year PhD doctoral student at Yale University. She is interested in state institutions, democracy, accountability and political economy. She is particularly interested in the politics of youth unemployment. Tumi holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford Universities and has worked at the Mail & Guardian, Innovations for Successful Societies (Princeton) and Economic Development Department in the national government of South Africa. She grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Celso Marcos Monjane – Instituto Superior de Administração Pública

Celso Marcos Monjane is a lecturer at Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP). He received his Post Graduation in “Governance and Public Administration” from Eduardo Mondlane University. In addition to teaching, his experience at ISAP includes works in capacity building programs of high ranked government officials and bureaucrats at street level. Self-compromised in sharing his academic views, Celso has been engaged in publications of his theoretical and empirical claims. His recent publications include “Gender Equality: where does the rhetoric begins and when it turns into reality (2014)” and “Human Resource Management Book: A conceptual and Practical Approach” (2014). Additionally, mostly working in the Political Economy field, he has been engaged in research activities where the current research is on “distributive politics”, with focus on extractive industry. Associated with this, there’s an increasing interest in research about economic linkages, mainly when foreign investments are at stake. By the fact of being an apologist of high ethical standards and feel comfortable in all variety of social and professional environments, he has successfully collaborated with MAP Consulting, a respected Governance, Development and Management Consulting firm, where researches and consultancies activities has been undertaken. 

Janet Monisola Oluwaleye – Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

I am Janet Monisola Oluwaleye, a PhD student from the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. I was born on November 6, 1967. I hold a Bachelor degree in Political Science, 1991 and Master’s degree in International Relations, 2004. I am still on my PhD programme. The title of my thesis is “Good governance and service delivery at the grassroots level: a case of Ekiti State, Nigeria, 1996-2012.” Presently, I am an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Political Science of Ekiti State University. I have 5 journal articles, 3 in prints and 2 already accepted for publication. I am happily married with 4 children.

Xichavo Alecia Ndlovu – University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Alecia Ndlovu is a PhD candidate in international relations and a Wits-Carnegie Global Change Fellow at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She holds a BA in international relations and applied economics and an MA (Cum Laude) in international relations. Her main research interests are in the political economy of African development and quantitative research methods. During her MA studies, she undertook a research internship at the South African Institute of International Affairs as part of her scholarship commitments and an exchange program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. In addition to her academic interests, Alecia served as a mentor for the DreamGirls International Outreach and Mentoring Program, which aims to promote the enrollment and success of young women from disadvantaged high schools and communities in institutions of higher learning. She is passionate and dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, and a firm believer in the efficacy of education as the cornerstone for human capacity development in African societies. 

Chiedo Nwankwor – University of Delaware, USA 

Chiedo Nwankwor is a Ph.D candidate at the University of Delaware. Her research interests are in the area of political representation and women and politics, gender studies, health and governance issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Her ongoing dissertation project looks at the relationship between the increasing inclusion of women in national cabinets and women’s welfare across sub-Saharan Africa. 

Maryam Quadri – University of Lagos, Nigeria

Maryam Quadri obtained her Ph. from Department of Political Science, University of Lagos with specialization in Public Administration and Public Policy in 2012. she presently lectures in the same Department. Her areas of research interests are policy analysis, public health, gender, youth and poverty studies. Maryam was on exchange programme as a Visiting Scholar to Kennesaw State University, Atlanta Georgia United states in 2011, a Commonwealth Fellow at University of Roehampton, London United Kingdom in 2012. Some of our recent publications invlude: Quadri, M.O (2008a) “Their Programs, Our Programs: Poverty Reduction Strategy In Africa” in Itibari M. Zulu and A. Aderemi (eds) Global Peace Leadership Summit 2007: Africa and the Diaspora. California. Africa Diaspora Foundation. pp 147-166. Quadri M.O (2008b) “From Adminisration to Management: the States and Public Sector Performance in Nigeria” International Review of Politics and Development IRPAD, Vol 6, No 2. Quadri M,O (2010) “Youth and Poverty in Nigeria: Defining an Agenda for Development. Legislative Practice Review. Nigerian Journal of Law, Practice and Proceedures of Legslature. Vol 2 No 2 pp 62-75.Quadri M.O (2011) “Sexuality and Women’s Vulnerability: Interogating how Culture and Ideology Reinforce Relations of Subordination” in Alao A. (ed) Politics, Culture and Development in Nigeria. A Festschrift for Gabriel Olatunde Babawale. Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC). Lagos. Pp 312-322. Quadri M.O (2013) Public Health System and Service Delivery in Nigeria: the Policy Initiatives. Journal of Society Development and Public Health (JSDPH). Vol 1 No 4 pp 78-102. On-going research includes: “Social Protection Policies and Politics of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCTs) A Study of Ekiti State in Nigeria” and “Gender and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): the Cultural Dimension of Achieving Developmental Goals in Nigeria.” Maryam is married with children.

Rachel Sigman – Syracuse University, USA

Rachel Sigman is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Affairs. Her research examines the varying ways that democratization affects the state’s capacity to formulate and implement development policies. She is currently conducting field research in Benin and Ghana, where she is collecting a variety of qualitative and quantitative data on the effects of party politics on bureaucratic capacity at both elite and public manager levels. Rachel has also worked on projects addressing broader questions related to the conceptualization and measurement of state capacity. Prior to graduate school, Rachel worked as a Field Director in Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign. She received a Fulbright grant to study decentralization and the implementation of environmental programs in Madagascar and managed a community needs assessment survey for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. 

Erika Thomas – University of Namibia, Namibia

I am Erika Thomas, from Namibia. I am a lecturer at the University of Namibia. I am teaching Politics and Public Policy. I did my Master degree with the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Holland. I am currently a PhD candidate at the same Institute in The Hague. My interest lies with gender issues and so on. My PhD thesis is about Women in African Legislatures: A Comparative Case Study of Botswana and Namibia. My study will deliberate on national level, because that is where the necessary interventions can be initiated. That’s why I do concur with Jonathan Wolff, (2006), who says: “We do not say that a man who shows no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business, we say that he has no business here at all.” I am well-organised person who is able to work independently and do not hesitate to take initiative when necessary. I experience the challenges of higher education. I have been teaching at undergraduate level for the last +six years now. Additionally, I lecture and tutor at local government and politics at the Namibian Open College. I am a good communicator and a good listener. On the other hand, I am open easy to talk to. My students enjoy my classes because they indicated it in the evaluation form.

MONDAY, JUNE 30

Session 1: What is distributive politics? What goods do governments distribute? 

Required Reading:

• Golden, Miriam and Brian Min. 2013. “Distributive Politics around the World”. Annual Review of Political Science. 16:73-99.
• Kitschelt, Herbert and Steven Wilkinson, “Citizen-Politician Linkages: An Introduction” In Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007. Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-49.
• Stokes, Susan, Thad Dunning, Marcelo Nazareno, and Valeria Brusco, “Between Clients and Citizens: Puzzles and Concepts in the Study of Distributive Politics.” In Stokes, Susan, Thad Dunning, Marcelo Nazareno, and Valeria Brusco. 2013. Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-27. 
• Carbone, Giovanni. 2011. “Do New Democracies Deliver Social Welfare? Political Regimes and Health Policy in Ghana and Cameroon”, Democratization, 19, 2: 157-183.

Recommended Reading:

• Levitt, Steven and James Snyder. 1997. “The Impact of Federal Spending on House Election Outcomes.” Journal of Political Economy, 105(1): 30-53.
• Boix, Carles. 2001. “Democracy, development, and the public sector.” American Journal of Political Science 45(1):1–17.

Methods 1: Introduction to statistical research

Required Reading: 

• Tufte, Edward R. 2006. Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, pp. 1-30. (Chapter 1)

Recommended Reading:

• Tufte, Edward R. 2006. Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, pp. 31-64. (Chapter 2)

TUESDAY, JULY 1

Session 2: Whom do governments target with distributive goods and services? Core or swing voters? The poor or the elite? Supporters or opponents?

Required Reading:

• Dahlberg, Matz and Eva Johansson. 2002. “On the Vote-Purchasing Behavior of Incumbent Governments.” American Political Science Review 96(1):27-40.
• Burgess, Robin, Remi Jedwab, Edward Miguel, Ameet Morjaria & Gerard Padró I Miquel. 2013. “The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya”, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers 19398.
• Chandra, Kanchan. “Counting Heads: A Theory of Voter and Elite Behavior in Patronage Democracies.” In Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007. Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 84-109.
• Michael L. Ross. 2006. “Is Democracy Good for the Poor?” American Journal of Political Science, 50(4):860–874.
• Elliott Green, 2011. “Patronage as Institutional Choice”, Comparative Politics, pp. 421-438.

Recommended Reading:

• Cox, Gary W. 2007. “Swing Voters, Core Voters, and Distributive Politics.” Leitner Program Working Papers 14. Leitner Program in International & Comparative Political Economy, New Haven, US. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/leitner/papers.html
• Keefer, Philip, and Stuti Khemani. 2005. “Democracy, public expenditures, and the poor: understanding political incentives for providing public services. World Bank Research Observer. 20(1):1–27.
• Bardhan, Pranab, and Dilip Mookherjee. 2006. “Pro-poor targeting and accountability of local governments in West Bengal.” Journal of Development Economics 79(2):303–27.
• Blaydes, Lisa. “The politics of infrastructure provision” In Blaydes, 2011. Elections and distributive politics in Mubarak’s Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 64-76. 
• Min, Brian. 2013. “Electrifying the Poor: Power and Politics in India.” Unpublished manuscript.
• Methods 2: Introduction to R/Rstudio

Required Reading: 

• RStudio, Documentation on “Console,” “Source,” and “Projects” (browse from USB).
• Verzani, John, simpleR: Using R for Introductory Statistics. Unpublished, “Introduction” (section 1) and “Data” (section 2), 1-8.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2 – No assigned readings

THURSDAY, JULY 3

Session 3: Where do distributive goods and services go? Urban vs. rural areas /ethnic regions 

Required Reading:

• Stasavage. David. 2005. “Democracy and Education Spending in Africa.” American Journal of Political Science, 49(2):343–358.
• Kasara, Kimuli. 2007. “Tax me if you can: ethnic geography, democracy, and the taxation of agriculture in Africa.” American Political Science Review. 101(1):159–72.
• Franck, Raphael and Ilia Rainer. 2012. “Does the Leader’s Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa.” American Political Science Review. 106 (2): 294-325.
• Margot Rubin. 2011. “Perceptions of Corruption in the South African Housing Allocation and Delivery Programme: What It May Mean for Accessing the State.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 46 (5): 479-490.

Recommended Readings:

• Thad Dunning and Lauren Harrison. 2010. “Cross-cutting cleavages and ethnic voting: An Experimental Study of Cousinage in Mali.” American Political Science Review 104(1)1-19.
• Boone, Catherine. 2012. “Land Conflict and Distributive Politics in Kenya.” African Studies Review, vol. 55, no. 1 (April), pp. 75-103.
• Weingast, Barry R., Kenneth A. Shepsle, and Christopher Johnsen. 1981. “The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs: A Neoclassical Approach to Distribution Politics.” Journal of Political Economy 89 (4): 642-64.
• World Bank/Unicef. 2009. Abolishing School Fees in Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. Washington, DC: World Bank.
• Sylvia Croese and Anne Pitcher, 2013. “Politics, Policy and Housing Provision in Angola” Unpublished Manuscript.

Methods 3: Basic data analysis

Required Reading:

• Verzani, John, simpleR: Using R for Introductory Statistics. Unpublished, “Univariate Data” and “Bivariate Data (up to “Numerical vs. Numerical”),” 8-22

FRIDAY, JULY 4

Methods 4: Afrobarometer exercise

Required Reading:

• Afrobarometer, “Data Codebook for Round 5” (skim)

MONDAY, JULY 7

Session 4: When does distribution occur? Do elections matter to the timing of goods distribution? Are there electoral cycles to distribution?

Required Reading:

• David A. Lake and Matt Baum. 2001. “The invisible hand of democracy: political control and the provision of public services.” Comparative Political Studies, 34(6):587–621.
• Min, Brian and Miriam Golden. 2014. “”Electoral Cycles in Electricity Losses in India” Energy Policy.65:619–625. 
• Schady, Norbert R. 2000. “The Political Economy of Expenditures by the Peruvian Social Fund (FONCODES), 1991-95.” American Political Science Review 94(2):289-304.
• Blaydes, Lisa. “Electoral budget cycles and economic opportunism.” In Blaydes, 2011. Elections and distributive politics in Mubarak’s Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 77-99.

Recommended Reading:

• Khemani, Stuti. 2004. “Political Cycles in a Developing Economy: Effect of Elections in the Indian States.” Journal of Development Economics 73:125-54.
• Drazen, A., & Eslava, M. 2010. “Electoral manipulation via voter-friendly spending: theory and evidence.” Journal of Development Economics, 92(1), 39–52.
• Cole, Shawn. 2009. “Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1(1):219-250.
• Baskaran, Thushyanthan, Brian Min and Yogesh Uppal. 2014. “Election cycles and economic activity: evidence from a quasi-experiment with Indian bye-elections.” Working paper.

Methods 5: Human Development Index exercise

Required Reading:

• UNDP, “Technical Notes: Calculating the Human Development Indices.” In Human Development Report 2013, 1-3.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

Session 5: How do politicians make credible promises? How do they make sure citizens respond? Clientelism, monitoring, coercion

Required Reading:

• Van de Walle, Nicholas. “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss? The Evolution of Political Clientelism in Africa.” In Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007. Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 50-67. 
• Keefer, Philip. 2007. “Clientelism, Credibility, and the Policy Choices of Young Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 51(4):804-821.
• Robin Harding and David Stasavage. 2014. What Democracy Does (and Doesn’t do) for Basic Services: School Fees, School Inputs and Africa Elections.” Journal of Politics, 76, 1, pp. 229-245. 
• Stokes, Susan C. 2005. “Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina.” American Political Science Review 99 (August): 315–25.
• Baldwin, Kate. 2013 “Why Vote with the Chief? Political Connections and Public Goods Provision in Zambia”, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 57, no. 4 (October), pp. 794–809.
• Magaloni, Beatriz, Alberto Diaz-Cayeros and Federico Estevez, “Clientelism and Portfolio Diversification: A Model of Electoral Investment with Applications to Mexico.” In Kitschelt and Wilkinson, 2007. Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 182-205.

Recommended Reading:

• Hicken, Allen. 2011. “Clientelism”, Annual Review of Political Science 14: 289-310.
• Wantchekon, Leonard 2003. “Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin,” World Politics, 55, pp. 399-422.

Methods 6: Bivariate regression

Required Reading:

• Tufte, Edward R. 2006. Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, pp. 65-134. (Chapter 3)
• Verzani, John, simpleR: Using R for Introductory Statistics. Unpublished, “Linear Regression,” 24-31 (skip part on “resistant regression”).

Recommended Reading:

• Tufte, Edward R. 2006. Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, pp. 135-163. (Chapter 4)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

Session 6: Why do some politicians distribute and some don’t’? Are distributive politics effective, efficient, desirable? Are voters responsive?

Required Reading:

• Kramon, Eric and Daniel Posner. 2013. “Who Benefits from Distributive Politics? How the Outcome One Studies Affects the Answer One Gets.” Perspectives on Politics. 11, 2: 461-474. 
• Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca. 2012. “What Wins Votes: Why Some Politicians Opt Out of Clientelism.” American Journal of Political Science 56(3):568-583.
• Mattes, Robert and Carlos Shenga. 2007. “Uncritical Citizenship” in a “Low-Information” Society: Mozambicans in Comparative Perspective,”Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 91.
• De La O, Ana L. 2013. “Do Conditional Cash Transfers Affect Electoral Behavior? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Mexico.” American Journal of Political Science, 57(1): 1–14.
• Hoffman, Barak and James Long, 2013. “Parties, Ethnicity and Voting in African Elections,” Comparative Politics. January 2013, pp. 127-146.

Recommended Reading:

• Kudamatsu, Masayuki. 2007. “Has Democratization Reduced Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Micro-Data.” Journal of the European Economic Association 10(6): 1294-1317.
• Chen, Jowei. 2013. “Voter Partisanship and the Effect of Distributive Spending on Political Participation.” American Journal of Political Science 57(1):200-217.
• Blaydes, Lisa. “Vote buying, turnout, and spoiled ballots.” In Blaydes, 2011. Elections and distributive politics in Mubarak’s Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 100-124.

THURSDAY, JULY 10

Methods 7: Bivariate Analysis (group work)

To browse from USB as possible data sources (in addition to Afrobarometer):

• Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), “IIAG Structure,” and “IIAG Methodology” (Mo Ibrahim Foundation, 2013).
• Daniel Kaufmann, Aart Kraay, and Massimo Mastruzzi, “Worldwide Governance Indicators: Methodology and Analytical Issues,” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5430 (2010).

FRIDAY, JULY 11– No assigned readings

Saturday, 28 June 2014

The five workshop leaders, Anne Pitcher (USA), Brian Min (USA), Rod Alence (South Africa), Sylvia Croese (South Africa) and Carlos Shenga (Mozambique) held a meeting on Saturday morning with Andrew Stinson, APSA staff member responsible for workshop logistics, to discuss and make final adjustments to the workshop program.

Sunday, 29 June 2014

Participants arrived throughout the day, registering and receiving workshop materials and reading packages. In the evening, an informal reception was held in the garden of Hotel Terminus. The reception was attended by ISAP director general Mr. Eduardo Chilundo, and provided an occasion for casual introductions amongst the workshop participants and co-leaders.

Monday, 30 June 2014

The workshop was officially convened at ISAP in the presence of the local press, ISAP students, faculty and members of staff. Because Mozambique is a Portuguese speaking country, the Director General of ISAP, Eduardo Mondlane; Carlos Shenga, the Academic Director of ISAP, and Anne Pitcher, one of the workshop leaders gave their remarks in English and Portuguese. Andrew Stinson also spoke on behalf of APSA. Carlos Shenga, academic director of ISAP, gave a tour of the building, followed by a short film on ISAP’s history and current activities. After the opening ceremony, the workshop leaders introduced themselves and the background and aims of the workshop, followed by introductions by the participants.

Plenary session 1: What is distributive politics? What goods do governments distribute?

Brian Min used the case of the stadium built in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian Amazon in the context of the World Cup, as a point of departure to discuss the importance of politics in the distribution of resources. He then introduced some of the concepts and methods that may be used to study the ways in which governments distribute different types of goods and services and the possible consequences of their choices. This was followed by Anne Pitcher, who further discussed the terms, variables and research design that relate to the analysis of distributive politics.

Methods session 1: Introduction to statistical research

Rod Alence started the afternoon session with a thought experiment in order to provide a basic introduction to statistical research. He then introduced real social data from the World Value Survey regarding political attitudes in pre-Arab Spring Egypt to explain basic statistical terms such as probability, standard errors, sampling distribution and confidence intervals. He concluded the session by distributing flash disks to the workshop participants with the software and Afrobarometer data set that will be used in the following method sessions.

Research session: 10 minute presentations

In the workshop’s first research session, six workshop participants provided a short overview of their research. The presentations included work on: the link between regime type and development in resource-rich countries; the politics of revenue mobilization in newly independent states; the impact of democratization on state administration in Benin and Ghana; transnational security and conflict in SSA; the link between resource allocation and patronage in Ghana; and public service delivery at local level in Ghana. All presentations were followed by some questions and comments from the group.

Tuesday, 1 July

Plenary session 2: Whom do governments target with distributive goods and services? Core or swing voters? The poor or the elite? Supporters or opponents?

This session started with another round of introductions due to the late arrival of some participants who missed the first day of workshop. Anne Pitcher summarized the workshop programme again before turning it over to Brian Min. Min started with summarizing the theory session of the day before, followed by asking workshop participants about examples of goods and services allocations. After this, the group was divided up into three smaller groups in order to discuss this session’s assigned readings on whom governments target with distributive goods and services. Participants were asked to answer which hypothesis is being tested in the articles, how do the authors test this and at what conclusions do they arrive at and do participants agree? Reporting back allowed for an applied discussion of some of the literature’s main concepts.

Research session: 10 minute presentations

Four participants presented their research manuscripts. These included work on voting behaviour in Ghana, water provision in Tanzania, perceptions of local government vs traditional leaders in Senegal and housing policy vs practice in South Africa, all followed by constructive comments and questions by the group.

Methods session 2: Introduction to R/Rstudio

After lunch, Rod Alence introduced today’s methods class as a ‘crash introduction to R and R Studio’, the first tutorial of the two other methods sessions of this week that will be dedicated to data analysis in R, followed by sample analysis in R. R is a free, open-source statistical software that runs on all major operating systems. For many participants this was their first introduction to the programme and some installation problems were still experienced. However, the presence of several students familiar with the programme provided useful assistance.

Research session: 10 minute presentations

Six participants presented on the following topics: the link between perceptions of local government and legitimacy of parliament in Malawi; home-grown and grassroots based strategies for measuring inequalities in Rwanda; infrastructure provision in Mozambique; African warlords; women in cabinets in SSA; and the political economy of youth unemployment in SSA. Although this session took place at the end of an intense day, presentations were again followed by constructive questions and comments.

Wednesday, 2 July

Research session: 10 minute presentations

Today’s programme started with another six presentations of workshop participants, including presentations on: the link between corruption and resource allocation in the Mozambican mining sector; the link between godfatherism and the provision of public goods in Nigeria; women in legislatures in Nambia; housing provision through public-private partnerships in Nigeria; the political economy of commercial motorcycle transportation in Nigeria; and the implementation of conditional cash transfer in Nigeria.

Professional development session: how to present research (orally and written)

The workshop’s first professional development session was facilitated by Anne Pitcher who used an example of a conference presentation to give some guidelines on the do’s and don’ts of presenting research orally. This was followed by Rod Alence who discussed some rules on the structuring of papers based on the work of Barry Weingast. These rules include the need for a paper to focus on one main point and for the introduction to follow the following structure: research question; a discussion of “schools of thought”; identification of the controversy or gap that you will address; your contribution; road map to the paper. Participants were asked to write up a 3 to 4 page introduction to their work following these rules, to be submitted by Sunday evening to the workshop leaders.

Excursion: Visit to National Institute of Statistics and afternoon tour of Maputo

In the afternoon, the participants visited the National Institute of Statistics of Mozambique where they were received by two representatives of demographic studies department of the Institute, Mr. Xadreque Maunze, head of the department of population studies and and Mr. Cristóvão Muahio, head of the department of methods and sampling. Their presentations were followed by questions of participants. The visit revealed some of the challenges of data collection in a country such as Mozambique. The visit was followed by a bus tour around the city, with stops at the city fortress, train station, the French cultural centre and Eiffel’s iron house.

Thursday, 3 July

Plenary session 3: Where do distributive goods and services go? Urban or rural areas? Regions populated by co-ethnics of the President or of the majority party in the legislature?

Today’s session, led by Anne Pitcher, examined how and why governments target different geographical areas in the distribution of goods such as education, fertilizer, or housing. Using the assigned articles, the class also explored different methodological approaches to doing research in Africa, as well as the personal, political, and logistical challenges related to the collection of empirical evidence in Africa. Following a discussion some of the arguments and approaches in the Stasavage and Kasara articles, Sylvia Croese presented one of the readings assigned for this session on perceptions of corruption in the housing allocation and delivery in South Africa. She flagged the emergence of the study of housing as a distributive good, the value of using an inductive and qualitative research design in doing do so and the way in which this allows us to rethink our concepts such as corruption.

Research session: 10 minute presentations

The two remaining research presentations were held: one which presented an assessment of local service delivery in Nigeria and one on the implementation of the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme in Nigeria. The presentations were followed by group work, aimed at discussing the structure and assumptions of the three first readings assigned for the theory session.

Methods session 3: Tutorial 2

Today’s methods session included the second tutorial on basic data analysis in R, which included an explanation of the use of vectors, dataframes and functions, in order to prepare for tomorrow’s exercise.

Research session: small groups for project feedback

During today’s last session, the participants were divided up into five groups with the aim of discussing the state of their research and giving each other feedback on their introduction as per the Weingast rules.

Friday, 4 July

Professional development: publication strategies

During the second professional development session of this workshop, the various workshop leaders provided insights into how the publication process works. This included a discussion on which journals to target, how the (peer) review process works and the importance of persistence in trying to publish.

Methods session 4: Tutorial 2 continued and 3

Today’s methods session was a continuation of yesterday’s tutorial, including instructions on how to create tables, basic figures, calculating differences in proportions, confidence intervals and the basics of hypothesis testing.

Research session: small groups for project feedback

In today’s research session, the participants rejoined their small groups. Under the guidance of the workshop leaders they reviewed each other’s work and continued to work on their introductions.

Excursion: Visit to Arts Museum and FEIMA

A planned visit to Institute of Social and Economic Studies was postponed to next week. Instead, the group visited the National Arts Museum, followed by visit to the local Arts Fair (FEIMA) where many participants had the opportunity to purchase local works of art.

Saturday, 5 July

Today’s excursion included a trip outside Maputo to Macaneta, a beach peninsula approximately 2 hours north of Maputo. The beach was reached by bus and boat. The trip provided participants a chance to enjoy Mozambique’s beautiful beach life and included a seafood lunch.

Sunday, 6 July

Today’s free day offered participants a chance to rest, read and work on their introductions.

Monday, 7 July

Plenary session 4: When does distribution occur? Do elections matter to the timing of goods distribution? Are there electoral cycles to distribution?

Today’s session started with an introduction on regression analysis by Brian Min as the workshop leaders had noted that while this method is used in most of the readings for the theory sessions, few workshop participants had a good grasp of quantitative data analysis. Using the example of electrification rates in India, Min explained how patterns in data can be analysed and understood, linking this up to a discussion of the theories of today’s readings.

Methods session 5: Afrobarometer exercise

Today’s methods session introduced an exercise on the analysis of vote buying in sub-Saharan Africa using data from Round 5 of the Afrobarometer surveys. More specifically, workshop participants were asked to analyze the prevalence of vote buying in urban vs rural areas in a number of selected African countries by using univariate and bivariate statistics and graphics and testing for the significance of outcomes. Student assistants were available to help workshop participants complete the exercise.

Research session: office hours with workshop leaders

After having submitted their introductions to the workshop leaders, today’s research session provided an opportunity for feedback and revisions to their introductions.

Tuesday, 8 July

Plenary session 5: How do politicians make credible promises? How do they make sure citizens respond? Clientelism, monitoring, coercion

The morning theory session included a discussion of the readings assigned for today’s session by Anne Pitcher. Anne started by asking participants how African governments or parties make credible promises to deliver goods. In addition, participants were asked to assess how the articles were put together and what makes the claims in the readings on this question convincing. In the plenary discussion, issues were raised with regard to research assumptions and the strengths, weaknesses, reliability, validity and replicability of data sets such as the Afrobarometer.

Methods session 6: Tutorial 4

Today’s methods session included a review of yesterday’s exercise and a fourth tutorial on getting data into R to prepare for the next exercise on the Human Development Index.

Research session: office hours with workshop leaders

During today’s final research session, participants had the chance to discuss pending issues with the workshop leaders and make final revisions to their introductions.

In the evening, the female workshop leaders and all female participants joined each other for dinner to share experiences and advice on what it is like being a woman in academia. Although the dinner was optional, every woman in the workshop group attended the dinner. Among the interesting issues that women raised were the importance of mentorship, how to combine motherhood and academia, and the challenges of being a female academic in the US and Africa. The discussion addressed in particular how to deal with being interrupted during a presentation, how to choose good letter writers, how to find mentors, how to protect oneself during fieldwork and/or the administration of surveys, and how to achieve a good work/life balance. There was agreement that these issues deserve much more attention and many participants expressed the hope that there might be future opportunities to discuss career choices and trajectories of women in the political science profession.

Wednesday, 9 July

Plenary session 6: Why do some politicians distribute and some don’t’? Are distributive politics effective, efficient, desirable? Are voters responsive?

Today’s theory session started with an informative presentation on Mozambican history and politics by Carlos Shenga, followed by questions from workshop participants. This was followed by a recap of the questions asked in the previous theory sessions by Brian Min on why, when and to whom do governments distribute in order to ask what the impact is of these choices? Based on the readings assigned for today, Anne Pitcher also explained why distributive policies don’t always work or don’t work as we anticipate they should. This was followed by a presentation by Carlos Shenga’s of his paper on ‘uncritical citizenship in a ‘low-information’ society in Mozambique to discuss issues of voter responsiveness and the use of the Afrobarometer survey.

Excursion: Visit to National Institute of Health and Institute of Social and Economic Studies

For the first visit of this afternoon workshop, leaders and participants were received at the National Institute of Health (INS) by Dr. Nilza de Deus. After Carlos Shenga presented the group, Dr.Eduardo Samo Gudo, scientific director of INS gave an introduction to the institute. The INS is a government institution which plays a key role in providing scientific evidence and policy support to the government by doing research, teaching and building networks on public health in Mozambique. This was followed by a presentation by Mr. Mussagy Mahomed on the research of INS. He discussed the findings of a national survey that was conducted in 2009 on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique. Questions from participants about the findings were followed by visits to the microbiology and malaria labs of the institute.

The second visit included a visit to the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE) in two groups due to a lack of space to receive all workshop participants at once. The visit included a presentation of the three areas of research of the IESE: political participation and governance; economy and development; and poverty and social protection. Questions from participants included questions on the reasons for the recent eviction of IESE from its office after the IESE director had written critical comments about Mozambique’s President on his facebook page.

Thursday, 10 July

Methods session 7: Human Development Index exercise / Bivariate Analysis (group work)

During today’s methods session workshop participants completed their Human Development Index exercise.

Public symposium of co-leaders’ research

After lunch, participants were transported to the VIP hotel to attend the symposium where the various workshop leaders presented their research. The symposium had been widely advertised and it was well attended by Mozambican public servants and members of the public.

The symposium was introduced by Carlos Shenga, followed by an official opening by ISAP general director Mr. Eduardo Chilundo and an introduction by the chair, Dr. Euclides Gonçalves of Eduardo Mondlane University. Presentations by the workshop leaders were held in English and Portuguese, followed by questions from the audience and closing by the ISAP director.

Friday, 11 July

Small group report back: lessons learned and next steps

The session was started by having participants rejoin their small groups to talk about what they had learned during the workshop and how this has affected their own research in terms of questions and methods as they move forward. After this, the groups reported back in plenary.

Participants reported to find all elements of the workshop useful: learning about the literature on distributive goods and politics; using and analysing data using R/Studio; practicing and improving their writing and presenting skills through the professional development sessions. Participants also found the visits to the different institutions useful as they allowed them to learn more about the realities of data collection and research in an African country such as Mozambique. Participants noted to have found the sharing of experiences with other workshop participants enriching and ideas for networks and future collaborations were already emerging. As possible avenues for future research participants spoke of: possible other data sets apart from surveys such as Afrobarometer; exploring post-electoral dynamics; exploring a unified theory of distributive politics for Africa, distributive politics theory applied to Africa: what new questions, claims, concepts, variables, methods? The difference between state vs non-state, politicians vs bureaucrats, the different (conditions for) modes of allocation. However, participants also noted the difficulties in access to data and funding.

Conferences and networking: APCG, APSA membership and Alumni grants

During this session, Andrew Stinson explained the benefits of APSA membership, which will be offered to all Africa-based participants for three years. APSA publishes various research journals and organizes annual meetings and conferences in the field of political science. APSA also offers funds for APSA alumni under its small grants programme, which includes an: individual professional development grant; workshop grant and publication grant.

In the second half of the session, workshop leaders further discussed conference and networking opportunities, such as the African Politics Conference Group (APCG), which speaks to and sponsors panels at the APSA, African Studies Association, International Studies Association and European Conference on African Studies. It also disseminates information on African Studies conferences, workshops, grants, jobs and fellowships. In addition, opportunities (fellowships, stats courses) at the University of Michigan were discussed, as well as data set projects such as V-Dem, Afrobarometer, CSES Comparative Electoral Studies, and statistical courses such as with ICPSR and ASRI.

Dinner and closing ceremony

The workshop was brought to a close over dinner at Hotel Cardoso, overlooking downtown Maputo. ISAP general director Mr. Eduardo Chilundo thanked the group for their stay in Maputo and spoke to the importance of further scholarly collaboration with institutions such as ISAP. Participants received certificates for their participation in the conference and APSA and workshop leaders were thanked for their contributions.

Saturday, 12 July

Throughout the day leaders and participants departed from Maputo.