Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:36:49.243Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Political Economy of NGO Service Provision

Evidence from an Ancillary Field Experiment in Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2022

Jeremy Springman Open the ORCID record for Jeremy Springman [Opens in a new window]
Jeremy Springman*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA E-mail: jeremy.springman@duke.edu
Get access

Abstract

The share of basic services that NGOs deliver has grown dramatically in developing countries due to increased receipt of aid and philanthropy in these countries. Many scholars and practitioners worry that NGOs reduce reliance on government services and, in turn, lower demand for government provision and undermine political engagement. Others argue that NGOs prop-up poorly performing governments that receive undeserved credit for the production, allocation, or welfare effects of NGO services. Using original surveys and a randomized health intervention, implemented in parallel to a similar universal government program, this article investigates the long-term effect of NGO provision on political attitudes and behavior. Access to NGO services increased preferences for NGO, relative to government, provision. However, political engagement and perceptions of government legitimacy were unaffected. Instead, the intervention generated political credit for the incumbent president. This study finds that citizens see NGOs as a resource that powerful government actors control, and they reward actors who they see as responsible for allocation of those resources.

Keywords

credit attributionfield experimentsforeign aidhealthlegitimacyNGOsservice provision
Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 523 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Trustees of Princeton University

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, Daron, Naidu, Suresh, Restrepo, Pascual, and Robinson, James A.. 2019. “Democracy Does Cause Growth.” Journal of Political Economy 127, no. 1: 47–100. At https://doi.org/10.1086/700936.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Mark. 2017. “NGOs: Blessing or Curse?” The Africa Report. November 29. At https://www.theafricareport.com/777/ngos-blessing-or-curse.Google Scholar
Baldwin, Kate, and Bhavnani, Rikhil R.. 2015. “Ancillary Studies of Experiments: Opportunities and Challenges.” Journal of Globalization and Development 6, no. 1: 113–46. At https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2014-0010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, Kate, and Winters, Matthew S.. 2020. “How Do Different Forms of Foreign Aid Affect Government Legitimacy? Evidence from an Informational Experiment in Uganda.” Studies in Comparative International Development 55: 160–83. At https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-020-09303-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit, Kumar, Selvan, Pande, Rohini, and Su, Felix. 2011. “Do Informed Voters Make Better Choices? Experimental Evidence from Urban India.” Manuscript. At https://epod.cid.harvard.edu/publications/do-informed-voters-make-better-choices.Google Scholar
Barr, Abigail, Fafchamps, Marcel, and Owens, Trudy. 2005. “The Governance of Non-Governmental Organizations in Uganda.” World Development 33, no. 4: 657–79. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.09.010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Björkman Nyqvist, Martina, Guariso, Andrea, Svensson, Jakob, and Yanagizawa-Drott, David. 2019. “Reducing Child Mortality in The Last Mile: Experimental Evidence on Community Health Promoters in Uganda”. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 11, no. 3: 155–92. At https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170201.Google Scholar
Bodea, Cristina, and LeBas, Adrienne. 2014. “The Origins of Voluntary Compliance: Attitudes toward Taxation in Urban Nigeria.” British Journal of Political Science 46, no. 1: 215–38. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S000712341400026X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, Jennifer N. 2016. Allies or adversaries: NGOs and the State in Africa. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press. At https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316678527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, Jennifer N., Longhofer, Wesley, Robinson, Rachel S., and Schnable, Allison. 2018. “NGOs and International Development: A Review of Thirty-Five Years of Scholarship.” World Development 112: 136–49. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bratton, Michael. 1989. “The Politics of Government-NGO Relations in Africa.” World Development 17, no. 4: 569–87. At https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(89)90263-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristol, Nellie. 2008. “NGO Code of Conduct Hopes to Stem Internal Brain Drain.” Lancet 371, no. 9631: 2162. At https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60937-X.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bueno, Natália S. 2018. “Bypassing the Enemy: Distributive Politics, Credit Claiming, and Nonstate Organizations in Brazil.” Comparative Political Studies 51, no. 3: 304–40. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414017710255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnett, Maria. 2012. “Curtailing Criticism: Intimidation and Obstruction of Civil Society in Uganda.” New York, N.Y.: Human Rights Watch. August 21. At https://web.archive.org/web/20210211040818/https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/08/21/curtailing-criticism/intimidation-and-obstruction-civil-society-uganda.Google Scholar
Cammett, Melani Claire, and MacLean, Lauren M.. 2011. “Introduction: The Political Consequences of Nonstate Social Welfare in the Global South.” Studies in Comparative International Development 46, no. 1: 1–21. At https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-010-9083-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Andrea Louise. 2003. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christopher, Jason B., Le May, Alex, Lewin, Simon, and Ross, David A.. 2011. “Thirty Years after Alma-Ata: A Systematic Review of The Impact of Community Health Workers Delivering Curative Interventions against Malaria, Pneumonia and Diarrhoea on Child Mortality and Morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa.” Human Resources for Health 9, no. 1: 27. At https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-9-27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clough, Emily. 2015. “Effective Altruism's Political Blind Spot.” Boston Review. July 14. At https://bostonreview.net/articles/emily-clough-effective-altruism-ngos, accessed May 27, 2022.Google Scholar
Clough, Emily R. 2017. “Exit, Voice, and Resources: How NGOs Shape State Performance in India.” PhD diss., Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. At https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/41140918.Google Scholar
Cruz, Cesi, and Schneider, Christina J.. 2016. “Foreign Aid and Undeserved Credit Claiming.” American Journal of Political Science 61, no. 2: 396–408. At https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Emmerich. 2017. “The Lessons Private Schools Teach: Using a Field Experiment to Understand the Effects of Private Schools on Political Behavior.” Manuscript. At https://mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Davies-Emmerich-Downstream-Experiment.pdf.Google Scholar
Deaton, Angus, and Cartwright, Nancy. 2018. “Understanding and Misunderstanding Randomized Controlled Trials.” Social Science & Medicine 210: 2–21. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.12.005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de la Cuesta, Brandon, Milner, Helen V., Nielson, Daniel L., and Knack, Stephen F.. 2019. “Oil and Aid Revenue Produce Equal Demands for Accountability as Taxes in Ghana and Uganda.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 36: 17717–22. At https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903134116.Google ScholarPubMed
Devarajan, Shantayanan, and Reinikka, Ritva. 2004. “Making Services Work for Poor People.” Journal of African Economies 13, no. 1: i142–66. At https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejh019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, Simone. 2013. “Bypass or Engage? Explaining Donor Delivery Tactics in Foreign Aid Allocation.” International Studies Quarterly 57, no. 4: 698–712. At https://doi.org/10.1111/isqu.12041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, Simone. 2016. “Donor Political Economies and the Pursuit of Aid Effectiveness.” International Organization 70, no. 1: 65–102. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818315000302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, Simone, Mahmud, Minhaj, and Winters, Matthew S.. 2018 “Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy, and Domestic Government Legitimacy: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh.” The Journal of Politics 80, no. 1: 133–48. At https://doi.org/10.1086/694235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, Simone, and Winters, Matthew S.. 2015. “Foreign Aid and Government Legitimacy.” Journal of Experimental Political Science 2, no. 2: 164–71. At https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2014.31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, David, and Elgie, Robert. 2015. “Maximizing the Reliability of Cross-National Measures of Presidential Power. British Journal of Political Science. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123414000465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbons, Charles E., Serrato, Juan Carlos Suárez, and Urbancic, Michael B.. 2018. “Broken or Fixed Effects?” Journal of Econometric Methods 8, no. 1: 20170002. At https://doi.org/10.1515/jem-2017-0002.Google Scholar
Gisselquist, Rachel M., and Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel. 2015. “What Can Experiments Tell Us about How to Improve Government Performance?” Journal of Globalization and Development 6, no.1: 1–45. At https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2014-0011.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, Jessica. 2016. “Greater Expectations: A Field Experiment to Improve Accountability in Mali.” American Journal of Political Science 60, no. 1: 143–57. At https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guiteras, Raymond P., and Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq. 2015. “Does Development Aid Undermine Political Accountability? Leader and Constituent Responses to a Large-Scale Intervention.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper no. 21434. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research. At https://www.nber.org/papers/w21434.Google Scholar
Hansen, Ben B., and Bowers, Jake. 2008. “Covariate Balance in Simple, Stratified and Clustered Comparative Studies.” Statistical Science 23, no. 2: 219–36. At https://doi.org/10.1214/08-STS254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, Robin. 2015. “Attribution and Accountability: Voting for Roads in Ghana.” World Politics 67, no. 4 (October): 656–89. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887115000209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2011. “Clientelism.” Annual Review of Political Science 14: 289–310. At https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.031908.220508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulme, David, and Edwards, Michael, eds. 1996. NGOs, States and Donors: Too Close for Comfort? New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Jablonski, Ryan. 2014. “How Aid Targets Votes: The Impact of Electoral Incentives on Foreign Aid Distribution.” World Politics 66, no. 2 (April): 293–330. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887114000045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobsen, Rebecca, Snyder, Jeffrey W., and Saultz, Andrew. 2014. “Understanding Satisfaction with Schools: The Role of Expectations.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 25, no. 3: 831–48. At https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muu026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, Oliver, and Moseley, Alice. 2014. “Does Performance Information about Public Services Affect Citizens’ Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Voice Behaviour? Field Experiments with Absolute and Relative Performance Information.” Public Administration 92, no. 2: 493–511. At https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kling, Jeffrey R., Liebman, Jeffrey B., and Katz, Lawrence F.. 2007. “Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects.” Econometrica 75, no. 1: 83–119. At https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0262.2007.00733.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruks-Wisner, Gabrielle. 2018. Claiming the State: Active Citizenship and Social Welfare in Rural India. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press. At https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108185899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi, Margaret. 1989. Of Rule and Revenue, 1st ed. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Levi, Margaret, and Sacks, Audrey. 2009. “Legitimating Beliefs: Sources and Indicators.” Regulation & Governance 3, no. 4: 311–33. At https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2009.01066.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Winston, and Green, Donald P.. 2016. “Standard Operating Procedures: A Safety Net for Pre-Analysis Plans.” PS: Political Science & Politics 49, no. 3: 495–99. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096516000810.Google Scholar
Goods, Living. 2020. “Partnering with Government to Deliver Community Health.” At https://web.archive.org/web/20200614041810/https://livinggoods.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/uganda, accessed June 14, 2022.Google Scholar
Lyatuu, Justus, and URN. 2018. “Museveni to Masaka: Vote Wisely to Get Roads.” Observer. December 18. At https://web.archive.org/web/20181210142459/https://observer.ug/news/headlines/59439-museveni-to-masaka-vote-wisely-to-have-roads.Google Scholar
MacLean, Lauren M. 2011. “State Retrenchment and the Exercise of Citizenship in Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 44, no. 9: 1238–66. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414010374704.Google Scholar
Mani, Anandi, and Mukand, Sharun. 2007. “Democracy, Visibility and Public Good Provision.” Journal of Development Economics 83, no. 2: 506–29. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2005.06.008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Health. 2015a. “Annual Health Sector Performance Report for 2014/15.” The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Health. At http://library.health.go.ug/publications/annual-quarterly-performance-reports/annual-health-sector-performance-report-2, accessed May 1, 2022.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health. 2015b. “National Village Health Teams Assessment in Uganda.” The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Health. At https://www.pathfinder.org/publications/national-village-health-teams-vht-assessment-in-uganda, access May 27, 2022.Google Scholar
Moore, W. Gyude. 2018. “The Case against Branding Development Aid in Fragile States.” Center for Global Development June. At https://web.archive.org/web/20180729091016/https://www.cgdev.org/blog/case-against-branding-development-aid-fragile-states, accessed May 27, 2022.Google Scholar
Morse, Yonatan L. 2018. “Presidential Power and Democratization by Elections in Africa.” Democratization 25, no. 4: 709–27. At https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2017.1419188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Needles, Caroline, Wolcheck, David, Sato, Grace, Ingulfsen, Inga, McGill, Larry, Bradford, Lauren, and Ross, Natalie. 2018. “The State of Global Giving by US Foundations, 2011–2015.” Council on Foundations. At https://www.issuelab.org/resources/31306/31306.pdf, accessed May 27, 2022.Google Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2016. “Social Policies, Attribution of Responsibility, and Political Alignments: A Subnational Analysis of Argentina and Brazil.” Comparative Political Studies 49, no. 4: 457–98. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414015612392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ocungi, Julius. 2019. “You Owe Me, Museveni Tells Acholi.” Daily Monitor. June 1. At https://web.archive.org/web/20190609200415/https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/You-owe-me-Museveni-tells-Acholi/688334-5140064-6gh7wu/index.html.Google Scholar
Perry, Henry B., Zulliger, Rose, and Rogers, Michael M.. 2014. “Community Health Workers in Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries: An Overview of Their History, Recent Evolution, and Current Effectiveness.” Annual Review of Public Health 35, no. 1: 399–421. At https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petrovsky, Nicolai, Mok, Jue Young, and León-Cázares, Filadelfo. 2017. “Citizen Expectations and Satisfaction in a Young Democracy: A Test of the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model.” Public Administration Review 77, no. 3: 395–407. At https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 45, no. 4 (July): 595–628. At https://doi.org/10.2307/2950710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas, and Stollenwerk, Eric. 2018. “Legitimacy in Areas of Limited Statehood.” Annual Review of Political Science 21: 403–18. At https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041916-023610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Audrey. 2012. “Can Donors and Nonstate Actors Undermine Citizens’ Legitimating Beliefs?” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper no. 6158. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. At https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11997.Google Scholar
Seim, Brigitte, Jablonski, Ryan, and Ahlbäck, Johan. 2020 “How Information about Foreign Aid Affects Public Spending Decisions: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Malawi.” Journal of Development Economics 146: 102522. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semboja, Joseph, and Therkildsen, Ole, eds. 1995. Service Provision under Stress in East Africa: The State, NGOs and People's Organizations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann Publishing.Google Scholar
Sondheimer, Rachel Milstein. 2011. “Analyzing the Downstream Effects of Randomized Experiments.” In Druckman, James N., Greene, Donald P., Kuklinski, James H., and Lupia, Arthur, eds., Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press: 494–507. At https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511921452.034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springman, Jeremy. 2021. “Aid Flows and Incumbency Advantage: Evidence from NGO Projects in Uganda.” Manuscript. At https://tinyurl.com/3ycdawur.Google Scholar
Springman, Jeremy. 2022. “Replication Data for: The Political Economy of NGO Service Provision: Evidence from an Ancillary Field Experiment in Uganda.” Harvard Dataverse, V1. At https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KW5KG1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Susan C. 2007. “Political Clientelism.” In Boix, Carles and Stokes, Susan C., eds., The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. At https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.003.0025.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2010. Museveni's Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Lily L., Morse, Benjamin S., and Blair, Robert A.. 2020. “Building Credibility and Cooperation in Low-Trust Settings: Persuasion and Source Accountability in Liberia during the 2014–2015 Ebola Crisis.” Comparative Political Studies 53, no. 10–11: 1582–1618. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414019897698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Springman supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Springman supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 502 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Springman Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KW5KG1
Link