Parish-Based Responses to the Philippine Drug War

Steven Brooke and David T. Buckley 

Abstract

How do local religious institutions protect communities from state-sanctioned violence? This general question has taken on particular importance in the Philippines, where populist President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a “Drug War” that has killed tens of thousands of citizens while triggering opposition from prominent religious elites. In this paper, the authors use an original, in-depth survey of Catholic priests and lay parish leaders in an urban area heavily impacted by Drug War violence to catalog how dozens of local parishes mobilize to protect their communities. They find two broad types of mechanisms in operation: directly impacting the localized production of violence and indirectly altering characteristics of the local community in ways likely to limit violence. Quantitative evidence documents the widespread existence of both direct and indirect mechanisms of community protection is consistent with the more limited presence of some of the highest risk Drug War responses and demonstrates an association between parish capacity and these protective mechanisms. Qualitative evidence traces the links between parish activities and particular cases of community protection, highlighting the coexistence of rationalistic and normative logics through which institutions reduce violence. Interviews also foreground some of the obstacles that even highly motivated and capacious institutions face in organizing local protection.

Assessing the Performance of Local Authorities in Zambia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mulenga Chonzi Mulenga and James Mulenga

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on human well-being, consequently affecting the operations and delivery of services by governments around the world. In many cases, the effective provision of essential services has been limited at both national and local levels of government. This study aims to assess the performance and challenges faced by the local authorities in Zambia in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing (MLGH) and the Covid-19 Advisory Center for Local Authorities, while quantitative data was collected from 32 local authorities across nine provinces in Zambia. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data was analyzed using theme assignment.

The study has established that Covid-19 has affected the provision of key services by local authorities in Zambia, with some services suspended and others increased. It has also established that local authorities in Zambia faced new challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as increased operational costs arising from adopting Covid-19 compliance systems. As a result, local authorities, in adherence to WHO and MoH guidelines, have had to employ various response strategies, including social distancing, masking, and hand sanitizing. The study recommends a look into sustainable solutions for councils and long-lasting measures to address the effects of the pandemic and the challenges being faced by the local authorities.

Explaining the Resilience of Single-Party Regimes: Centralized Politics, Promotability, and Corruption

Co-Partisanship with Mayors and Citizen Trust in Local Governance Institutions: Evidence from Tunisia

Salih Yasun

Abstract

Does co-partisanship with mayors influence citizen trust in local governance institutions in new democracies? I answer this question through conducting a case study in Tunisia. I evaluate Arab Barometer (2018) survey data on trust in local governance institutions, and interview data with mayors, council members and civil society organizations. The results indicate that Tunisians who support the same political party as their mayors tend to develop greater levels of trust in local governance institutions through the perceptions of institutional performance, such as their degrees of corruption, clientelism, inclusivity and efficiency. The findings contribute to the literature by identifying the role and mechanism of co-partisanship in shaping trust in local governance institutions among the emerging democracies.

Success Beyond Gender Quotas: Gender, Local Politics, and Clientelism in Morocco

Carolyn Barnett and Marwa Shalaby

Abstract

What explains the success of female candidates in local elections? Despite the proliferation of subnational gender quotas over the past two decades, we continue to know little about the determinants of women’s successes in local politics, especially in non-democratic settings. In this working paper, we focus on the case of Morocco and argue that the prevalence of clientelism and patronage networks at the local level hampers women’s abilities to win competitive seats. While these patterns dominate both local and national politics in Morocco and much of the MENA region, they are most pronounced at the local level with direct implications for female representation. We argue that women’s success in local politics is curtailed by their ‘newcomer’ status and weak party affiliation, combined with the majoritarian electoral system (SMD) in place in most municipalities that tends to favor more connected, male candidates who are predominantly viewed by voters as capable service providers. To test our argument, we rely on an original dataset combining the electoral outcomes of all 1538 of Morocco’s municipalities in the 2015 election, including municipal and councilor-level data. Quantitative data is supplemented with interviews conducted with local party officials and elected councilors.