African Legislators: Unrepresentative Power Elites?
African legislators both resemble and differ from the societies they claim to represent in important ways. Based on a unique survey of representative samples of parliamentarians in 17 countries, we find that legislatures are representative of national publics in terms of ethnicity and religion. At t...
| Published in: | Journal of Southern African Studies Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 619 - 642 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Aug2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=184340289&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 184340289 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03057070 JSF jtl: Journal of Southern African Studies issn: 03057070 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2024 vid: 50 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 184340289 10.1080/03057070.2024.2434393 ppf: 619 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 184340289 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 184340289 tig: atl: African Legislators: Unrepresentative Power Elites? aug: au: Mattes, Robert Krönke, Matthias Mozaffar, Shaheen affil: University of Strathclyde University of Reading Bridgewater State University su: Legislators Legislative bodies Public opinion Africans Constituents (Persons) sug: subj: Legislators Legislative bodies Public opinion Africans Legislative Bodies Constituents (Persons) keyword: constituents executives legislators legislatures public opinion constituents executives legislators legislatures public opinion ab: African legislators both resemble and differ from the societies they claim to represent in important ways. Based on a unique survey of representative samples of parliamentarians in 17 countries, we find that legislatures are representative of national publics in terms of ethnicity and religion. At the same time, compared to ordinary African citizens, African MPs possess far higher levels of education and are far more likely to be older, male and to come from professional or business backgrounds. Besides coming from higher social and economic status backgrounds, many MPs also previously held senior posts in the state and national government, or leadership positions in their political party. Does this mean that African legislators constitute a coherent, self-interested, social, economic and political 'power elite' detached from the interests of the voters? In the legislatures under investigation, we find little evidence of this effect. Markers of social, economic or political privilege and power overlap irregularly and in a non-cumulative way. For example, while MPs are significantly older than the average voter, we find that most African legislators are in their first term of office. Thus, far from comprising a slowly changing, cohesive and self-interested elite, characterised by overlapping and cumulative markers of social and political influence, Africa's legislators come from a plurality of social and political backgrounds, and are relative legislative neophytes. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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