The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators

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dc.contributor.advisorMattes, Roberten_ZA
dc.contributor.authorShearman, Leah Claireen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-30T03:43:40Z
dc.date.available2014-07-30T03:43:40Z
dc.date.issued2010en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe early 1990's marked the beginning of a new era for Southern Africa when a number of single party states began the transition to multiparty democratic systems. Within this process, democratic institutions were established and then have since played varied roles in normalizing of democratic norms in their respective countries. The elites who make these institutions play a vital role in maintaining democracy within these countries. This study examines their perceptions and actions in order to get a better understanding of the quality of representation and as a result the quality of democracy. More specifically the study examines how possible micro and macro level factors, such as electoral competitiveness, role orientations and electoral systems affect the level of constituency service performed by legislators in five Southern African countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia). The majority of data used in this study comes from Module 3 of the African Legislatures Project. Electoral data was also collected from national electoral commissions and country experts. The results indicate that as a whole the electoral system has an effect on the level of constituency service conducted by legislators. Role orientation does not appear to be a factor in legislator's decision about the amount of constituency service they will perform. Electoral competition is a factor for number of countries in the study. However, the evidence shows that in some cases higher levels of electoral competitiveness actually induce legislators to perform less constituency service.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationShearman, L. C. (2010). <i>The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3696en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationShearman, Leah Claire. <i>"The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3696en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationShearman, L. 2010. The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Shearman, Leah Claire AB - The early 1990's marked the beginning of a new era for Southern Africa when a number of single party states began the transition to multiparty democratic systems. Within this process, democratic institutions were established and then have since played varied roles in normalizing of democratic norms in their respective countries. The elites who make these institutions play a vital role in maintaining democracy within these countries. This study examines their perceptions and actions in order to get a better understanding of the quality of representation and as a result the quality of democracy. More specifically the study examines how possible micro and macro level factors, such as electoral competitiveness, role orientations and electoral systems affect the level of constituency service performed by legislators in five Southern African countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia). The majority of data used in this study comes from Module 3 of the African Legislatures Project. Electoral data was also collected from national electoral commissions and country experts. The results indicate that as a whole the electoral system has an effect on the level of constituency service conducted by legislators. Role orientation does not appear to be a factor in legislator's decision about the amount of constituency service they will perform. Electoral competition is a factor for number of countries in the study. However, the evidence shows that in some cases higher levels of electoral competitiveness actually induce legislators to perform less constituency service. DA - 2010 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2010 T1 - The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators TI - The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3696 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/3696
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationShearman LC. The Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislators. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2010 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3696en_ZA
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Political Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherDemocratic Governanceen_ZA
dc.titleThe Legislator -Constituent relationship in Southern Africa: The extent to which electoral competitiveness, electoral systems and role orientation affect levels of constituency service conducted by legislatorsen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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