Decentralization and Governance Performance in Ethnically Diverse States. The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

Decentralization theorists are of the view that decentralization improves governance by bequeathing citizens with numerous points of access to participate in governance, which, in turn, improves governance by enhancing allocative and productive efficiencies. But practice shows otherwise, namely: that decentralization does not always produce positive effect on governance. This fluctuation in the relationship between decentralization and governance raises an important question: “why does variation in governance performance exist in decentralized countries?” In other words, “Why does decentralization increase the performance of governance more significantly in some countries than in others?”. I address this question in this research. By combining some classical theories of behavior with the implications of Ekeh’s Theory of the Two Publics, I argue that ethnic diversity (a dimension of social networks and groupings), under the preconditions of democracy and postcolonialism, represents one of the social structures upon which the governance outcome of decentralization depends; and that this dependence occurs through the negative impact of ethnic diversity on the citizens’ behavior toward accountability. In addition, I also contend that another variable, which I call “state-exploiting mentality” (SEM), exits as a mechanism between ethnic diversity and citizens’ negative accountability behavior (NAB). These contentions of mine are subjected to an empirical test in sub-Saharan Africa, using a quantitative cross-country study, and data from Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Afrobarometer, and Ethnic Fractionalization Index. In line with my theoretical propositions, the findings support a mediational model between ethnic diversity, SEM, NAB, and governance performance, revealing that ethnic diversity predicts a positive effect on SEM, SEM a positive effect on NAB, and NAB a negative effect on governance performance. This result not only contributes to scientific answer as to why some countries do not benefit from decentralization, it also highlights two new areas to focus on when trying to address the problematics around governance and development in sub-Saharan Africa