Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Matthew R. Fairholm
Abstract
This dissertation presents an analysis of the impact of corruption as related to trust in political institutions in select West African nations. Corruption and some of its implicative hues are highlighted, considering such practice is generally an entrenched part of Africa in its economic, political, social, and cultural fabric and lifeline. In respect to the specific region of interest, robust Afrobarometer observational surveys convey data covering 14 of the 16 countries that comprise West Africa, with the exclusion of Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania which lack survey data. The study covers a seven-year period that runs from 2014 to 2021, excluding 2016 which has no data. The underlying theoretical argument is that citizens are more likely to trust their governing officials and institutions to manage and deliver public services to them chiefly through bribe-paying activities, clientelism, patrimonialism and many other self-interested conducts. These actions are usually unethical, illegal, and not easily explainable instruments for inequitably accessing rather scarce and ordinarily difficult-to-attain services and subsidies. This logic, standing as the executable pillar of the “efficient grease” hypothesis, assumingly solidifies citizens’ trust in their institutions for service delivery. Thus, the study’s findings show the following about West African governance: Actual corruption practices have no impact on institutional trust. Perceived corruption has a positive impact and does not undermine institutional trust. The impact of both experienced and perceived corruption taken together is positive and does not undermine institutional trust. The level of public service quality afforded citizens is positive and does not undermine institutional trust. When combined, both actual corruption practices and perception of corruption in relations to public services provided have a positive conditional interaction outcome of efficient grease construct predicated on bribes and red tape, meaning the result does not undermine institutional trust in West Africa. Various descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression permutations explain and undergird the positional results of the study as framed in this abstract.
Subject Categories
Public Administration | Public Policy
Keywords
Corruption, Trust, Political institutions, West African nations, Afrobarometer, Bribe-paying activities, Clientelism, Patrimonialism, Public service quality, Institutional trust
Number of Pages
223
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Komolo, Yarh, "CO-OPTING ALLIANCE WITH EFFICIENT GREASE THEORY: AN OBSERVATIONAL DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF CORRUPTION AND TRUST NEXUS IN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN WEST AFRICA" (2024). Dissertations and Theses. 224.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/224