As Zambia descends into a rigged democracy, the Financial Times offers a sobering comment on the state of democracy in Africa. “Stable democracy is the best guarantee of economic development. That is the lesson Africa still has to learn for itself.”
It’s particularly sad that Zambia seems to have taken a wrong turn, since under Frederick Chiluba it was one of the better performers economically and politically in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are many aspects of US democracy that do provide a model for the world. But campaign finance isn’t one of them. Paul Krugman concludes that campaign finance and lobbying are the key distorting elements in US politics.
As he explains, the Democrats haven’t shifted their politics very much over the last few decades. But the Republicans have shifted well to the right. At the same time, income inequality in the US has worsened considerably (although all boats were lifted by the prosperous tides of the ’90s).
Krugman’s observations are based partly on the fascinating Voteview work of Howard Rosenthal and Keith Poole. The software and the datasets for 106 sessions of the House and the Senate are all available for free download. Endless pleasure for policy wonks.