Ken Ochieng’ Opalo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1582766 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ken Ochieng’ Opalo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ken Ochieng’ |
| FAMILY NAME | Opalo |
| SIGNATURE | OPALO K O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgetown University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8317-0317 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Truth About Africa's Coups
The recent coups in Africa do not portend a return to praetorian politics in the region. They are the outcomes of country-specific historical processes associated with the underdevelopment of state capacity, the decay of political institutions, and the failures of electoral politics to improve citizens' material conditions. At the same time, the coups are an important warning regarding the state of democracy in Africa. Surveys show that majoritie…
Field Experiments in the Global South
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Hustlers versus Dynasties? The Elusive Quest for Issue-Based Politics in Kenya
The tenor of the campaigns ahead of Kenya’s 2022 elections was different from previous cycles. For the first time since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992, serious discussions of economic policies permeated popular discourse. Setting the agenda was then Deputy President William Ruto’s “bottom up” populist economic message. Ruto assailed the “dynasties” that had dominated Kenyan politics and the economy at the expense of “hustlers” …
Leveraging legislative power
How do legislative Committees in emerging democracies spend their time? Committees are organisational devices for expanding valuable legislative time. Existing works posit that Committee work reflects legislatures’ need to rationalise their processes and outputs, acquire specialised expertise and information, and improve members’ electoral prospects by maximising policy impact. However, not all legislatures have the capacity to significantly shap…
Field Experiments in the Global South
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have emerged as a leading methodological tool to strengthen causal inference in the social sciences. Yet RCTs carry significant risks for ev- eryone involved, from participants to researchers themselves, especially in the Global South. In this article, we explore how researchers’ identities and power influence the conduct of research and their positionality within the research contexts—especially when conductin…
Partisanship and public opinion on cash transfers
How does public opinion on the causes of poverty and deservingness condition support for government support for the poor? This article answers this question with a focus on direct cash transfers in the case study of Kenya. I find minimal partisan differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty and deservingness but significant differences in opinions on how to finance cash transfers. Supporters of the incumbent president are more likely to su…
Formalizing clientelism in Kenya
Ideology and succession politics in Ethiopia
Recent scholarship on the institutionalization of politics in Africa has highlighted the consolidation of constitutional leadership turnover in electoral democracies. However, leadership turnover is not limited to democracies, and is increasingly also regularized in a subset of non-democratic regimes ruled by dominant parties. Why have some dominant ruling parties in Africa been able to facilitate leadership turnover while others have not? With e…
The rise and fall of the legislature
What explains the emergence of a relatively independent legislature in Kenya since the early 1990s? In this chapter, I situate the evolution and institutional development of the Kenyan legislature in historical context. In so doing, I show how legislative organizational development under both colonialism and the era of single-party rule provided the foundation for the emergence of a relatively strong legislature after 1992. The primary lesson tha…
Citizen political knowledge and accountability
Devolution complicates citizens’ ability to assign responsibility for the provision of public goods and services to different tiers of government. Misattribution of responsibility limits the effectiveness of electoral accountability in the nested principal–agent relationships comprising voters, politicians, and bureaucrats. This raises two important questions. First, how do citizens learn about the functions of different tiers of government under…
Constrained Presidential Power in Africa? Legislative Independence and Executive Rule Making in Kenya, 1963–2013
Do institutions constrain presidential power in Africa? Conventional wisdom holds that personalist rule grants African presidents unchecked powers. Consequently, there is very little research on African institutions such as legislatures and their impact on executive authority. In this article, the author uses original data on the exercise of presidential authority (issuance of subsidiary legislation) to examine how legislative independence condit…
Legislative Development in Africa
What explains contemporary variations in African legislative institutions – including their strengths and weaknesses? Compared with the more powerful executive branches, legislatures throughout the continent have historically been classified as weak and largely inconsequential to policy-making processes. But, as Ken Ochieng' Opalo suggests here, African legislatures actually serve important roles, and under certain conditions, powerful and indepe…
Another Disputed Election Batters Kenya's Institutions
[T]he conflicts surrounding the 2017 elections severely eroded the integrity of democracy in Kenya
Constrained Presidential Power in Africa? Legislative Independence and Executive Rule Making in Kenya, 1963–2013
Do institutions constrain presidential power in Africa? Conventional wisdom holds that personalist rule grants African presidents unchecked powers. Consequently, there is very little research on African institutions such as legislatures and their impact on executive authority. In this article, the author uses original data on the exercise of presidential authority (issuance of subsidiary legislation) to examine how legislative independence condit…
Formalizing clientelism in Kenya
Ideology and succession politics in Ethiopia
Recent scholarship on the institutionalization of politics in Africa has highlighted the consolidation of constitutional leadership turnover in electoral democracies. However, leadership turnover is not limited to democracies, and is increasingly also regularized in a subset of non-democratic regimes ruled by dominant parties. Why have some dominant ruling parties in Africa been able to facilitate leadership turnover while others have not? With e…
Citizen political knowledge and accountability
Devolution complicates citizens’ ability to assign responsibility for the provision of public goods and services to different tiers of government. Misattribution of responsibility limits the effectiveness of electoral accountability in the nested principal–agent relationships comprising voters, politicians, and bureaucrats. This raises two important questions. First, how do citizens learn about the functions of different tiers of government under…
The Truth About Africa's Coups
The recent coups in Africa do not portend a return to praetorian politics in the region. They are the outcomes of country-specific historical processes associated with the underdevelopment of state capacity, the decay of political institutions, and the failures of electoral politics to improve citizens' material conditions. At the same time, the coups are an important warning regarding the state of democracy in Africa. Surveys show that majoritie…
Leveraging legislative power
How do legislative Committees in emerging democracies spend their time? Committees are organisational devices for expanding valuable legislative time. Existing works posit that Committee work reflects legislatures’ need to rationalise their processes and outputs, acquire specialised expertise and information, and improve members’ electoral prospects by maximising policy impact. However, not all legislatures have the capacity to significantly shap…
Hustlers versus Dynasties? The Elusive Quest for Issue-Based Politics in Kenya
The tenor of the campaigns ahead of Kenya’s 2022 elections was different from previous cycles. For the first time since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992, serious discussions of economic policies permeated popular discourse. Setting the agenda was then Deputy President William Ruto’s “bottom up” populist economic message. Ruto assailed the “dynasties” that had dominated Kenyan politics and the economy at the expense of “hustlers” …
Field Experiments in the Global South
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have emerged as a leading methodological tool to strengthen causal inference in the social sciences. Yet RCTs carry significant risks for ev- eryone involved, from participants to researchers themselves, especially in the Global South. In this article, we explore how researchers’ identities and power influence the conduct of research and their positionality within the research contexts—especially when conductin…
Partisanship and public opinion on cash transfers
How does public opinion on the causes of poverty and deservingness condition support for government support for the poor? This article answers this question with a focus on direct cash transfers in the case study of Kenya. I find minimal partisan differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty and deservingness but significant differences in opinions on how to finance cash transfers. Supporters of the incumbent president are more likely to su…
Another Disputed Election Batters Kenya's Institutions
[T]he conflicts surrounding the 2017 elections severely eroded the integrity of democracy in Kenya
Legislative Development in Africa
What explains contemporary variations in African legislative institutions – including their strengths and weaknesses? Compared with the more powerful executive branches, legislatures throughout the continent have historically been classified as weak and largely inconsequential to policy-making processes. But, as Ken Ochieng' Opalo suggests here, African legislatures actually serve important roles, and under certain conditions, powerful and indepe…
The rise and fall of the legislature
What explains the emergence of a relatively independent legislature in Kenya since the early 1990s? In this chapter, I situate the evolution and institutional development of the Kenyan legislature in historical context. In so doing, I show how legislative organizational development under both colonialism and the era of single-party rule provided the foundation for the emergence of a relatively strong legislature after 1992. The primary lesson tha…
Citizen political knowledge and accountability
Devolution complicates citizens’ ability to assign responsibility for the provision of public goods and services to different tiers of government. Misattribution of responsibility limits the effectiveness of electoral accountability in the nested principal–agent relationships comprising voters, politicians, and bureaucrats. This raises two important questions. First, how do citizens learn about the functions of different tiers of government under…
Constrained Presidential Power in Africa? Legislative Independence and Executive Rule Making in Kenya, 1963–2013
Do institutions constrain presidential power in Africa? Conventional wisdom holds that personalist rule grants African presidents unchecked powers. Consequently, there is very little research on African institutions such as legislatures and their impact on executive authority. In this article, the author uses original data on the exercise of presidential authority (issuance of subsidiary legislation) to examine how legislative independence condit…
Partisanship and public opinion on cash transfers
How does public opinion on the causes of poverty and deservingness condition support for government support for the poor? This article answers this question with a focus on direct cash transfers in the case study of Kenya. I find minimal partisan differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty and deservingness but significant differences in opinions on how to finance cash transfers. Supporters of the incumbent president are more likely to su…
Formalizing clientelism in Kenya
Ideology and succession politics in Ethiopia
Recent scholarship on the institutionalization of politics in Africa has highlighted the consolidation of constitutional leadership turnover in electoral democracies. However, leadership turnover is not limited to democracies, and is increasingly also regularized in a subset of non-democratic regimes ruled by dominant parties. Why have some dominant ruling parties in Africa been able to facilitate leadership turnover while others have not? With e…
Field Experiments in the Global South
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Hustlers versus Dynasties? The Elusive Quest for Issue-Based Politics in Kenya
The tenor of the campaigns ahead of Kenya’s 2022 elections was different from previous cycles. For the first time since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992, serious discussions of economic policies permeated popular discourse. Setting the agenda was then Deputy President William Ruto’s “bottom up” populist economic message. Ruto assailed the “dynasties” that had dominated Kenyan politics and the economy at the expense of “hustlers” …
Leveraging legislative power
How do legislative Committees in emerging democracies spend their time? Committees are organisational devices for expanding valuable legislative time. Existing works posit that Committee work reflects legislatures’ need to rationalise their processes and outputs, acquire specialised expertise and information, and improve members’ electoral prospects by maximising policy impact. However, not all legislatures have the capacity to significantly shap…
Field Experiments in the Global South
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have emerged as a leading methodological tool to strengthen causal inference in the social sciences. Yet RCTs carry significant risks for ev- eryone involved, from participants to researchers themselves, especially in the Global South. In this article, we explore how researchers’ identities and power influence the conduct of research and their positionality within the research contexts—especially when conductin…
The Truth About Africa's Coups
The recent coups in Africa do not portend a return to praetorian politics in the region. They are the outcomes of country-specific historical processes associated with the underdevelopment of state capacity, the decay of political institutions, and the failures of electoral politics to improve citizens' material conditions. At the same time, the coups are an important warning regarding the state of democracy in Africa. Surveys show that majoritie…
Political science (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · Democracy (5 works)