Foreign-Imposed vs. Self-Administered Elections and People’s Economic Perceptions in Post-Conflict Contexts

Abstract

This paper examines a theoretical explanation answering the puzzle: Why do some post-conflict countries have higher economic perception1 than others? Taking a mix method approach, the study contends that having an election positively increases people’s economic activities because it gives them a positive foresight about country’s future condition. Moreover, the study argues that self-administered election increases people’s economic

activities than foreign-imposed election. This is because neither foreign-imposed nor self- administered elections are as transparent as they should be. However, due to weak political

institution, the corruption involved during self-administered election can easily be released to the public. That is the time when the people do not stay indifference; rather they have a stronger sense of ownership over the election claiming for fair count of their votes. This gives them more confidence in the new government because they believe their votes can bring an accountable government to the power, which is capable of providing security and business facilities. Once the people are assured that their wealth will be well protected, they are more likely to expand their financial investments. Eventually, these micro-level investments would

contribute in macro-level economic improvement. Quantitatively I test this assertion in cross- post-conflict countries that have had any election within 15 years after the end year of the

conflict. I use data from Mullenbach dataset regarding presence of peacekeeping mission to create dummy variables for foreign-imposed vs. self-administered election. The World Bank’s several economic indicators are used to gauge the dependent variable: economic activities. I also supplement my findings with qualitative fieldwork in Afghanistan to explain how influential the election and the idea of who administers the election in post-conflict context could be on people’s economic activities.