Trust, Participation and Pandemic Politics in Africa

Military coups, Coronavirus, and other shocks have transformed trust relationships in Africa, with important consequences for democratic development. The pandemic impacted “horizontal” relationships by straining social networks that people rely on during times of uncertainty. It also inspired new “vertical” demands on governments, as citizens wanted to know when they could get vaccinated, whether the vaccines were safe, and how long intrusive social distancing policies would be necessary. Importantly, though, health experts and government officials with answers to these questions were often mistrusted. The most recent Afrobarometer survey shows that such skepticism spanned across institutions; confidence in opposition parties is particularly low. Mis/trust in Africa thus shaped pandemic policy response, as well as the rise of non-electoral participation rooted in protest and the allure of illiberal politics. The papers here are the result of workshops sponsored by the American Political Science Association in 2022 and 2023.

COVID-19 had far-reaching effects in Africa beyond health. By exploring anti-corruption efforts, health policy formulation and communication, and popular mobilization, the papers here explore tensions between mistrust as a useful tool for inspiring democratic accountability -- and mistrust as a hazard for political representation that requires trust in the form of delegated authority. Trust is often studied through surveys, but the papers here employ a range of methods including interviews, extended field research, and analysis of primary source material. The variety of methods contribute to a rich conceptual discussion across a useful range of cases in Africa, unpacking the long-term meaning of the pandemic for democratic development.

Kolapo Quadri Abayomi examines linkages between public trust and the management of the pandemic. Annette Kezaabu, Ifetayo Maloney and Carl LeVan have an essay on “Public Health Messages in Political Speeches” which considers citizen responses to a dramatic shift pandemic communication strategy in Uganda. Two papers focus on civil society dynamics and non-electoral participation during the pandemic: Jean-Baptiste Guiatin asks why civil society failed to mobilize around the pandemic in Burkina Faso, despite a recent history of serving as a counterforce against the state; Khadijah Sanusi Gumbi traces the origins of the “End SARS” protests to a backlash against public health measures during the pandemic. Finally, Ruth Murumba’s and Angela Pashayan’s paper differs from those above by studying the impact of the pandemic on trust at a micro-level, zeroing in on daily life in a Nairobi slum.