Accountability in Developing Democracies: The Impact of the Internet, Social Media, and Polarization

This article reviews the recent literature on accountability in developing democracies through the lens of two nested principal–agent problems: the relationship between voters and elected politicians and that between elected politicians and bureaucrats. We focus on two global trends that we view as reshaping these accountability relationships in important ways: the rise of the internet and social media on the one hand and increasing political polarization on the other. We evaluate the impacts of these developments on the sanctioning of the performance of elected officials, the selection of elected officials, and the agency problem between elected officials and bureaucrats. Rather than offering definitive conclusions, we highlight key trade trade-offs and emphasize that the overall effects are contingent on the status quo. Notably, much of the existing evidence originates from developed democracies, presenting important opportunities for future research to address gaps in understanding accountability in developing contexts.