Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements
In 2019, an Independent Evaluation Group review on the growing use of social contracts terminology by the World Bank concluded that social contract diagnostics are useful analytical innovations with relevant operational implications, particularly i...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/205501633362482731/Social-Contracts-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Concepts-and-Measurements http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36339 |
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okr-10986-363392021-10-13T05:10:39Z Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements Cloutier, Mathieu SOCIAL CONTRACT STATE CAPACITY CIVIL SOCIETY SOCIAL CAPITAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL ECONOMY In 2019, an Independent Evaluation Group review on the growing use of social contracts terminology by the World Bank concluded that social contract diagnostics are useful analytical innovations with relevant operational implications, particularly in situations of transition and social unrest. But it also found that the World Bank had no formal, conceptual framework or shared understanding of social contracts, leading to uneven quality of use. This paper proposes a framework and quantitative measures to describe social contracts. First, the paper presents a literature review on social contract theory and its applications in development. Second, it proposes a conceptual framework based on three core aspects of social contracts: (i) the citizen-state bargain, (ii) social outcomes that form the contents of the social contract, and (iii) resilience of the social contract in terms of how citizens’ expectations are being met. Third, an empirical measurement strategy is described to quantify these aspects through six dimensions and 14 subdimensions using available indicators from multiple sources. An empirical analysis then successfully tests some of the framework’s predictions and finds indicative evidence for an operationally interesting result: that state capacity without civil capacity is often not sufficient to generate thicker and more inclusive social contracts, and that these better outcomes lead to less misalignment with expectations and to less social unrest. Fourth, the quantitative measures are used to present three comparative maps for the general characterization of social contracts at the cross-country level. 2021-10-12T16:01:44Z 2021-10-12T16:01:44Z 2021-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/205501633362482731/Social-Contracts-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Concepts-and-Measurements http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36339 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9788 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Africa Western and Central (AFW) Sub-Saharan Africa |
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Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
SOCIAL CONTRACT STATE CAPACITY CIVIL SOCIETY SOCIAL CAPITAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL ECONOMY |
| spellingShingle |
SOCIAL CONTRACT STATE CAPACITY CIVIL SOCIETY SOCIAL CAPITAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL ECONOMY Cloutier, Mathieu Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Africa Western and Central (AFW) Sub-Saharan Africa |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9788 |
| description |
In 2019, an Independent Evaluation
Group review on the growing use of social contracts
terminology by the World Bank concluded that social contract
diagnostics are useful analytical innovations with relevant
operational implications, particularly in situations of
transition and social unrest. But it also found that the
World Bank had no formal, conceptual framework or shared
understanding of social contracts, leading to uneven quality
of use. This paper proposes a framework and quantitative
measures to describe social contracts. First, the paper
presents a literature review on social contract theory and
its applications in development. Second, it proposes a
conceptual framework based on three core aspects of social
contracts: (i) the citizen-state bargain, (ii) social
outcomes that form the contents of the social contract, and
(iii) resilience of the social contract in terms of how
citizens’ expectations are being met. Third, an empirical
measurement strategy is described to quantify these aspects
through six dimensions and 14 subdimensions using available
indicators from multiple sources. An empirical analysis then
successfully tests some of the framework’s predictions and
finds indicative evidence for an operationally interesting
result: that state capacity without civil capacity is often
not sufficient to generate thicker and more inclusive social
contracts, and that these better outcomes lead to less
misalignment with expectations and to less social unrest.
Fourth, the quantitative measures are used to present three
comparative maps for the general characterization of social
contracts at the cross-country level. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Cloutier, Mathieu |
| author_facet |
Cloutier, Mathieu |
| author_sort |
Cloutier, Mathieu |
| title |
Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| title_short |
Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| title_full |
Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| title_fullStr |
Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Social Contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa : Concepts and Measurements |
| title_sort |
social contracts in sub-saharan africa : concepts and measurements |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/205501633362482731/Social-Contracts-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Concepts-and-Measurements http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36339 |
| _version_ |
1764485104362586112 |