The informality trap Democracy against governance in Asia

Contradicting expectations of both voters and established theories, democracy often fails to strengthen governance. On the basis of sixteen years of research on elections in India and Indonesia Ward Berenschot discusses this problematic relation between democracy and governance. These countries suffer from an ‘informality trap’: when personal relationships and informal networks shape the functioning of governments, voters and campaign donors turn to politicians, expecting politicians to provide them with personal favours in exchange for their vote or donation. Such exchange relations complicate an impersonal implementation of laws and policies. This pervasive informality constitutes a collective action problem because each actors in this triangle – politicians, bureaucrats and voters – face incentives to contribute to its perpetuation. To address this big collective action problem facing democracies across Asia we need more knowledge of informal dimensions of politics, and endeavour to find more effective ways of dealing with the downsides of elections.