Effective Power To Govern

This sub-indicator assesses the extent to which democratically elected political representatives have the effective power to govern, or the extent to which there are veto powers and political enclaves. It assesses the extent to which individuals or groups have the power to undermine democratic procedures without questioning the system as such. Veto powers can come from the military, the clergy, landowners, business elites, and external actors, among others. They can 'veto' the results of democratic decisions or retain prerogatives that cannot be touched by democratically elected officeholders (e.g., nominating the commander-in-chief of the armed forces).

View full country table

Top 10 countries

Score
(2021)
Change
('12-'21)

Bottom 10 countries

Score
(2021)
Change
('12-'21)

Most improved countries

Score
(2021)
Change
('12-'21)

Most deteriorated countries

Score
(2021)
Change
('12-'21)
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  • Public Perception of Overall Governance

    About Citizens’ Voices


    As citizens are the recipients of public leadership and governance, the assessment of governance performance of the IIAG is accompanied by the Citizens’ Voices dataset in an effort to contextualise the official and expert assessment data in the IIAG with the reality on the ground as perceived by citizens.

    MIF has been working with and supporting Afrobarometer, the leading pan-African research institution conducting public opinion surveys on the continent, and the 2022 IIAG framework gives these more prominence. Formerly scattered at various levels in the IIAG, citizens’ assessments of various governance components are now highlighted in a Citizens’ Voices section, providing a comprehensive 'reality check' to complement the IIAG results.

    This section mirrors the IIAG categories and provides public perception data on the closest proxies to the IIAG measures. However, whilst these measures are available to compare across the IIAG, it is important to note that their scores do not form part of the calculation for Overall Governance.

    About Quick Selection


    Use these links to quickly select multiple measures at once.

    Please note that this will not select any measures from the Citizens’ Voices section. To add those, simply scroll down to Public Perception of Overall Governance and use the quick select options there.