Severed Connections

Political parties are often seen as guarantors of democratic accountability. Yet their internal decisions over who may run for office can have pernicious consequences for the quality of representation. Severed Connections reframes our understanding of democratic dysfunction by tracing how politics inside parties shapes whether elected officials are attentive to their constituents, well before voters cast a ballot. Drawing on Kenya as a central case, with comparisons across democratic Africa and beyond, the book argues that party leaders use control over candidate selection to balance two competing objectives: winning elections and consolidating power within the party. They resolve this tension strategically, nominating voter-oriented candidates in competitive districts and loyal insiders in party strongholds. These choices leave citizens in strongholds systematically underserved - not because institutions are weak or voters are uninformed, but because the party decided their legislators' priorities long before election day. Severed Connections places the internal life of political parties at the center of how democratic representation succeeds or fails.