Through case-studies on Botswana, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and Zambia under the Third Republic, this book asks whether competitive electoral politics have improved or worsened the accountability of public sector management and spending. For this purpose, it examines the role and influence of the political leadership, parties, elections, parliaments, interest groups, the media and external donors.

Questions raised include: whether the 'democratic' conditions prevailing in these four countries were sufficient to ensure that government was open and transparent; were they conducive to peaceful transfer of power from one party to another and to the introduction of new policies: and how responsive were expenditure decisions to wider society interests?

To facilitate assessment, the book draws on the comparative experience of single-party regimes in Africa and Asia. Its general conclusion is that, on balance, the advantage in terms of accountability lies with the multi-party political system but it does not do so in every aspect or case.