Broker Monitoring in Post-Conflict Liberia: Incumbents' Advantage Despite Weak Institutions?

This study challenges assumptions about party monitoring capabilities in developing democracies.

Using postwar Liberia, we combine administrative data with exogenous variation to show:

• Brokers mobilize voters en masse to signal effort
• Increased monitoring ability improves electoral performance for incumbents
• This effect is especially strong where voter travel distances are longer

Our findings demonstrate that even weakly institutionalized parties can effectively monitor brokers through their decentralized pyramidal structures, particularly in contexts with high turnout buying opportunities.

💡 Key takeaway: Effective broker management may be more widespread across developing democracies than previously understood.