On 7 July 2026, Ahmed El Assal successfully defended his PhD thesis investigating how political dynamics in Uganda shape citizens’ ability to hold state and non-state actors accountable for the delivery of quality public services.
El Assal showed that social accountability initiatives in the Global South cannot be understood only through information gaps, feedback loops or principal-agent relationships, arguing that accountability mechanisms are deeply shaped by power relations, clientelism, weak state capacity, donor influence and the growing role of non-state actors in public service delivery.
He also reflected on the political and institutional challenges of accountability in Uganda, particularly in a context shaped by foreign-aid dependency, decentralization reforms, patrimonial networks, securitized development and increasingly authoritarian governance.
Rewatch El Assal's introduction
