Alexander Stroh
Biographic Data
| ID | 3796907 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Stroh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander |
| FAMILY NAME | Stroh |
| SIGNATURE | STROH A |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0850-9883 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 130 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Informality and Courts
Uses a comparative perspective to demonstrate how informal institutions and relations shape the composition and performance of courts globally Provides a novel account of the importance of informal relations and informal institutions to account for the study of courts at a global scale Embeds the study of court performance in wider debates about clientelism, corruption, patronage, and democratic decline Offers new perspectives on key debates with…
The “Numbers Game”
Comparisons across World Regions
Scholars often pay insufficient attention to bridging the research divide between different world regions. The authors argue that structured qualitative comparisons across world regions offer a sound middle ground for the integration of universal approaches and context knowledge. The chapter puts forward suggestions about how to deal with challenges in cross-area comparisons at the conceptual, methodological, and practical level. First, scholars …
Sustaining and jeopardising a credible arbiter
Democracy greatly benefits from credible courts. If context conditions make democratic consolidation unlikely, as in many African countries, credible arbitration between political actors can be essential for democracy. This article argues that informal judicial networks can critically affect a court’s credibility. Network analysis of Benin’s Constitutional Court using original data on major politicians and all 25 judges who have served between 19…
Courts and informal networks
This special issue proposes a relational approach to the study of judicial politics outside of Western democracies. The articles illuminate how common political interests, ideas, social identity, family and professional ties and even patron–client obligations between judges and other actors shape a variety of phenomena of interest to the study of judicial institutions, in terms of how the judiciary is organised and administered, how judges are ap…
Informal interference in the judiciary in new democracies
This article focuses on the efforts of power holders – at the executive or the legislative level – to influence or curb court activity informally or extra-legally, an acknowledged but under-researched topic in studies of judicial politics. We first define informal judicial interference and operationalize the concept; we then explain how we collected information on the topic through systematic cross-country interviewing. Our concept focuses on jud…
Institutional Diffusion, Strategic Insurance, and the Creation of West African Constitutional Courts
How ethnic are African parties really? Evidence from four Francophone countries
Though African party systems are said to be ethnic, there is little evidence for this claim. The few empirical studies rarely rely on individual data and are biased in favour of Anglophone Africa. This paper looks at four Francophone countries, drawing on representative survey polls. Results reveal that ethnicity matters, but that its impact is generally rather weak and differs with regard to party systems and individual parties. ‘Ethnic parties’…
Ethnicity and party preference in sub-Saharan Africa
Recent research has questioned the notion that ethnicity is the main determinant of party preference in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on data from representative survey polls in eight anglophone and francophone sub-Saharan countries, multinomial and binary logit regressions confirm that ethnicity counts but does not explain party preference as a whole. More importantly we find that the relevance of ethnicity varies substantially from country to cou…
The power of proximity
Recent publications suggest that exclusively ethno-regional parties are as rare in sub-Saharan Africa as elsewhere. At the same time, the idea that ethnicity is a very special feature of African party politics persists. This article acknowledges the general relevance of ethnicity in party competition but emphasises the level at which it becomes important. It develops a micro-behavioural approach that pays particular attention to the strategic cho…
Electoral rules of the authoritarian game
Much has been written about the special design of Rwanda's judiciary in order to handle the aftermath of the genocide in 1994. By contrast, other institutional elements of the 2003 constitution have rarely been addressed in research. The second (partial) parliamentary elections in September 2008 revealed some of the implications which the carefully designed electoral system has for Rwanda's political development. As a starting point, the paper em…
Crafting Political Institutions in Africa
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 449 - 470
Ethnicity and party preference in sub-Saharan Africa
Recent research has questioned the notion that ethnicity is the main determinant of party preference in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on data from representative survey polls in eight anglophone and francophone sub-Saharan countries, multinomial and binary logit regressions confirm that ethnicity counts but does not explain party preference as a whole. More importantly we find that the relevance of ethnicity varies substantially from country to cou…
How ethnic are African parties really? Evidence from four Francophone countries
Though African party systems are said to be ethnic, there is little evidence for this claim. The few empirical studies rarely rely on individual data and are biased in favour of Anglophone Africa. This paper looks at four Francophone countries, drawing on representative survey polls. Results reveal that ethnicity matters, but that its impact is generally rather weak and differs with regard to party systems and individual parties. ‘Ethnic parties’…
Informal interference in the judiciary in new democracies
This article focuses on the efforts of power holders – at the executive or the legislative level – to influence or curb court activity informally or extra-legally, an acknowledged but under-researched topic in studies of judicial politics. We first define informal judicial interference and operationalize the concept; we then explain how we collected information on the topic through systematic cross-country interviewing. Our concept focuses on jud…
Electoral rules of the authoritarian game
Much has been written about the special design of Rwanda's judiciary in order to handle the aftermath of the genocide in 1994. By contrast, other institutional elements of the 2003 constitution have rarely been addressed in research. The second (partial) parliamentary elections in September 2008 revealed some of the implications which the carefully designed electoral system has for Rwanda's political development. As a starting point, the paper em…
Institutional Diffusion, Strategic Insurance, and the Creation of West African Constitutional Courts
Courts and informal networks
This special issue proposes a relational approach to the study of judicial politics outside of Western democracies. The articles illuminate how common political interests, ideas, social identity, family and professional ties and even patron–client obligations between judges and other actors shape a variety of phenomena of interest to the study of judicial institutions, in terms of how the judiciary is organised and administered, how judges are ap…
The power of proximity
Recent publications suggest that exclusively ethno-regional parties are as rare in sub-Saharan Africa as elsewhere. At the same time, the idea that ethnicity is a very special feature of African party politics persists. This article acknowledges the general relevance of ethnicity in party competition but emphasises the level at which it becomes important. It develops a micro-behavioural approach that pays particular attention to the strategic cho…
The “Numbers Game”
Sustaining and jeopardising a credible arbiter
Democracy greatly benefits from credible courts. If context conditions make democratic consolidation unlikely, as in many African countries, credible arbitration between political actors can be essential for democracy. This article argues that informal judicial networks can critically affect a court’s credibility. Network analysis of Benin’s Constitutional Court using original data on major politicians and all 25 judges who have served between 19…
Crafting Political Institutions in Africa
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 449 - 470
Crafting Political Institutions in Africa
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 449 - 470
The power of proximity
Recent publications suggest that exclusively ethno-regional parties are as rare in sub-Saharan Africa as elsewhere. At the same time, the idea that ethnicity is a very special feature of African party politics persists. This article acknowledges the general relevance of ethnicity in party competition but emphasises the level at which it becomes important. It develops a micro-behavioural approach that pays particular attention to the strategic cho…
Electoral rules of the authoritarian game
Much has been written about the special design of Rwanda's judiciary in order to handle the aftermath of the genocide in 1994. By contrast, other institutional elements of the 2003 constitution have rarely been addressed in research. The second (partial) parliamentary elections in September 2008 revealed some of the implications which the carefully designed electoral system has for Rwanda's political development. As a starting point, the paper em…
Ethnicity and party preference in sub-Saharan Africa
Recent research has questioned the notion that ethnicity is the main determinant of party preference in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on data from representative survey polls in eight anglophone and francophone sub-Saharan countries, multinomial and binary logit regressions confirm that ethnicity counts but does not explain party preference as a whole. More importantly we find that the relevance of ethnicity varies substantially from country to cou…
How ethnic are African parties really? Evidence from four Francophone countries
Though African party systems are said to be ethnic, there is little evidence for this claim. The few empirical studies rarely rely on individual data and are biased in favour of Anglophone Africa. This paper looks at four Francophone countries, drawing on representative survey polls. Results reveal that ethnicity matters, but that its impact is generally rather weak and differs with regard to party systems and individual parties. ‘Ethnic parties’…
Institutional Diffusion, Strategic Insurance, and the Creation of West African Constitutional Courts
Informal interference in the judiciary in new democracies
This article focuses on the efforts of power holders – at the executive or the legislative level – to influence or curb court activity informally or extra-legally, an acknowledged but under-researched topic in studies of judicial politics. We first define informal judicial interference and operationalize the concept; we then explain how we collected information on the topic through systematic cross-country interviewing. Our concept focuses on jud…
Comparisons across World Regions
Scholars often pay insufficient attention to bridging the research divide between different world regions. The authors argue that structured qualitative comparisons across world regions offer a sound middle ground for the integration of universal approaches and context knowledge. The chapter puts forward suggestions about how to deal with challenges in cross-area comparisons at the conceptual, methodological, and practical level. First, scholars …
Sustaining and jeopardising a credible arbiter
Democracy greatly benefits from credible courts. If context conditions make democratic consolidation unlikely, as in many African countries, credible arbitration between political actors can be essential for democracy. This article argues that informal judicial networks can critically affect a court’s credibility. Network analysis of Benin’s Constitutional Court using original data on major politicians and all 25 judges who have served between 19…
Courts and informal networks
This special issue proposes a relational approach to the study of judicial politics outside of Western democracies. The articles illuminate how common political interests, ideas, social identity, family and professional ties and even patron–client obligations between judges and other actors shape a variety of phenomena of interest to the study of judicial institutions, in terms of how the judiciary is organised and administered, how judges are ap…
The “Numbers Game”
Informality and Courts
Uses a comparative perspective to demonstrate how informal institutions and relations shape the composition and performance of courts globally Provides a novel account of the importance of informal relations and informal institutions to account for the study of courts at a global scale Embeds the study of court performance in wider debates about clientelism, corruption, patronage, and democratic decline Offers new perspectives on key debates with…
Political science (12 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (5 works) · Democracy (4 works) · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies (3 works)