Accommodating, Opposing, or Dismissing? Ethno-Regional Mobilization, (De)Centralization, and State-Wide Party Strategies in Nigeria and Kenya

Bibliographic Data

ID12539620
AuthorsAnders Sjögren (0000-0002-1520-4191, Uppsala University, corresponding author), Henrik Angerbrandt (0000-0002-7751-6289, Uppsala University)
Year2019
Volume25
Issue4
Pages343-362
Publication date2019-10-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNationalism and Ethnic Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1353-7113 • E-ISSN: 1557-2986
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13537113.2019.1678305
OpenAlexW2991250917
LanguageEN
Citations received1

Political parties in much of sub-Saharan Africa are often state-wide, but the societies are characterized by salient ethno-regional cleavages. State-wide parties, therefore, frequently encounter strategic challenges around ethno-regional mobilization and demands for special rights or self-rule. What shapes these parties’ strategic choices? We analyze whether party strategies are characterized by accommodation, opposition, or dismissal, and argue that their strategies are shaped by the degree to which contestation around territorial politics are centralized. We examine this argument by comparing how regionally dominant state-wide parties have responded to ethno-regional mobilization in the Niger Delta in federal Nigeria and the Coast region in more centralized Kenya over the last decade, and find that centralized contestation over ethno-regional issues forces parties to engage with ethno-regional demands while decentralized contestation allows parties to dismiss them

Accommodation · Argument (complex analysis · Dismissal · Mobilization · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political mobilization · Political science · Politics · Salient · Sociology · State (computer science · International Development and Aid · Law · Natural Resources and Economic Development · Political Conflict and Governance

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