Opposition in a hybrid regime

The functions of opposition parties in Burkina Faso and Uganda

Bibliographic Data

ID6024280
AuthorsÉloïse Bertrand (0000-0002-6014-5346, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume120
Issue481
Pages591-610
Publication date2021-10-26
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9909 • E-ISSN: 1468-2621
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/afraf/adab023
OpenAlexW3206517086
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Despite growing interest in party politics in Africa, the activities and roles of African opposition parties are still underexplored, especially in the context of one-party-dominant ‘hybrid’ regimes where they are allowed to operate but face a myriad of constraints. In these settings, opposition parties face a common dilemma: having to participate in the regime’s institutions and protest against them at the same time. Existing frameworks fail to provide a full and accurate picture of how opposition parties can erode the incumbent’s dominance and promote regime change. This article offers a novel functional framework, drawing from comparative research in Burkina Faso and Uganda. It identifies a set of three functions that opposition parties perform within a hybrid regime: denunciation, mobilization of dissent, and succession signalling. Understanding opposition parties’ functions in a hybrid regime through this alternative framework enables us to reconcile the seemingly contradictory behaviour of opposition parties that work both within and against the status quo and to better evaluate their role in this setting

Dilemma · Dissent · Epistemology · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Status quo · African Studies and Ethnography · African Studies and Geopolitics · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender

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