Authoritarian origins of democratic party systems in Africa

A growing number of scholars have devised classificatory schemes to describe post-Third Wave party systems in Africa. While noting existing cross-country diversity, this literature has tended to characterize the weakness of opposition parties, campaign focuses on valence issues, and the importance (but not absolute dominance) of ethnic considerations. Rachel Riedl's new book is a welcome and consequential contribution to this literature, primarily because it steps beyond classification and attempts to explain the significant variation others have observed in Africa's party systems, particularly with regard to the extent to which parties are institutionalized. Even among Africa's relatively democratic countries, party systems vary significantly in this area. Some systems, such as Ghana's, are marked by two or more strong, coherent parties, which compete against one another across multiple electoral cycles, with minimal defections or intra-party splits, while maintaining solid bases of support amongst key constituencies. Others, such as Benin's, are typified by volatility, with parties or coalitions arising for a specific contest, often coalescing around a central personality, before collapsing in the lead-in to the next cycle.

Authoritarianism · CONTEST · Democracy · Development economics · Dominance (genetics) · Economics · Ethnic group · Opposition (politics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Political Conflict and Governance

• Political party strength and electoral violence

  Open Access•Hanne Fjelde•Journal of Peace Research•2020

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