Status-quo or Grievance Coalitions
The Logic of Cross-ethnic Campaign Appeals in Africa’s Highly Diverse States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6245342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elena Gadjanova (0000-0002-0861-3050, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 652-685 |
| Publication date | 2021-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Comparative Political Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0010-4140 • E-ISSN: 1552-3829 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010414020957683 |
| OpenAlex | W3048747657 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 70 |
This paper explains how presidential candidates in Africa’s highly diverse states appeal across ethnic lines when ethnic identities are salient, but broader support is needed to win elections. I argue that election campaigns are much more bottom-up and salience-oriented than current theories allow and draw on the analysis of custom data of campaign appeals in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, as well as interviews with party strategists and campaign operatives in Ghana and Kenya to demonstrate clear patterns in presidential candidates’ cross-ethnic outreach. Where ethnic salience is high, incumbents offer material incentives and targeted transfers to placate supporters, challengers fan grievances to split incumbents’ coalitions, and also-rans stress unity and valence issues in the hope of joining the winner. The research contributes to our understanding of parties’ mobilization strategies in Africa and further clarifies where and how ethnic divisions are politicized in elections in plural societies
Appeal · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Grievance · Incentive · Political economy · Political science · Presidential system · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · Status quo · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology
Political mobilization of layered ethnic identities
Campaign rallies and political meaning-making
A show of numbers’
The social embeddedness of elections
The affinity between the rally and representative claim-making
Hybrid rallies and a rally-centric campaign
Endogenous opposition
Speaking their language
Nationalism and Ethnic Mobilization
Sectoral Interests and Regional Bloc Voting in African Countries
Testing political loyalties in Nigeria
Reality or Rhetoric? Between-Group Inequality and the Use of Grievance Frames on Social Media
Explaining the (local) ethnic census
Ethnic diversity and intergroup relations among Nigerian adolescents
Ethnic Campaign Appeals
WhatsApp and political communication in West Africa
Hidden contestation
Ethnicity and Elections
Ethnic politics via digital means
How Fluid Is Fluid? The Mutability of Ethnic Identities and Electoral Volatility in Africa
I Say to You
Valence Politics
Why Ethnic Parties Succeed
The Reasoning Voter
Ethnicity in Ghana
Beyond Ethnic Politics in Africa
Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies
The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India
Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country
From Protest to Parties
Understanding Ethnic Violence
The Logic of Violence in Civil War
Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa
Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa
Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem
Courting genocide
The legacy of the white highlands
Religion, ethnicity and civil war in Africa
Eschewing Obfuscation? Campaigns and the Perception of U.S. Senate Incumbents
Politicised Ethnicity, Competitive Politics and Conflict in Kenya
Ethnic groups in conflict
Ethnic Voting and Accountability in Africa
Clientelism and Voting Behavior
Capital and Opposition in Africa
Ethnicity and Conflict Resolution
The Effects of Negative Political Campaigns
You Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road? The Interplay of Attack Strategies and Tactics in Presidential Campaigns
Political Awareness and Electoral Campaigns
An initial look into party switching in Africa
Negative Campaigning by US Senate Candidates
Another Step Forward for Ghana
Uganda
The Construction of Grievance
Protracted transitions among Africa's new democracies
Ethnic politics and election campaigns in contemporary Africa
Ethnopopulism in Africa
Patronage as Institutional Choice
The Spousal Bump
Valence Issues in African Elections
Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule
Politically Allocated Land Rights and the Geography of Electoral Violence
The Ethnic Logic of Campaign Strategy in Diverse Societies
From Formlessness to Structure? The Institutionalization of Competitive Party Systems in Africa
How Do Campaigns Matter
Voter Decision Making in Election 2000
The Moderating Effect of Debates on Political Attitudes
The Media, the Campaign, and the Message
What Drives the Swing Voter in Africa
Information and Ethnic Politics in Africa
When Politicians Cede Control of Resources
Ethnic wedge issues in electoral campaigns in Africa's presidential regimes
Just another change of guard? Broad-based politics and civil war in Museveni's Uganda
Framing Theory
Ethnic Competition and Modernization in Contemporary Africa
Death of a king, death of a kingdom? Social pluralism and succession to high office in Dagbon, northern Ghana
Bawku is still volatile
Presidentialism and clientelism in Africa's emerging party systems
Defending the city, defending votes
Land grievances and the mobilization of electoral violence
Modeling Negative Campaigning
The Political Mobilization of Ethnic and Religious Identities in Africa
Ethnic Minorities and the Case for Collective Rights
The Making and Unmaking of Ethnic Boundaries
Can Moral Ethnicity Trump Political Tribalism? The Struggle for Land and Nation in Kenya
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |