Measuring and comparing party ideology in nonindustrialized societies

Taking party manifesto research to Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6252921
AutoresSebastian Elischer (0000-0002-0535-8226, German Institute for Global and Area Studies, autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen19
Número4
Páginas642-667
Fecha de publicación2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2011.605997
OpenAlexW1983703068
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas50

Despite a growing interest in African parties, no comparative analyses of African party manifestos have been undertaken to date. This study applies the Manifesto Research Group's (MRG/CMP) coding scheme to a complete set of manifestos in three countries. The study's main aim is to determine whether a research tool that has been seminal in the study of Western politics can be used to advance the study of political parties in nonindustrialized societies. In a first step, the article examines the extent to which African manifestos advance programmatic ideas. The results show great differences across parties and time. The study subsequently investigates how parties position themselves on a right–left spectrum; it further outlines which policy categories African parties stress most. Finally, it examines the stance of individual parties on specific policy issues. The study argues that the MRG coding scheme can contribute to a much more nuanced analysis of African parties

Ideology · Manifesto · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Social Media and Politics