African Elections as Vehicles for Change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6287980 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nic Cheeseman (0000-0002-0922-7514, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 139-153 |
| Publication date | 2010-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of democracy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jod.2010.0019 |
| OpenAlex | W2116251674 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 65 |
| References cited | 13 |
Although government defeats are extremely rare in multiparty Africa, little analysis has taken place of the conditions under which ruling parties lose power. This article documents a remarkable pattern that has so far received little comment: throughout the continent opposition parties are almost four times more likely to win elections when the sitting president does not stand. Using a comparative data-set and examples from Kenya, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, the article explains the three main reasons that open-seat elections are more likely to lead to political change, and considers the relationship between term-limits, turnover, and democratic consolidation
Consolidation (business · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · General election · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sierra leone · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration
Big Man Rule in Africa
Democratic Backsliding in Africa?
Does the African middle class defend democracy? Evidence from Kenya
Political Leadership in Africa
How Autocrats Compete
Regime Threats and State Solutions
From peace campaigns to peaceocracy
Inequality, Sustainability and Middle Classes in a Polycentric World
Democracy and Electoral Politics in Zambia
Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990
Community Media
Multi-ethnic vision or ethnic nationalism? The contested legacies of Anderson Mazoka and Zambia’s 2006 election
Competitive authoritarianism in Africa revisited
Presidential Term Limits and the African Union
Emergent Programmatic Politics and Gradual Demise of Neopatrimonial Tendencies* in Ghana’s Electoral Democracy
Law-abiders, lame ducks, and over-stayers
Researching the Dynamics of Leaders’ Replacement
Blondel’s African Presidential Republics
Return of the Elephant from the Bush”
From the Booth to the Dock
African exceptions
Power-sharing and democratization in Africa
Party system institutionalization and the 2019 state elections in Nigeria
Liberia’s run-up to 2017
Do women face a different standard? The interplay of gender and corruption in the 2014 presidential elections in Malawi
Protection against autocratisation
Testing political loyalties in Nigeria
Democracy and its discontents
With a Little Help from the Opposition? Relaxing Term Limits in the Argentine Provinces, 1983–2017
Ghana
A New Look at the Evidence
Exchange
La fabrique de l’électorat. Pour une praxiographie de la participation politique au Cameroun
Foreign Aid Allocation Tactics and Democratic Change in Africa
Los Invencibles
Leadership Succession and the Resilience of Electoral Authoritarian Regimes
When does education increase political participation? Evidence from Senegal
Legislative electoral incumbent defeats
You Have to Know Where to Look in Order to Find It
Africa's Lame Ducks
Opposition Coalitions and Democratization by Election
Presidential power and democratization by elections in Africa
Contested, violated but persistent
Authoritarian origins of term limit trajectories in Africa
Ethnopopulism in Africa
Democratization and electoral turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond
When Do Political Parties Protest Election Results
Democratization During the Third Wave
Elections and Democratization in Authoritarian Regimes
Don't Call It a Comeback
Democracy and the politics of power alternation in Africa
Perils of pluralism
Decentralisation in Kenya
The localmwananchihas lost trust
Safeguarding Democracy
Non-Electoral Executive Turnover and Low-Capacity Democracy in Southern Africa
Autocratisation by Term Limits Manipulation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Process Tracing the Term Limit Struggle in Malawi
Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa
Nigeria and Democratic Progress by Elections in Africa
The battle for Central
The outcome of a historical process set in motion in 1991
Autocratisation, electoral politics and the limits of incumbency in African democracies
Understanding the 2011 Ugandan elections
Patrons, Parties, Political Linkage, and the Birth of Competitive-Authoritarianism in Africa
Clientelism and vote buying
Democracy and the Market
Crisis, violence and political succession in Africa
Narrowing the Legitimacy Gap
The Case for Presidential Term Limits
The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa
The "Alternation Effect" in Africa
Liberalizing Electoral Outcomes in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes
Incumbency, National Conditions, and the 2008 Presidential Election
The Ghanaian Elections of 1996
Change for a Better Ghana
The 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone
Vote Buying or Turnout Buying? Machine Politics and the Secret Ballot
| Unique citing works | 65 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 64 |