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Political Parties and Democracy in Africa

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development

Abstract

This chapter analyses the role, function and ideologies of political parties in selected African states to demonstrate their relevance to democracy in Africa. The intention is also to determine the political strategies, such as leverage and linkages, that political parties employ in order to operate in somewhat limiting political environments, ranging from democracies to electoral authoritarian governments and no-party systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Giovanni Carbone, “Political parties and party systems in Africa: Themes and research perspectives,” World Political Science Review, 3 (2007): 1.

  2. 2.

    Douglas Kimemia, Africa’s Social Cleavages and Democratization: Colonial, Postcolonial and Multiparty Era. (London: Lexington Books, 2016), 258.

  3. 3.

    Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Country Report: Ethiopia. First quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 3, 5, 19.

  4. 4.

    Sebastian Elischer, Political Parties in Africa. Ethnicity and Party Formation. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 1.

  5. 5.

    Ronald Makanga Kakumba, “Beyond ‘no-party’ system: Ugandans support multiparty politics, but trust in opposition weakens”, Afrobarometer Dispatch, 86 (2016), http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/publications/Dispatches/ab_r6_dispatchno86_uganda_opposition_parties.pdf, accessed 10 May 2016.

  6. 6.

    Michael Wahman, “Democratization and electoral turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond,” Democratization, 21, 2 (2014), 221.

  7. 7.

    United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Governance Report III (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 18.

  8. 8.

    Terrence Lyons, “From victorious rebels to strong authoritarian parties: prospects for post-war democratization”, Democratization, 4 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1168404.

  9. 9.

    Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink, Do party systems matter for democracy in Africa? in Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink (eds) Party systems and democracy in Africa (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 2–3.

  10. 10.

    Steffen Kailitz, “Classifying political regimes revisited: legitimation and durability”, Democratization, 20, 1 (2013), 39.

  11. 11.

    Doorenspleet and Nijzink, Do party systems matter for democracy in Africa? 5.

  12. 12.

    Richard Gunther and Larry Diamond, “Types and functions of parties”, in Larry Diamond and Richard Gunther (eds), Political parties and democracy. (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 7–8.

  13. 13.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 133, 137–138.

  14. 14.

    Goran Hyden, African politics in comparative perspective. Second edition. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 46.

  15. 15.

    Ibid, 43–44.

  16. 16.

    Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink, One-party dominance in African democracies: a framework for analysis, in Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink (eds), One-party dominance in African democracies. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2013), 3.

  17. 17.

    M.A. Mohamed Salih and Per Nordlund, Political parties in Africa: Challenges for sustained multiparty democracy (Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), 2007), 44–45.

  18. 18.

    Ibid, 46–48.

  19. 19.

    Ibid, 51–52.

  20. 20.

    Ibid, 48–51.

  21. 21.

    Steven Levitsky and Lucan A Way, Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 4, 5, 7.

  22. 22.

    Ibid, 9.

  23. 23.

    Ibid, 9.

  24. 24.

    Steven Levitsky and Lucan A Way, “Elections without democracy. The rise of competitive authoritarianism”. Journal of Democracy 13(2) (2002), 51–65.

  25. 25.

    Doorenspleet and Nijzink, One-party dominance in African democracies, 10, 12–19; UNECA, African Governance Report III, 153–154.

  26. 26.

    Rachel Beatty Riedl. Authoritarian origins of democratic party systems in Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), xiii.

  27. 27.

    Gabrielle Lynch and Gordon Crawford, “Democratization in Africa 1990–2010: An assessment”, Democratization, 18, 2 (2011), 286; Wahman, Democratization and electoral turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, 225.

  28. 28.

    Wahman, Democratization and electoral turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, 225.

  29. 29.

    Lyons, From victorious rebels to strong authoritarian parties: prospects for post-war democratization, 1.

  30. 30.

    Ibid, 3.

  31. 31.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 154.

  32. 32.

    Adrienne LeBas, From protest to parties. Party-building and democratization in Africa. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 25.

  33. 33.

    Ibid, 25.

  34. 34.

    Ibid, 25.

  35. 35.

    Ibid, 25.

  36. 36.

    Ibid, 20.

  37. 37.

    Dahl in Emil Uddhammar, Elliott Green and Johanna Söderström, Political opposition and democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, in Elliott Green, Johanna Söderström and Emil Uddhammar (eds), Political opposition and democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 2.

  38. 38.

    Salih and Nordlund, Political parties in Africa: Challenges for sustained multiparty democracy, 79.

  39. 39.

    Stef Vandeginste, “Burundi’s electoral crisis—back to power sharing politics as usual?” African Affairs, 114, 457 (2015), 627.

  40. 40.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 215–216.

  41. 41.

    EIU, Country report: Benin. Second quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 5.

  42. 42.

    EIU, Country Report: Burundi. Second Quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 5.

  43. 43.

    EIU, Country Report: Central African Republic. First Quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 4–6.

  44. 44.

    EIU, Country Report: Côte d’Ivoire. First quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 5.

  45. 45.

    EIU, Country Report: Gabon. First quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 20.

  46. 46.

    Ian Cooper. “Dominant party cohesion in comparative perspective: evidence from South Africa and Namibia”, Democratization, (2015), 4, https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2015.1099631.

  47. 47.

    Ibid, 3.

  48. 48.

    Marie-Soleil Frère and Pierre Engelbert, “Burkina Faso: The fall of Blaise Campaoré”, African Affairs, 114, 455 (2015), 300.

  49. 49.

    Michael Chege, Political parties in East Africa: Diversity in political party systems. (Stockholm: IDEA, 2007), 64.

  50. 50.

    Cooper, Dominant party cohesion in comparative perspective: evidence from South Africa and Namibia, 7, 11.

  51. 51.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 214.

  52. 52.

    Matthijs Bogaards, Matthias Basedau and Christof Hartmann, “Ethnic party bans in Africa: an introduction”, Democratization, 17, 4 (2010), 606–607.

  53. 53.

    Frère and Engelbert, Burkina Faso, 307.

  54. 54.

    Anika Moroff, “Party bans in Africa—an empirical overview”, Democratization, 17, 4 (2010), 622.

  55. 55.

    Ibid, 622.

  56. 56.

    Magnus Ohman, Africa, in Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns: A Handbook on Political Finance. (Stockholm: IDEA, 201)4, 40.

  57. 57.

    Ibid, 39–41.

  58. 58.

    Ibid, 42–51; UNECA, African Governance Report III, 157.

  59. 59.

    Ohman, Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns, 52.

  60. 60.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 187.

  61. 61.

    Ibid, 187.

  62. 62.

    Ibid, 187.

  63. 63.

    Ibid, 187.

  64. 64.

    Sebastian Elischer, “Measuring and comparing party ideology in nonindustrialized societies: taking party manifesto research to Africa”, Democratization, 19, 4 (2012), 642–667.

  65. 65.

    Doorenspleet and Nijzink 2014, Do party systems matter for democracy in Africa? 5.

  66. 66.

    Ibid, 5.

  67. 67.

    M A Mohamed Salih, Introduction: The changing governance role of African parliaments, in M A Mohamed Salih (ed), African parliaments: Between governance and governments. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 4.

  68. 68.

    EIU, Country Report: Kenya. May. (London: EIU, 2016), 2, 3, 17.

  69. 69.

    EIU, Country Report: Tanzania. April. (London: EIU, 2016), 2, 3, 18.

  70. 70.

    EIU, Country Report: Botswana. First quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 1–5.

  71. 71.

    EIU, Country Report: Ethiopia. First quarter 2016. (London: EIU, 2016), 3, 5, 19.

  72. 72.

    EIU, Country Report: Kenya, 2, 3, 17.

  73. 73.

    EIU, Country Report: Democratic Republic of the Congo. First quarter. (London: EIU, 2016), 4–5.

  74. 74.

    Frère and Engelbert, Burkina Faso, 296.

  75. 75.

    Nic Cheeseman, “The internal dynamics of power-sharing in Africa”, Democratization, 18, 2 (2011), 339.

  76. 76.

    Andreas Mehler, Power-sharing, in Nic Cheeseman, David Anderson and Andrea Scheibler (eds), Routledge Handbook of African Politics. (London: Routledge, 2013), 198.

  77. 77.

    UNECA, African Governance Report III, 133–134.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Politics, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Jo-Ansie van Wyk

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  1. Jo-Ansie van Wyk
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Toyin Falola

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van Wyk, JA. (2018). Political Parties and Democracy in Africa. In: Oloruntoba, S., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95232-8_29

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