Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Abstract
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Comparative Politics and Political Parties in Africa
- 2 A New Framework of Comparison for Political Parties
- 3 Kenya: The Ubiquity of Ethnic Parties
- 4 Namibia: The Dominance of Nonethnic Parties
- 5 Ghana: The Ubiquity of Nonethnic Parties
- 6 The Diversity of African Party Politics
- 7 Explaining the Formation of Nonethnic Parties
- Conclusion
- Annex A Operationalization of Secondary Party Types
- Annex B The Standard MRG Coding Frame
- Annex C Number of Effective Programmatic Categories
- Annex D Summary of Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) and Party Divergence Scores (PDS)
- Annex E Result for MRG Coding Scheme
- Annex F PNS Calculated on the Basis of Afrobarometer Data
- Annex G Scope of Party Systems Covered
- Annex H Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) of the Preliminary Cases
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Comparative Politics and Political Parties in Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Abstract
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Comparative Politics and Political Parties in Africa
- 2 A New Framework of Comparison for Political Parties
- 3 Kenya: The Ubiquity of Ethnic Parties
- 4 Namibia: The Dominance of Nonethnic Parties
- 5 Ghana: The Ubiquity of Nonethnic Parties
- 6 The Diversity of African Party Politics
- 7 Explaining the Formation of Nonethnic Parties
- Conclusion
- Annex A Operationalization of Secondary Party Types
- Annex B The Standard MRG Coding Frame
- Annex C Number of Effective Programmatic Categories
- Annex D Summary of Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) and Party Divergence Scores (PDS)
- Annex E Result for MRG Coding Scheme
- Annex F PNS Calculated on the Basis of Afrobarometer Data
- Annex G Scope of Party Systems Covered
- Annex H Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) of the Preliminary Cases
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This book is about the nature of African political parties. The first such study in book length since the 1960s, it demystifies several long-standing assumptions about politics in ethnically divided societies. Its main argument is that not all African parties are ethnic parties; instead, a wide variety of political party types shape the African political landscape. Although African parties by and large refrain from programmatic ideas, such ideas do feature in African politics. A detailed assessment of political parties in several countries indicates that, over time, the political salience of ethnicity is decreasing. Multi-party competition in Africa does not lead to a hardening of ethnic relations.
This book contributes to the recent and ongoing debate about African parties. It confirms those who claim that the salience of ethnicity in young democracies in general and in Africa in particular has been exaggerated (see, e.g., Chandra 2005, Lindberg and Morrison 2008, Basedau and Stroh 2012). In addition, this work broadens scholars’ conceptual understanding of parties in Africa and elsewhere. Its findings are based on the first empirical application of a new global party typology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Political Parties in AfricaEthnicity and Party Formation, pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013