Multi-party Elections in Africa

Multi-party Elections in Africa PDF Author: Michael Cowen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
This volume contains electoral studies of multiparty politics in 14 African countries during the 1990s. Most are about national elections in Anglophone Africa. There are also less well-known examples from Sudan, Ethiopia and Guinea Bissau. The collection also features studies of the local elections in Namibia and of a significant by-election in Malawi. The multiparty period had been put, wherever possible, within the historical context of earlier elections in Africa. Questions addressed include: how did incumbent governing regimes learn to live with multiparty politics? Why have some elections been so closely fought and others have suffered from apathy? Why has there been relatively open political expression and activity when the elections have increased the political and economic manipulation by incumbent governments? Why have the elections of the 1990s been so marked by local and ethnic variations? To what extent did this wave of democracy result from pressure from donor countries?

Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa

Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa PDF Author: Rachel Beatty Riedl
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139916904
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Why have seemingly similar African countries developed very different forms of democratic party systems? Despite virtually ubiquitous conditions that are assumed to be challenging to democracy - low levels of economic development, high ethnic heterogeneity, and weak state capacity - nearly two dozen African countries have maintained democratic competition since the early 1990s. Yet the forms of party system competition vary greatly: from highly stable, nationally organized, well-institutionalized party systems to incredibly volatile, particularistic parties in systems with low institutionalization. To explain their divergent development, Rachel Beatty Riedl points to earlier authoritarian strategies to consolidate support and maintain power. The initial stages of democratic opening provide an opportunity for authoritarian incumbents to attempt to shape the rules of the new multiparty system in their own interests, but their power to do so depends on the extent of local support built up over time.

Democracy, Elections, and Constitutionalism in Africa

Democracy, Elections, and Constitutionalism in Africa PDF Author: Charles Manga Fombad
Publisher:
ISBN: 0192894773
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
This volume examines democracy and elections in Africa, taking stock of the state of constitutional democracy on the continent after the democratic gains of the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on how competitive politics or multiparty democracy can be realized and how, through competition, such politics could lead to better policy and practice outcomes.

Why Do Elections Matter in Africa?

Why Do Elections Matter in Africa? PDF Author: Nic Cheeseman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110841723X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
A radical new approach to understanding Africa's elections: explaining why politicians, bureaucrats and voters so frequently break electoral rules.

African Political Parties

African Political Parties PDF Author: Mohamed Abdel Rahim Mohamed Salih
Publisher: OSSREA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
A critique of modern African 'democracies'

Democracy in Africa

Democracy in Africa PDF Author: Nic Cheeseman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316239489
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the history of democracy in Africa and explains why the continent's democratic experiments have so often failed, as well as how they could succeed. Nic Cheeseman grapples with some of the most important questions facing Africa and democracy today, including whether international actors should try and promote democracy abroad, how to design political systems that manage ethnic diversity, and why democratic governments often make bad policy decisions. Beginning in the colonial period with the introduction of multi-party elections and ending in 2013 with the collapse of democracy in Mali and South Sudan, the book describes the rise of authoritarian states in the 1970s; the attempts of trade unions and some religious groups to check the abuse of power in the 1980s; the remarkable return of multiparty politics in the 1990s; and finally, the tragic tendency for elections to exacerbate corruption and violence.

Contested Power in Ethiopia

Contested Power in Ethiopia PDF Author: Kjetil Tronvoll
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004218432
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Drawing on nine case studies, this book offers a comparative ethnography of the contested powers that shape democratization in Ethiopia. Focusing on the competitive 2005 elections, the authors analyze how customary leaders, political parties and state officials confronted each other during election time.

Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990

Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990 PDF Author: Jaimie Bleck
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108680623
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Democratic transitions in the early 1990s introduced a sea change in Sub-Saharan African politics. Between 1990 and 2015, several hundred competitive legislative and presidential elections were held in all but a handful of the region's countries. This book is the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the key issues, actors, and trends in these elections over the last quarter century. The book asks: what motivates African citizens to vote? What issues do candidates campaign on? How has the turn to regular elections promoted greater democracy? Has regular electoral competition made a difference for the welfare of citizens? The authors argue that regular elections have both caused significant changes in African politics and been influenced in turn by a rapidly changing continent - even if few of the political systems that now convene elections can be considered democratic, and even if many old features of African politics persist.

Parties, Movements, and Democracy in the Developing World

Parties, Movements, and Democracy in the Developing World PDF Author: Nancy Bermeo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107156793
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
A comparative study of the role of political parties and movements in the founding and survival of developing world democracies.

The State of Peacebuilding in Africa

The State of Peacebuilding in Africa PDF Author: Terence McNamee
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030466361
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
This open access book on the state of peacebuilding in Africa brings together the work of distinguished scholars, practitioners, and decision makers to reflect on key experiences and lessons learned in peacebuilding in Africa over the past half century. The core themes addressed by the contributors include conflict prevention, mediation, and management; post-conflict reconstruction, justice and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration; the role of women, religion, humanitarianism, grassroots organizations, and early warning systems; and the impact of global, regional, and continental bodies. The book's thematic chapters are complemented by six country/region case studies: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan/South Sudan, Mozambique and the Sahel/Mali. Each chapter concludes with a set of key lessons learned that could be used to inform the building of a more sustainable peace in Africa. The State of Peacebuilding in Africa was born out of the activities of the Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP), a Carnegie-funded, continent-wide network of African organizations that works with the Wilson Center to bring African knowledge and perspectives to U.S., African, and international policy on peacebuilding in Africa. The research for this book was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.