Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies

Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies PDF Author: Danielle Resnick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107657237
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
When and why do the urban poor vote for opposition parties in Africa's electoral democracies? The strategies used by political parties to incorporate the urban poor into the political arena provide a key answer to this question. This book explores and defines the role of populism in Africa's urban centers and its political outcomes. In particular, it examines how a populist strategy offers greater differentiation from the multitude of African parties that are defined solely by their leader's personality, and greater policy congruence with those issues most relevant to the lives of the urban poor. These arguments are elaborated through a comparative analysis of Senegal and Zambia based on surveys with informal sector workers and interviews with slum dwellers and politicians. The book contributes significantly to scholarship on opposition parties and elections in Africa, party linkages, populism, and democratic consolidation.

Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies

Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies PDF Author: Danielle Resnick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107036801
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
By combining the perspectives of political elites with those of voters, this book provides a unique analysis of the dynamics of the party-voter relationship in Africa.

Opposition Parties and Populist Strategies

Opposition Parties and Populist Strategies PDF Author: Danielle Elise Resnick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When and why do the urban poor in African democracies support opposition parties? Given that Africa has the world's highest urbanization rates and is experiencing an expansion in urban poverty, the region's urban poor increasingly represent a key constituency for electoral mobilization. Yet, opposition parties within the region have exhibited differential success at garnering votes from the urban poor. Based on the cases of Senegal and Zambia, this study argues that opposition parties that employ a populist strategy are more likely to win support from the urban poor than parties that employ alternative modes of mobilization. A populist strategy is characterized by the combination of an anti-elitist discourse and a policy message firmly focused on social inclusion, a charismatic leader who professes an affinity with the under-class, and the targeting of election campaigns in low-income urban areas. The advantage of a populist strategy is that it provides greater differentiation than the myriad of purely personalistic parties within the region and greater congruence with the policy priorities of the urban poor, including service delivery, jobs, and housing. The argument is based on a novel set of primary data collected from 400 informal sector workers in Dakar and Lusaka, in-depth interviews with slum dwellers, and semi-structured interviews conducted with political elites. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this data illustrates the different modes of mobilization used by various parties in these two countries and shows why a populist strategy in particular generates the most support from the urban poor. Furthermore, the data allows for the testing of alternative hypotheses for the urban poor's voting behavior: 1) vote-buying, 2) ethnic alignments, 3) retrospective economic voting, and 4) associational membership. The second part of the study examines when an opposition party will adopt a populist strategy with the urban poor. A populist strategy is alienating to other voters, such as rural residents whose support is still necessary to win national elections in most African countries. As such, a populist strategy is only feasible if an opposition party can mobilize a segment of rural constituents through appeals to a politically salient ascriptive identity. In such cases, an opposition party can form a minimum winning coalition that consists of the urban poor, to whom populist policies are directed, and a segment of rural voters, who provide sufficient votes to win electoral majorities. Overall, the study emphasizes how demographic and socioeconomic trends intersect with party strategizing and voting behavior. Furthermore, the study holds important implications for democratic contestation and consolidation in Africa, scholarship on party-citizen linkages, and cross-regional comparisons of the evolution and manifestations of populism.

Populist Strategies in African Democracies

Populist Strategies in African Democracies PDF Author: Danielle Resnick
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789292303525
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Drawing on insights from Latin America, this paper examines the factors that contributed to the use of populist strategies by political parties during recent presidential elections in Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia. Specifically, the paper argues that the nature of party competition in Africa, combined with rapid urbanization and informalization of the labour force, provided a niche for populist leaders to espouse a message relevant to the region's growing urban poor. Simultaneously, such leaders employed ethno-linguistic appeals to mobilize a segment of rural voters who could form a minimum winning coalition in concert with the urban poor and thereby deliver sizeable electoral victories. While such strategies are similar to those used by Latin American populists, the paper highlights key contrasts as well. By combining cross-regional and sub-national perspectives, this paper therefore aims to contribute to a better understanding of how demographic and socioeconomic changes in Africa intersect with voting behaviour and political party development. -- Africa ; democratization ; political parties ; populism ; urbanization ; voting behaviour

The Oxford Handbook of Populism

The Oxford Handbook of Populism PDF Author: Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198803567
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 737

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Populism presents the state of the art of research on populism from the perspective of Political Science. The book features work from the leading experts in the field, and synthesizes the main strands of research in four compact sections: concepts, issues, regions, and normative debates. Due to its breath, The Oxford Handbook of Populism is an invaluable resource for those interested in the study of populism, but also forexperts in each of the topics discussed, who will benefit from accounts of current discussions and research gaps, as well as a map of new directions in the study of populism.

Democratic Reform in Africa

Democratic Reform in Africa PDF Author: Muna Ndulo
Publisher: James Currey Publishers
ISBN: 0852559453
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description
This work examines the interrelationship between governance and poverty alleviation in Africa and the impact of democratic reform on this relationship. There has been a new approach to the question of governance in Africa on the part of the international community. Economic aid and other forms of financial assistance are conditional on good governance. African states themselves in the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) have recognized good governance as a precondition to development. They have devised standards for economic and political governance. Democratic reform in Africa has been slow, difficult and at times painful. Nevertheless, sufficient time has passed to begin to assess what progress, if any, Africa has made in addressing the need for the consolidation of democratic reform and the resolution of considerable developmental challenges. MUNA NDULO is Professor of Law at Cornell University North America: Ohio U Press

The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies

The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies PDF Author: Diana Kapiszewski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110890159X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Latin American states took dramatic steps toward greater inclusion during the late twentieth and early twenty-first Centuries. Bringing together an accomplished group of scholars, this volume examines this shift by introducing three dimensions of inclusion: official recognition of historically excluded groups, access to policymaking, and resource redistribution. Tracing the movement along these dimensions since the 1990s, the editors argue that the endurance of democratic politics, combined with longstanding social inequalities, create the impetus for inclusionary reforms. Diverse chapters explore how factors such as the role of partisanship and electoral clientelism, constitutional design, state capacity, social protest, populism, commodity rents, international diffusion, and historical legacies encouraged or inhibited inclusionary reform during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Featuring original empirical evidence and a strong theoretical framework, the book considers cross-national variation, delves into the surprising paradoxes of inclusion, and identifies the obstacles hindering further fundamental change.

Africa’s Radicalisms and Conservatisms

Africa’s Radicalisms and Conservatisms PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004445072
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
This book features essays that untangle, express and discuss issues in and around the intersections of politics, social justice, intolerance, terrorism, minorities, poverty, and education, and as they relate to the two concepts of radicalisms and conservatisms in Africa.

Electoral Politics and Africa's Urban Transition

Electoral Politics and Africa's Urban Transition PDF Author: Noah L. Nathan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108693652
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Two aspects of contemporary urban life in Africa are often described as sources of political change: the emergence of a large urban middle class and high levels of ethnic diversity and inter-ethnic social contact. Many expected that these factors would help spark a transition away from ethnic competition and clientelism toward more programmatic elections. Focusing on urban Ghana, this book shows that the growing middle class and high levels of ethnic diversity are not having the anticipated political effects. Instead, urban Ghana is stuck in a trap: clientelism and ethnic voting persist in many urban neighborhoods despite changes to the socio-economic characteristics and policy preferences of voters. Through a unique examination of intra-urban variation in patterns of electoral competition, Nathan explains why this trap exists, demonstrates its effects on political behavior, and explores how new democracies like Ghana can move past it.

Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990

Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990 PDF Author: Jaimie Bleck
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107162084
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
First comprehensive analysis of electoral politics in Sub-Saharan Africa since the democratic transitions of the early 1990s.

The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements

The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements PDF Author: Donatella Della Porta
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199678405
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
The Handbook presents a most updated and comprehensive exploration of social movement research. It not only maps, but also expands the field of social movement studies, taking stock of recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science. While structured around traditional social movement concepts, each section combines the mapping of the state of the art with attempts to broaden our knowledge of social movements beyond classic theoretical agendas, and to identify the contribution that social movement studies can give to other fields of knowledge.