Political Parties in Africa : Ethnicity and Party Formation

This Book Examines The Effects Of Ethnicity On Party Politics In Sub-saharan Africa. Sebastian Elischer Analyzes Political Parties In Ghana, Kenya And Namibia In Detail, And Provides A Preliminary Analysis Of Parties In Seven Other Countries Including Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso And Benin. Elischer Finds That Five Party Types Exist: The Mono-ethnic, The Ethnic Alliance, The Catch-all, The Programmatic, And The Personalistic Party. He Uses These Party Types To Show That The African Political Landscape Is Considerably More Diverse Than Conventionally Assumed. Whereas Ethnic Parties Dominate In Some Countries, Non-ethnic Parties Have Become The Norm In Others. This Study Also Finds A Correlation Between A Country's Ethnic Make-up And The Salience Of Political Ethnicity: Countries With A Core Ethnic Group Are Prone To Form Non-ethnic Parties. In Countries Lacking A Core Ethnic Group, Ethnic Parties Constitute The Norm--provided By Publisher. 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 : Political Parties In Africa. Sebastian Elischer. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 9 Tables 15 Abstract 19 Acknowledgments 21 1 Comparative Politics and Political Parties in Africa 23 Harbingers of Evil? Ethnic Parties and Democracy 24 International Party Assistance and Ethnic Parties 26 Fighting Ghosts? Political Science and African Parties 27 Filling in the Gaps 29 The Structure of the Book 30 2 A New Framework of Comparison for Political Parties 33 On the Study of Political Parties 34 Party Typologies in the Western World 34 Party Typologies Outside the Western World 40 Party Typologies in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia 42 Party Typologies in Africa 44 Toward a New Framework of Comparison 48 The Operationalization of the Amended Diamond and Gunther Typology 52 Party Goals 53 Electoral Strategy 54 Organizational Structure 55 Social Base 56 Aggregation 59 Toward Empirical Research 60 Comparative Politics and the Diamond and Gunther Typology 63 3 Kenya 65 One-Party Rule and the Rise of Ethnic Cleavage Lines 68 Observation Period 1 73 FORD-Kenya: The Enduring Logic of Ethnic Politics 73 FORD-Asili: The Prisoners of Dr. Kenneth Matiba 79 The Democratic Party: In the Shadows of GEMA 81 The Kenyan African National Union: Entering the Democratic Age 83 Observation Period 2 89 FORD-Kenya: From Alliance to Mono-Ethnic Party 89 The National Development Party: FORD-Ks Former Luo Wing 92 The Democratic Party: The Beneficiaries of FORD-As Collapse 94 The Social Democratic Party: Toward Kamba Unity 95 The Kenyan African National Union 97 Observation Period 3 101 The National Alliance Rainbow Coalition 101 KANU, the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya, and the Orange Democratic Movement 110 Kenya After the 2007 Elections 115 Political Parties in Africa: Findings from Kenya 117 4 Namibia 122 Apartheid, Ethnic Cleavage Lines, and Political Parties 123 Observation Period 1 126 The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and the Democratic Age 127 The South West African Peoples Organization 132 Observation Period 2 135 The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance Falls Apart 135 SWAPO Extending the SWAPO Kingdom 139 Observation Period 3 143 The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and Its Disintegration 143 SWAPO: The Legacy of the Nujoma Succession 146 Observation Period 4 151 The Rise and Fall of the Congress of Democrats 152 SWAPO and Pohamba 155 Namibia After the 2009 Elections 157 Political Parties in Africa: Findings from Namibia 157 5 Ghana 162 The First Three Republics, Ethnic Cleavage Lines, and Political Parties 163 Observation Period 1 165 The New Patriotic Party: In the Footsteps of the PP 166 The National Democratic Congress: A Dictator Elected 172 Observation Period 2 175 The New Patriotic Party: Generation Kufuor 175 The National Democratic Congress: A Dictator Reelected 179 Observation Period 3 181 The New Patriotic Party in Power 181 The National Democratic Congress Falling Apart 185 Observation Period 4 189 The New Patriotic Party in Its Second Term 189 The National Democratic Congress and Rawlings’ Long Shadow 193 Ghana after the 2008 Elections 195 Political Parties in Africa: Findings from Ghana 197 6 The Diversity of African Party Politics 201 Political Parties in Kenya, Namibia, and Ghana 202 Variation Within Countries: Some Observations 205 African Parties and Political Ideology: Some Observations 208 Toward a New Framework of Comparison for African Parties 209 Motive of Formation 210 Rhetoric 210 Electoral Rhetoric 210 Ideology/Manifesto Content 211 National Coverage 211 Party Factions 211 Party Apparatus 212 Leadership Composition 212 Cabinet Composition 212 Party Divergence Scores and Party Nationalization Scores 213 Verification of Results: Preliminary Evidence from Additional Cases 214 Tanzania 215 The Chama Cha Mapinduzi 215 The Civic United Front 217 CHADEMA 218 Botswana 219 The Botswana Democratic Party 219 The Botswana National Front 220 Senegal 221 Parti Socialiste 222 The Parti Démocratique Sénégalais 223 Malawi 224 The Malawi Congress Party 225 The United Democratic Front 226 The Alliance for Democracy 228 The Democratic Progressive Party 229 Burkina Faso 230 The Congrès pour le Démocratie et le Progrès 230 The Rassemblement Démocratique Africain- l’Alliance pour la Démocratie et la Fédération 231 Zambia 232 The Movement for Multiparty Democracy 232 The United National Independence Party 234 The Patriotic Front 235 Benin 236 The Parti Social-Démocrate 237 The Parti du Renoveau Démocratique 237 The Front d’Action pour le Renouveau et le Développement 239 Alliance pour une Dynamique Démocratique, l’Union pour le Bénin du Future, and Forces Cauris pour un Bénin Emergent 240 Summary of the Preliminary Cases 240 Political Party Types in Africa 243 7 Explaining the Formation of Nonethnic Parties 245 Variance Between Countries 246 Economic Variables 246 Economic Growth and Human Development at the National Level 246 Economic Growth and Human Development at the Regional Level 249 Electoral Systems and Political Parties 256 Electoral Systems and Parties in Kenya, Ghana, and Namibia 257 Democracy and Political Parties 260 The Legal Dimension: Party Laws and Political Parties 262 Political Parties and the Type of Independence Movement 263 Ghana: The United Front 265 Kenya: Ethnic Disunity from the Start 268 Comparing African Independence Movements 270 Ethnic Fractionalization and Political Parties 272 Scenario 1: Balancing 274 Scenario 2: Bandwagoning 274 Core Groups and Political Parties: Empirical Evidence 275 Verification of Hypothesis with Preliminary Cases 277 Toward a Theory of the Formation of Ethnic Parties 281 Conclusion 283 The Emergence of Nonethnic Politics 283 African Political Parties: The Main Argument 284 African Parties and Democratic Consolidation 286 Future Research on (African) Parties 289 Strange Bedfellows: Academic Research and International Party Assistance 291 Comparative Politics and African Parties 294 Annex C: Number of Effective Programmatic Categories 302 Annex D: Summary of Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) and Party Divergence Scores (PDS) 303 Annex E: Result for MRG Coding Scheme 306 Annex F: PNS Calculated on the Basis of Afrobarometer Data 307 Annex G: Scope of Party Systems Covered 309 Annex H: Party Nationalization Scores (PNS) of the Preliminary Cases 310 Bibliography 313 Index 339 This book examines the effects of ethnicity on party politics in ten African countries. Sebastian Elischer finds that five party types exist: the mono-ethnic, the ethnic alliance, the catch-all, the programmatic and the personalistic party. He uses these party types to show that the African political landscape is considerably more diverse than conventionally assumed.