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The Quality of Democracy in Africa pp 29–60Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Conceptualization of Opposition Competitiveness and Its Significance for Dominant Party System Responsiveness

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Part of the book series: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century ((CDC))

Abstract

This chapter shows that the third wave of democratization in Africa can be successful even if the government remains dominated by one major political party. A competitive opposition party (system) with some minimum amount of strength and institutionalization—even if too weak to take power—can be conducive to a higher quality of democracy. The chapter conceptualizes opposition competitiveness and illuminates how competitive opposition parties can push the dominant party system toward democratic consolidation. The quantitative analysis is based on 53 national parliamentary elections in 18 African dominant party systems between 1990 and 2008 that meet minimum freeness standards of party competition, that is, can be classified as electoral democracies or competitive authoritarian regimes at least.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jonathan van Eerd

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van Eerd, J. (2017). The Conceptualization of Opposition Competitiveness and Its Significance for Dominant Party System Responsiveness. In: The Quality of Democracy in Africa. Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50838-2_2

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