The Quality of Democracy in Africa pp 241-254 | Cite as
Party System Responsiveness in Contemporary Botswana, Lesotho, Ghana and Mali
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Abstract
This chapter compares self-collected elite survey data with Afrobarometer mass survey data. It presents evidence that parties in dominant party systems with an institutionalized and potentially threatening opposition (Botswana), or in formerly one-party dominant systems that evolved into an institutionalized two-party system (Ghana), and that are both still structured according to the historic territorial political cleavage from processes of decolonization around independence, are programmatically distinctively set apart and relatively responsive to the policy preferences of their electorate; in contrast to parties in dominant party systems with a volatile opposition (Lesotho), or in former dominant party systems that evolved into a generally non-institutionalized and chaotic multi-party system (Mali), and that both are not effectively structured according to historic political conflict from processes of nationalization around independence.
Keywords
Policy Preference Voter Side Party System Opposition Parti Opposition PartyReferences
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