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Political Mobilizations and Democratization in Sub-Saharan AfricaElections Without Democratization: How African Electoral Authoritarianism Survived

Political Mobilizations and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Elections Without... [This chapter takes a look at the widespread phenomenon of “elections without democratization” in Sub-Saharan Africa. It presents data on all direct national multi-party elections on the subcontinent that were held between 1990 and 2012. It shows that these elections fulfilled democratic standards in many respects. Yet, authoritarian ruling elites deprived them of a core functional principle: Meaningful competition between powerholders and the political opposition. It is shown that, contrary to previous research, electoral practice of de jure participatory, competitive, and legitimate elections does not contribute to democratization. Instead, only competitive elections are associated with substantial improvements in democratic governance.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Political Mobilizations and Democratization in Sub-Saharan AfricaElections Without Democratization: How African Electoral Authoritarianism Survived

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
ISBN
978-3-030-22791-3
Pages
11 –37
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-22792-0_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter takes a look at the widespread phenomenon of “elections without democratization” in Sub-Saharan Africa. It presents data on all direct national multi-party elections on the subcontinent that were held between 1990 and 2012. It shows that these elections fulfilled democratic standards in many respects. Yet, authoritarian ruling elites deprived them of a core functional principle: Meaningful competition between powerholders and the political opposition. It is shown that, contrary to previous research, electoral practice of de jure participatory, competitive, and legitimate elections does not contribute to democratization. Instead, only competitive elections are associated with substantial improvements in democratic governance.]

Published: Jun 15, 2019

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