Political Parties in Africa: Ethnicity and Party Formation

342 Pages·2013·1.31 MB·English

by  Sebastian Elischer

PoliticalPartiesinAfrica
This book examines the effects of ethnicity on party politics in Sub-
SaharanAfrica.SebastianElischeranalyzespoliticalpartiesinGhana,
Kenya, and Namibia in detail and provides a preliminary analysis of
parties in seven other countries, including Tanzania, Botswana, Sene-
gal,Zambia,Malawi,BurkinaFaso,andBenin.Elischerfindsthatfive
party types exist: the mono-ethnic, the ethnic alliance, the catch-all,
the programmatic, and the personalistic party. He uses these party
typestoshowthattheAfricanpoliticallandscapeisconsiderablymore
diversethanconventionallyassumed.Whereasethnicpartiesdominate
insomecountries,nonethnicpartieshavebecomethenorminothers.
Thisstudyalsofindsacorrelationbetweenacountry’sethnicmakeup
andthesalienceofpoliticalethnicity:countrieswithacoreethnicgroup
arepronetoformnonethnicparties.Incountrieslackingacoreethnic
group,ethnicpartiesconstitutethenorm.
Sebastian Elischer is assistant professor of comparative politics at the
LeuphanaUniversityLu¨neburgandtheGermanInstituteofGlobaland
AreaStudiesHamburg.

Political Parties in Africa
Ethnicity and Party Formation
SEBASTIAN ELISCHER
LeuphanaUniversityLu¨neburgandGermanInstituteof
GlobalandAreaStudies,Hamburg
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitofeducation,
learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107620445
(cid:2)C SebastianElischer2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Elischer,Sebastian,1979–
PoliticalpartiesinAfrica:ethnicityandpartyformation/SebastianElischer.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-03346-7(hardback)–isbn978-1-107-62044-5(pbk.)
1.Politicalparties–Africa. 2.Ethnicrelations–Politicalaspects. 3.Africa–Ethnic
relations–Politicalaspects. I.Title.
jq1879.a795e45 2013
324.2096–dc23 2012051703
isbn978-1-107-03346-7Hardback
isbn978-1-107-62044-5Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsfor
externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
To my grandfather

Contents
Tables pagexiii
Abstract xvii
Acknowledgments xix
1 ComparativePoliticsandPoliticalPartiesinAfrica 1
HarbingersofEvil?EthnicPartiesandDemocracy 2
InternationalPartyAssistanceandEthnicParties 4
FightingGhosts?PoliticalScienceandAfricanParties 5
FillingintheGaps 7
TheStructureoftheBook 8
2 ANewFrameworkofComparisonforPoliticalParties 11
OntheStudyofPoliticalParties 12
PartyTypologiesintheWesternWorld 12
PartyTypologiesOutsidetheWesternWorld 18
PartyTypologiesinEasternEurope,LatinAmerica,and
Asia 20
PartyTypologiesinAfrica 22
TowardaNewFrameworkofComparison 26
TheOperationalizationoftheAmendedDiamondandGunther
Typology 30
PartyGoals 31
ElectoralStrategy 32
OrganizationalStructure 33
SocialBase 34
Aggregation 37
TowardEmpiricalResearch 38
ComparativePoliticsandtheDiamondandGuntherTypology 41
3 Kenya:TheUbiquityofEthnicParties 43
One-PartyRuleandtheRiseofEthnicCleavageLines 46
vii
viii Contents
ObservationPeriod1 51
FORD-Kenya:TheEnduringLogicofEthnicPolitics 51
FORD-Asili:ThePrisonersofDr.KennethMatiba 57
TheDemocraticParty:IntheShadowsofGEMA 59
TheKenyanAfricanNationalUnion:Enteringthe
DemocraticAge 61
ObservationPeriod2 67
FORD-Kenya:FromAlliancetoMono-EthnicParty 67
TheNationalDevelopmentParty:FORD-K’sFormerLuo
Wing 70
TheDemocraticParty:TheBeneficiariesofFORD-A’s
Collapse 72
TheSocialDemocraticParty:TowardKambaUnity 73
TheKenyanAfricanNationalUnion 75
ObservationPeriod3 79
TheNationalAllianceRainbowCoalition 79
KANU,theOrangeDemocraticMovement–Kenya,andthe
OrangeDemocraticMovement 88
KenyaAfterthe2007Elections 93
PoliticalPartiesinAfrica:FindingsfromKenya 95
4 Namibia:TheDominanceofNonethnicParties 100
Apartheid,EthnicCleavageLines,andPoliticalParties 101
ObservationPeriod1 104
TheDemocraticTurnhalleAllianceandtheDemocratic
Age 105
TheSouthWestAfricanPeople’sOrganization 110
ObservationPeriod2 113
TheDemocraticTurnhalleAllianceFallsApart 113
SWAPOExtendingtheSWAPOKingdom 117
ObservationPeriod3 121
TheDemocraticTurnhalleAllianceandItsDisintegration 121
SWAPO:TheLegacyoftheNujomaSuccession 124
ObservationPeriod4 129
TheRiseandFalloftheCongressofDemocrats 130
SWAPOandPohamba 133
NamibiaAfterthe2009Elections 135
PoliticalPartiesinAfrica:FindingsfromNamibia 135
5 Ghana:TheUbiquityofNonethnicParties 140
TheFirstThreeRepublics,EthnicCleavageLines,andPolitical
Parties 141
ObservationPeriod1 143
TheNewPatrioticParty:IntheFootstepsofthePP 144
TheNationalDemocraticCongress:ADictatorElected 150