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Institutionalization of Party Systems? Stability and Fluidity among Legislative Parties in Africa's Democracies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Staffan I. Lindberg
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Abstract

Using Sartori's and Mainwaring and Scully's work on consolidation and institutionalization of party systems as touchstones, this article analyses the evolution of party systems with regard to stability and fluidity of legislative party configurations in Africa's democratic states. It examines the key issue of whether there is any stabilization of party systems in Africa today, and if so, under what circumstances such stabilization occurs. This article questions previous studies, arguing that we have not yet sufficiently solved the question of whether party systems as stable interactions exist in Africa. Providing a detailed analysis of elections in Africa's established and emerging democracies, and making a distinction between democratic and undemocratic countries, this study classifies Africa's 21 electoral democracies as fluid, de-stabilized, or stable party systems. A key finding is that institutionalization of these party systems has not occurred over an extended period, but rather, institutionalized party system configurations have been stable from the onset of multiparty elections. Conversely, the other large group of countries with non-institutionalized party systems seems to be perpetually fluid systems despite, in many cases, several successive multiparty elections.

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Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 215 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2007

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References

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