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Opposition in Tropical Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Christopher Clapham
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Extract

AT THE START OF THE 1990S, THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF opposition movements in tropical Africa was dramatically transformed. Prior to 1990, in only a minimal number of states had legally tolerated opposition parties even been permitted, while in no case had any opposition party been able to assume power after defeating the incumbent government at the polls. Within a few years, multi-party systems were introduced within almost all African states, while several opposition parties achieved the ultimate test of gaining state power by electoral means. At first sight, at least, opposition in Africa had undergone a radical shift, bringing the continent into line with a movement towards multi-party electoral political systems that was taking place throughout the world.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , October 1997 , pp. 541 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1997

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References

1 ‘Tropical Africa’ here refers to all the states on the continental mainland, apart from those of the Mediterranean littoral and the Republic of South Africa.

2 This journal provided, in those early days, one of the few dissenting voices; see for example Shils, Edward, ‘Opposition in the New States of Africa and Asia’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 1, No. 2, 01 1966, pp. 175–204;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Finer, S. E., ‘The One‐party Regimes in Africa: Reconsiderations’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 2, No. 4, 07 1967, pp. 491–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 See Crook, Richard C., ‘Winning Coalitions and Ethno‐regional Rivalries: The Failure of the Opposition in the 1990 and 1995 Elections in Cote d’Ivoire’, African Affairs, Vol. 96, No. 383, 04 1997, pp. 215–42,CrossRefGoogle Scholar for a study of the capacity of former single parties to retain power in multi‐party systems.

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21 See Reno, William, ‘Reinvention of an African Patrimonial State: Charles Taylor’s Liberia’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 1, 03 1995, pp. 109–20.Google Scholar