Africa Project Workshop Leader Reports

Extract

The APSA Africa Initiative brought diverse group of about 25 scholars to Dakar to discuss research on political participation. Our working language was French. All participants were interested in some aspect of party politics or political participation. The conference-length research papers or research proposals that participants worked on over the course of our three-week workshop centered on questions about the weakness of opposition parties in some countries, the improbable strength of the opposition in others, regional patterns of party mobilization and voting, the role of traditional authorities in voter mobilization, the role of teacher and student unions in politics, political mobilization outside the party system (as in motions de soutien for ruling parties), the role of the press in shaping political preferences, women's movements and party politics, civil society and election monitoring, historical legacies that shape political culture, and the possible impact of ethnic identity on regional patterns of political behavior. There was plenty to talk about. The participants appreciated the four-tome reading packet of articles and book chapters that we prepared for the workshop and used as the launching point of our seminar and break-out group discussions.