Party systems and democracy in Africa / edited by Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink,

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: -- 1. Do Party Systems Matter for Democracy in Africa?; Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink -- 2. Multi-Party Elections in Africa: For Better or Worse; Matthijs Bogaards -- PART I: ONE-PARTY DOMINANT SYSTEMS -- 3. South Africa: Electoral Dominance, Identity Politics and Democracy; Steven Friedman -- 4 Botswana: Presidential Ambitions, Party Factions and the Durability of a Dominant Party; Christian John Makgala and Shane Mac Giollabhui; -- 5. Namibia: From Liberation to Domination; Henning Melber -- PART II: OTHER PARTY SYSTEMS -- 6. Ghana: The African Exemplar of an Institutionalized Two-Party System?; Cyril Daddieh and George Bob-Milliar -- 7. Benin: A Pulverized Party System in Transition; Rachel Gisselquist -- 8. Zambia: Dominance Won and Lost ; Dan Paget -- PART III: CONCLUSION -- 9. Do Party Systems Help or Hinder Democracy in Africa?; Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink.

"Do party systems help or hinder democracy in Africa? This collection offers important new insights into the relation between party systems and democracy on the African continent. It presents a comparative analysis of how African party systems influence procedural aspects of democracy such as accountability and government responsiveness and also shows how party systems affect citizens' satisfaction. It paints a vivid picture of the one-party dominant systems in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and how these impede the deepening of democracy. Drawing lessons from Benin, Ghana and Zambia, it also portrays the fluidity of African party systems and draw attention to the importance of party system change. The insightful contributions show that African party systems affect democracy in ways that are different from the relation between party systems and democracy observed elsewhere"-- Provided by publisher.