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Introduction

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The Quality of Democracy in Africa

Part of the book series: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century ((CDC))

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Abstract

This chapter introduces the book’s argument and empirical strategy. It discusses the book’s contribution to the comparative political science literature. Examples from the late-third wave of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa illustrate the main puzzle. Countries like Ghana during the 1990s indicate that electoral regimes with lack of incumbency change, so-called dominant party systems, do not inevitably erode the quality of democracy. Turnovers as in Mali’s 2002 elections, in turn, do not necessarily indicate democratic consolidation. Rather, overall competitiveness of the opposition within the dominant party system that is rooted in historical political cleavages of the first territorial pre-independence elections strengthens civil liberties and democratic responsiveness. The introduction closes by outlining the plan of the book.

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  1. Institute of Political Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jonathan van Eerd

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van Eerd, J. (2017). Introduction. In: The Quality of Democracy in Africa. Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50838-2_1

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