Electoral coordination in Anglophone Africa
(2014) In Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 52(2). p.187-211- Abstract
- Electoral coordination has been a primary concern for scholars of African politics, interested in topics such as ethnic conflict mitigation and democratisation, for decades. However, understanding of micro-level electoral coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa is generally still very limited. This study is the first to investigate voter coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa using constituency-level election results. Studying 20 single-member district elections during the period 1990–2010 in five Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia) demonstrates that many African elections continue to show low levels of electoral coordination. Using a multi-level regression analysis, the study shows that the most important... (More)
- Electoral coordination has been a primary concern for scholars of African politics, interested in topics such as ethnic conflict mitigation and democratisation, for decades. However, understanding of micro-level electoral coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa is generally still very limited. This study is the first to investigate voter coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa using constituency-level election results. Studying 20 single-member district elections during the period 1990–2010 in five Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia) demonstrates that many African elections continue to show low levels of electoral coordination. Using a multi-level regression analysis, the study shows that the most important explanation for low levels of coordination across Africa is high voter volatility. It is argued that insufficient information makes it hard for voters and candidates to act strategically. However, the level of democracy, which has been emphasised in earlier aggregate level research, does not significantly affect the level of coordination. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4378641
- author
- Wahman, Michael LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Africa, elections, voting, parties, coordination, single-member district, volatility, institutionalisation
- in
- Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
- volume
- 52
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 187 - 211
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84898055380
- ISSN
- 1743-9094
- DOI
- 10.1080/14662043.2014.892724
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0cfea1f7-24ec-42ef-b297-9b386c1fa59e (old id 4378641)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:00:31
- date last changed
- 2022-04-04 01:27:38
@article{0cfea1f7-24ec-42ef-b297-9b386c1fa59e,
abstract = {{Electoral coordination has been a primary concern for scholars of African politics, interested in topics such as ethnic conflict mitigation and democratisation, for decades. However, understanding of micro-level electoral coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa is generally still very limited. This study is the first to investigate voter coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa using constituency-level election results. Studying 20 single-member district elections during the period 1990–2010 in five Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia) demonstrates that many African elections continue to show low levels of electoral coordination. Using a multi-level regression analysis, the study shows that the most important explanation for low levels of coordination across Africa is high voter volatility. It is argued that insufficient information makes it hard for voters and candidates to act strategically. However, the level of democracy, which has been emphasised in earlier aggregate level research, does not significantly affect the level of coordination.}},
author = {{Wahman, Michael}},
issn = {{1743-9094}},
keywords = {{Africa; elections; voting; parties; coordination; single-member district; volatility; institutionalisation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{187--211}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Commonwealth and Comparative Politics}},
title = {{Electoral coordination in Anglophone Africa}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2014.892724}},
doi = {{10.1080/14662043.2014.892724}},
volume = {{52}},
year = {{2014}},
}