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The Cleavage Model, Ethnicity and Voter Alignment in Africa: Conceptual and Methodological Problems Revisited

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Author Info
Gero Erdmann () (GIGA Institute of African Affairs)
Abstract

Recent research on political parties and ethnicity has challenged the conventional wisdom about ethnicity as the major factor that explains voter alignment in Africa. The paper maintains that the cleavage model, although modified to include ethnicity, still provides heuristically the best foundation for the explanation of party formation and voting behaviour in Africa. It points out that inconclusive and contradicting research results about the salience of ethnicity can be attributed to a variety of unresolved methodological and conceptual problems linked to the ‘fluidity’ of the concept of ethnicity. To overcome these problems refined research designs and more sophisticated analytical tools are required. Finally, it is safe to assume that the relevance of ethnicity for the formation of party systems and voter alignment is not a uniform pattern across Africa, but will differ from one country to the other.

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Paper provided by GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies in its series GIGA Working Paper Series with number 63.

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Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2007
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Handle: RePEc:gig:wpaper:63

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Related research
Keywords: Africa social cleavages cleavage model ethnicity political parties party systems

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  1. Michael Bratton & Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2008. "Voting in Kenya: Putting Ethnicity in Perspective," Working papers 2008-09, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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