Activism of Political Parties in Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
George M. Bob-Milliar
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
High Intensity ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Sub Saharan

Since the early 1990s, African states have been democratizing. Political parties now dominate the public spaces in many African democracies. The past 26 years have witnessed the growth and consolidation of “party democracy” in Africa. This is the longest period of uninterrupted growth of electoral politics in many countries on the continent. Recent Afrobarometer surveys show that almost two-thirds (63%) of Africans support pluralistic politics. Party identification in sub-Saharan Africa has also been on the rise. Across 16 states Afrobarometer surveyed, a majority of Africans (65%) claim they “feel close to” a political party in their country. The mass public who identified with a particular political party increased by 7 percentage points between 2002 and 2015. Political parties are the vehicles for citizens to engage in party activism. The women and men who join a political party become the party activists. Party activists are the lifeblood of the party organization. And political party activism in sub-Saharan Africa is geared toward the election of the party and its candidates into office. Consequently, party activism is a continuum of high-intensity and low-intensity political activities. Party activists vary in their levels of involvement. Thus, it is a mixture of fanfare and aggressive participation. Political party activism is a multifaceted process where party members undertake any of the following political activities: display a poster, donate money, help with fund-raising, deliver election leaflets, help at a party function, attend party meetings, undertake door-to-door campaigning, and run for party office. The involvement of party members usually varies from active engagement to passive attachment to the party. There were several motives for party activists getting involved in “high-intensity participation.” Because of the crucial role party activists play in the intra- and inter-party competition, the parties provide some incentives to get members commitment. At the organizational level, party activists present themselves for election into party offices at the grassroots, regionally or nationally. They devote their time and financial resources in furtherance of the party agenda. In return, party activists expect the party to reward them with selective incentives when power is won. That said, more research is required at the country level to enable us to construct the profile of the African party activists.

The Effects of Manifesto Politics on Programmatic Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Hennl ◽  
Simon Tobias Franzmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Core Business ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Decision Mode ◽  
Programmatic Change

The formulation of policies constitutes a core business of political parties in modern democracies. Using the novel data of the Political Party Database (PPDB) Project and the data of the Manifesto Project (MARPOR), the authors of this chapter aim at a systematic test of the causal link between the intra-party decision mode on the electoral manifestos and the extent of programmatic change. What are the effects of the politics of manifesto formulation on the degree of policy change? Theoretically, the authors distinguish the drafting process from the final enactment of the manifesto. Empirically, they show that a higher autonomy of the party elite in formulating the manifesto leads to a higher degree of programmatic change. If party members constrain party elite’s autonomy, they tend to veto major changes.

scholarly journals Refractory Frontier: Intra-party Democracy in the Zambian Polity

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Bwalya ◽  
Owen B. Sichone
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
National Development ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Leadership Transitions ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Selection Of

Despite the important role that intra-party democracy plays in democratic consolidation, particularly in third-wave democracies, it has not received as much attention as inter-party democracy. Based on the Zambian polity, this article uses the concept of selectocracy to explain why, to a large extent, intra-party democracy has remained a refractory frontier. Two traits of intra-party democracy are examined: leadership transitions at party president-level and the selection of political party members for key leadership positions. The present study of four political parties: United National Independence Party (UNIP), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) demonstrates that the iron law of oligarchy predominates leadership transitions and selection. Within this milieu, intertwined but fluid factors, inimical to democratic consolidation but underpinning selectocracy, are explained.

23 Art. 21 GG: Political Parties

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bumke Christian ◽  
Voßkuhle Andreas
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
State Financing ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Private Financing ◽  
Party State

This chapter considers the relevant provisions of Art. 21 of the Grundgesetz (GG) with regard to political parties. Art. 21 GG does not define the term ‘political party’ and provides only a description of its function, which is ‘to participate in the formation of the political will of the people’. There are two conceptions of political party in the literature: the model of the ‘party state’ and the model of ‘party competition’. Political parties display the elements described in both models. The chapter first examines the Federal Constitutional Court's jurisprudence concerning the definition of ‘party’ before discussing the constitutional freedom to found and organise parties, prohibition of parties, competition between political parties and equality of opportunity among parties, and party financing (private financing and state financing).

Fighting Elections: Cross-Level Political Party Integration in Ontario

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 871-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lennox Esselment
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
The Other ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
Local Party

Abstract.Conventional wisdom about the structure of political parties in Canada has emphasized their confederal nature. In other words (and the New Democratic party excepted), parties with identical partisan complexions at the federal and provincial levels are thought to operate in “two political worlds.” This paper argues that election campaigns are a key integrating link between parties. How they fight elections reveals extensive cross-level co-operation, particularly through shared activists (local party activists, party staff and party professionals) and technological expertise. This has the effect of shrinking the space between party cousins and forges unity between them. While there are certain obstacles to electoral collaboration, there are also incentives for these parties to work to maintain and strengthen their ties with their partisan cousin at the other level. These findings make an important contribution by directly challenging the notion that Canada's federal system has led to increasingly disentangled political parties.Résumé.L'opinion communément admise au sujet de la structure des partis politiques au Canada a mis l'accent sur leur nature confédérale. En d'autres termes (exception faite du Nouveau Parti démocratique), on considère en général que les partis à caractère partisan identique au palier fédéral et provincial fonctionnent dans «deux mondes politiques à part». Le présent article avance que les campagnes électorales constituent un facteur d'intégration clé entre les différents niveaux d'un parti. La façon dont un parti dispute une élection révèle un haut degré de coopération entre les organisations provinciales et fédérales, surtout du fait qu'ils partagent des militants communs (militants locaux, personnel politique et professionnels du parti) et leur expertise technologique. Ce phénomène tend à rétrécir l'espace entre cousins du même parti et à bâtir l'unité d'organisation entre les deux niveaux. Même s'il y a des obstacles inévitables à la collaboration électorale, les partis cousins ont de bonnes raisons de veiller à maintenir et à renforcer leurs liens réciproques. Ces conclusions apportent une contribution importante à l'étude des partis politiques, en contestant directement l'idée que le système fédéral au Canada a encouragé les partis politiques de même allégeance à mener leurs activités de manière indépendante.

Political parties, independents and the electoral market in sub-Saharan Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 695-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ishiyama ◽  
Anna Batta ◽  
Angela Sortor
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Electoral Market ◽  
Sub Saharan

Some General Characteristics of Nonpartisan Elections

1952 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 766-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles R. Adrian
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Corporate Structure ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Nonpartisan Elections

Out of the middle-class businessman's “Efficiency and Economy Movement” that reached full strength in the second decade of the twentieth century came a series of innovations designed to place government “on a business basis” and to weaken the power of the political parties. The movement was inspired both by the example of the success of the corporate structure in trade and industry and by revulsion against the low standards of morality to be found in many sectors of political party activity around the turn of the century. The contemporary brand of politician had recently been exposed by the “muck-rakers” and the prestige of the parties had reached a very low level.Of the numerous ideas and mechanisms adopted as a result of the reform movement, one of the most unusual was that of election without party designation. Early in the twentieth century, under the theory that judges are neutral referees, not political officers, and that political activities should therefore be discouraged in the choosing of them, many communities initiated “nonpartisan” elections (the term that is usually applied) in the balloting for judicial posts.

scholarly journals The determinants of Party System Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Riccardo Pelizzo
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Party System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Stability

This article examines what socio-economic factors are conducive to changes in the patterns of inter-party competition in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The literature has in recent years paid considerable attention to measuring party system change, to identifying the consequences of party system instability for the proper functioning of democratic regimes, and to understanding what factors are responsible for the instability of party systems. In contrast to previous studies that view political change in general and party system change more specifically as the result of social transformation, development, modernization and change in the cleavage structure, this paper shows instead that poverty is the primary driver of party system change in the SSA region. In countries with high levels of poverty, political elites do enjoy little to no performance-based legitimacy. The lack of performance-based legitimacy is the reason why voters in such countries are willing to alter their voting habits and parties are unable to preserve their electoral fortunes over time—which is precisely why party systems do change. The literature showed that stable party systems are good for democracy. This paper shows that to enhance the stability of party system in SSA, poverty has to be reduced and possibly eradicated.

scholarly journals Penguatan Partai Politik sebagai Salah Satu Bentuk Pengadministrasian dan Pelembagaan Sistem Demokrasi

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-120
Author(s):  
Aprista Ristyawati
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
System Building ◽  
Party Members ◽  
The Law ◽  
Recruitment System

This study aims to determine the strengthening of political parties as a form of administration and institutionalization of democracy. The formulation of the problem in this study is: what are the main issues of political parties in Indonesia at this time and how are efforts to strengthen political parties as a form of democratic institutionalization. The method of approach used in this study is normative juridical and analytical descriptive that is describing the object that is the main problem, from the depiction taken an analysis that is adapted to existing legal theories and put the law as a norm system building. The results of this study indicate that there are 3 (three) Main Problems of Political Parties in Indonesia that occur at this time, namely the weakening ideology of political parties, the recruitment system and the cadre formation patterns of less qualified political party members, the crisis of fundraising / fundraising of political parties. Efforts must be made to strengthen political parties as a form of institutionalization of democracy, namely using the ideology of political parties that must be strengthened, improve the quality and strengthen the recruitment system and regeneration patterns of political party members and there must also be a strengthening of the political party's fundraising system.Keywords: Political Parties, institutionalization of democracy Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan tuntuk mengetahui penguatan partai politik sebagai salah satu bentuk pelembagaan demokrasi. Metode pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah yuridis normatif dan bersifat deskriptif analitis yaitu menggambarkan objek yang menjadi pokok permasalahan, dari penggambaran tersebut diambil suatu analisa yang disesuaikan dengan teori-teori hukum yang ada dan meletakan hukum sebagai sebuah bangunan sistem norma. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Ada 3 (tiga) Problem Utama Partai Politik di Indonesia yang terjadi pada saat ini, yaitu ideologi partai politik yang semakin melemah, sistem rekrutmen dan pola kaderisasi anggota partai politik yang kurang berkualitas, krisis pengumpulan dana / Fundraising pada partai politik. Upaya yang harus dilakukan untuk memperkuat Partai Politik sebagai salah satu bentuk pelembagaan Demokrasi yaitu dengan cara ideologi Partai Politik harus diperkuat, meningkatkan kualitas dan memperkuat sistem rekrutmen dan pola kaderisasi anggota partai politik dan juga harus ada penguatan sistem pengumpulan dana (Fundraising) Partai Politik. Kata Kunci : Partai Politik, pelembagaan demokrasi

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