Is the dominance of one political party a problem in an emerging democracy, or simply an expression of the will of the people? Why has one-party dominance endured in some African democracies and not in others? What are the mechanisms behind the varying party-system trajectories? Considering these questions, the authors of this collaborative work use a rigorous comparative research design and rich case material to greatly enhance our understanding of one of the key issues confronting emerging democracies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• 1 One-Party Dominance in African Democracies: A Framework for Analysis - Renske Doorenspleet and Lia Nijzink
• 2 An Overview of African Party Systems - Gero Erdmann and Matthias Basedau
• PART 1 ENDURING ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE
• 3 Namibia: Cultivating the Liberation Gospel - Henning Melber
• 4 South Africa: Racialized Discourse in the Context of Deteriorating Performance - Thiven Reddy
• 5 Tanzania: Nurturing Legacies of the Past - Mohammed Bakari and Richard Whitehead
• PART 2 ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE DISCONTINUED
• 6 Zambia: Manufactured One-Party Dominance and Its Collapse - Neo Simutanyi
• 7 Mali: From Dominant Party to Platform of Unity - Martin van Vliet
• 8 Senegal: The Rise and Fall of a One-Party-Dominant System - Christof Hartmann
• PART 3 CONCLUSION
• 9 Why One-Party Dominance Endures in Some Democracies but Not Others - Lia Nijzink and Renske Doorenspleet
• List of Acronyms
• Bibliography
• The Contributors
• About the Book