Party System Institutionalization in Ghana and Senegal

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative case study of party system institutionalization in Ghana and Senegal. Both countries experienced a democratic change in government in the year 2000, but while positive development has continued in Ghana, democratic quality in Senegal decreased over time. Can the concept of party institutionalization help to explain this diverging development? Four dimensions of party system institutionalization are systematically compared: regularity, social roots, legitimacy, and party organization. It is found that party competition in Ghana is characterized by high stability and a low number of parties. The major parties are organized throughout the country and have definable support bases with deep historical roots. They give orientation to voters and are perceived as legitimate actors. In Senegal, in contrast, the party system is fluid and less predictable. Parties are not structured along social cleavages and many of them are weakly organized and highly personalistic. In summary, the case studies support the assumption that an institutionalized, well-structured party system in which relevant social cleavages are translated into electoral alternatives is positively related to democratic quality.

Issue Ownership and Strategic Policy Choice in Multiparty Africa

“…B. Danquah and K. A. Busia, the leaders of the liberation movement, seeking the liberal democratic tradition as opposition leaders to the British colony and later to the authoritarian regimes and obtaining strong ethnic support from the Ashanti in the south. The NPP seeks to represent the interests of intellectuals, business people, the private sector, and cash crop growers in the south, whose interests to some extent are compatible with each other (Jeffries and Thomas ; Osei ).…”

Parties in a Plurality System: Candidate Nomination in Ghana’s Minor Parties

“…Despite its 'democratic success' (which is largely electoral), the political system is bedevilled by episodes of political violence, the limited capacity of civil society organisations, and excessive presidentialism (Abdulai & Crawford 2010). Generally, the literature on party politics in Ghana has concentrated on the political behaviour and activities of the major parties (Ayee 2011;Bob-Milliar 2012;Daddieh & Bob-Milliar 2016;Ninsin, 2016), voter behaviour (Arthur 2009;Fridy 2007;Gyimah-Boadi 2007;Lindberg 2003;Lindberg & Morrison 2005;Nugent 1999Nugent , 2001Nugent , 2007, and party systems (Daddieh & Bob-Milliar 2014;Morrison & Hong 2006;Osei 2012;Whitfield 2009). Recently there have been some preliminary works that put minor parties in the spotlight and assess their staying power, performance and the normative role they play in Ghana's political system (Aidoo & Chamberlain 2014;Bob-Milliar forthcoming;Yobo & Gyampo 2015).…”

Formal party organisation and informal relations in African parties: evidence from Ghana

“…With a few exceptions (Darracq 2008; Bob-Milliar 2012), there is still a lack of studies on party organisation. There are, however, some publications that provide a certain amount of information on party organisation as part of the investigation of broader topics such as party system institutionalisation (Osei 2013; Riedl 2014), party-voter linkages (Osei 2012), economic development (Pitcher 2012), and the transformation of opposition movements into political parties (LeBas 2011). What this literature suggests is that there might be great variation in the strength of party organisations both across and within countries (see also LeBas 2011: 22).…”