Quality of Democracy in Africa

Jonathan van Eerd is a political analyst specialized on Africa. He is a former senior research and teaching associate at the Department for Political Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research and teaching focus on democratization processes and party systems. Jonathan was a visiting scholar at Cornell University, N.Y., with university affiliations in Botswana, Lesotho and Ghana.

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Conceptualization of Opposition Competitiveness and its Significance for Dominant Party System Responsiveness.- Chapter 3: Explanations for Dierent Opposition Competitiveness Degrees in African Dominant Party Systems.-Chapter 4: Comparative Historical Explanation of Contemporary Opposition Competitiveness Degrees in Four Crucial Cases.- Chapter 5: Party System Responsiveness in Contemporary Botswana, Lesotho, Ghana and Mali.- Chapter 6: General Conclusion.

“In recent years, the functioning of political parties and party systems in Africa has received increasing research attention. The Quality of Democracy in Africa: Opposition Competitiveness Rooted in Legacies of Cleavages forms one of the latest contributions to this important research area. … For specialized scholars, the work provides interesting insights and sets the path for new avenues of research.” (Leila Demarest,Democratization, Vol. 25 (5), August, 2017)