Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies

By combining the perspectives of political elites with those of voters, this book provides a unique analysis of the dynamics of the party-voter relationship in Africa.

Danielle Resnick (Author)

9781108453165, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 March 2018

318 pages, 6 b/w illus. 4 maps 48 tables
23 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.5 kg

When and why do the urban poor vote for opposition parties in Africa's electoral democracies? The strategies used by political parties to incorporate the urban poor into the political arena provide a key answer to this question. This book explores and defines the role of populism in Africa's urban centers and its political outcomes. In particular, it examines how a populist strategy offers greater differentiation from the multitude of African parties that are defined solely by their leader's personality, and greater policy congruence with those issues most relevant to the lives of the urban poor. These arguments are elaborated through a comparative analysis of Senegal and Zambia based on surveys with informal sector workers and interviews with slum dwellers and politicians. The book contributes significantly to scholarship on opposition parties and elections in Africa, party linkages, populism, and democratic consolidation.

1. Urbanization, voting behavior, and party politics in African democracies
2. Drivers of voting behavior among Africa's urban poor: why populist strategies prevail
3. The bite of 'King Cobra': populist strategies in the Zambian context
4. Gorgui's gamble: the rise and fall of populist strategies in Senegal
5. The view from below: how the urban poor react to political party strategies
6. Beyond the city: building coalitions with rural voters
7. Political parties and populist strategies in other African democracies
8. Conclusions, contributions, and implications.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]