Events

This conference, hosted by Warwick's Department of Politics (PaIS) and the Centre for Studies of Democratisation (CSD) addresses one of the key issues that confront emerging democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa: what are the current party system configurations on the continent and what are their consequences for the future of democracy?

The first part of the workshop will give a general overview of theories, concepts and measurements of party systems, with speakers such as Lars Svasand (Bergen Uni, Norway), Vicky Randall (Essex Uni, UK), Renske Doorenspleet (Warwick Uni, UK), and Matthijs Bogaards (Jacobs Uni, Germany).

The subsequent sessions of the workshop will dig deeper, and focus on particular countries with one-party dominant systems, i.e. South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique, and explore what the consequences of one-party dominance are in these countries. Speakers will be Steven Friedman (Uni Johannesburg, South Africa), John Makgala (Uni Botswana), Henning Melber (DHF, Sweden) and Elisabete Azevedo (Uni of Lisbon, Portugal).

The third session of the workshop will include African countries with different party system configurations (such as Ghana, Benin, Malawi and Kenya) in order to get a full picture of possible consequences of party systems in African democracies. Speakers will be Cyril Daddieh (Miami Uni, USA), Rachel Gisselquist (LSE, UK), Nic Cheeseman (Oxford, UK) and Lia Nijzink (Uni Cape Town, South Africa)

The concluding session will summarize the findings of the case studies and explore to what extent there are general trends and overarching conclusions with regard to the potential impact - both negative and positive - of party systems on democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

All enquiries should be directed to Renske Doorenspleet, and please see also CSD website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csd/