Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

New
Paperback
2005
$39.85

This book presents a theory to account for why and when politics revolves around one axis of social cleavage instead of another. It does so by examining the case of Zambia, where people identify themselves either as members of one of the country's seventy-three tribes or as members of one of its four principal language groups. The book accounts for the conditions under which Zambian political competition revolves around tribal differences and under which it revolves around language group differences. Drawing on a simple model of identity choice, it shows that the answer depends on whether the country operates under single-party or multi-party rule. During periods of single-party rule, tribal identities serve as the axis of electoral mobilization and self-identification; during periods of multi-party rule, broader language group identities play this role. The book thus demonstrates how formal institutional rules determine the kinds of social cleavages that matter in politics.

Synopsis

This book presents a theory to account for why and when politics revolves around one axis of social cleavage instead of another. It does so by examining the case of Zambia, where people identify themselves either as members of one of the country's seventy-three tribes or as members of one of its four principal language groups. The book accounts for the conditions under which Zambian political competition revolves around tribal differences and under which it revolves around language group differences. Drawing on a simple model of identity choice, it shows that the answer depends on whether the country operates under single-party or multi-party rule. During periods of single-party rule, tribal identities serve as the axis of electoral mobilization and self-identification; during periods of multi-party rule, broader language group identities play this role. The book thus demonstrates how formal institutional rules determine the kinds of social cleavages that matter in politics.

$39.85

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 360
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 06 Jun 2005
ISBN 10: 0521541794
ISBN 13: 9780521541794
Book Overview: The book demonstrates how formal institutional rules determine the kinds of social cleavages that matter in politics.

Media Reviews

'... a well-researched, rich, sophisticated and lively analysis of ethnic politics in Zambia. ... a fascinating account of changes in the dimensions of ethnic identity in Zambian politics. [Posner's] work is, perhaps, the only book that dwells exclusively on why politicians shift from one ethnic card to another. The details he presents about ethnic and language group formation and about perceptions of ethnic favouritism make the book interesting and a must read.' Journal of Modern African Studies
'Posner's book should still be recognised as an important contribution to understanding the relationship between politics and ethnicity in Africa.' Journal Compilation ASEN
'... well written and well researched. ... a good read and will be useful for any graduate class on African politics.' Political Studies Review
Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, as the title indicates, is far more than a detailed case study of Zambia, a former British colony known as Northern Rhodesia before independence. It is also a splendid primer as to how to systematically apply institutional analysis to explain political behavior. -Sheldon Gellar, Indiana University, Perspectives on Politics
This is a superb analysis of the structure of political cleavages in Africa. It puts forth a parsimonious model that highlights the role of group size and spells out and tests its empirical implications. Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa should make a major impact in political science and sociology. -Michael Hechter, University of Washington
Posner's book is a major contribution to a positive theory of political cleavages. It is commonplace to demonstrate that political entrepreneurs in third-world democracies have an incentive to play the ethnic card. But the problem is that voters have a royal flush of ethnic identities, any of which can be played upon by politicians. Posner offers a stimulating account of the demographic and institutional conditions that lead politicians and voters to play the particular ethnic cards that they do, and thereby to set the political agenda. Rich empirical data turn a plausible theoretical account into a fully cogent perspective on the foundation of political cleavages. -David D. Laitin, Stanford University
Daniel Posner here offers a powerful new theory of ethnic politics that combines institutionalist and rationalist approaches to social science with a social constructivist approach to ethnic identity. Drawing on an analytical model of ethnic identities and coalitions, Posner shows how institutions shape ethnic identities. Over decades, institutions narrow a wide range of potential ethnic identities to a set of politically salient identities. In the short run, institutions determine which of those salient identities are the basis of mobilization and voting. Drawing on a natural experiment in Zambia where electoral rules changed from multi-party political competition to one-party rule and back again, Posner demonstrates the power of this theory. The result is a sophisticated work that combines field research, institutionalist and constructivist theory, and data analysis -- in short, a must read for scholars of ethnic politics and comparative social science. -Elisabeth Jean Wood, Yale University
This book is a compelling and path-breaking account of the politics of ethnic identity. Drawing on an analysis of ethnic politics in Zambia, Posner develops an original theoretical argument that addresses fundamental questions of ethnic politics in any multi-cultural society. Why do some ethnic identities become politically relevant, while others recede as less salient, despite their equal importance in earlier periods? How do voters choose among the various salient ethnic identities as a basis for political action? This book is an important contribution to political science, sociology, and African studies. -M. Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Posner makes a persuasive argument for the relevance of his conclusions first in Africa (and especially in the case of Kenya) and then in other parts of the world. Yet I predict that the broader significance of this book is likely to be less its specific theoretical conclusions and more the highly original kinds of questions that Posner applies to political behavior and ideas and his rigorous creative methodological approaches to those questions. -Charles Ambler, University of Texas at El Paso, African Studies Review

Author Bio

Daniel N. Posner is Assistant Professor of Political Science at UCLA. His research focuses on ethnic politics, regime change, and the political economy of development in Africa. He has published articles in numerous journals including the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, and the British Journal of Political Science. He has received grants or fellowships from the Russell Sage Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. He has been a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and is currently a Carnegie Scholar of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.