Danielle Resnick

In the shadow of the city: Africa's urban poor in opposition strongholds

Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest urbanising region of the world. This demographic transformation has occurred in concert with two other trends in the region, nascent democratisation and stalled decentralisation. Using the case of Lusaka, Zambia, this study argues that in the context of multi-party competition and limited fiscal decentralisation, the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation are exacerbated for the urban poor living in cities controlled by opposition parties. Semi-structured interviews conducted with local political actors are combined with a survey of 200 informal sector workers in Lusaka. This data reveals the tactics employed by the central government to weaken the popularity of the opposition in Lusaka and shows that from the viewpoint of the urban poor, such tactics ultimately prove counterproductive. The presence of similar dynamics in other African cities has important implications for aid modalities, such as budget support, that are currently used by international donors to fund development projects, including those in the urban sector.

Opposition Parties and the Urban Poor in African Democracies

Africa’s urban poor increasingly represent a key constituency for electoral mobilization. Opposition parties, which are pivotal for democratic consolidation, have nevertheless exhibited disparate success at obtaining votes from this constituency. To explain why, this study focuses on the case of Zambia and draws on interviews with political elites as well as a survey of informal sector workers in Lusaka. Instead of vote buying, ethnic alignments, or economic voting, these data show that the urban poor’s voting decisions are related to the strategies used by political parties to incorporate them into the political arena. Opposition parties that employ populist strategies are more likely to win support from the urban poor than parties reliant on alternative modes of mobilization. The advantages of a populist strategy include greater differentiation from the myriad of purely personalistic parties in Africa and greater congruence with the policy priorities of the urban poor, including service delivery and jobs.

Do electoral coalitions facilitate democratic consolidation in Africa

In a region where democratization has led to a proliferation of opposition parties, pre-electoral coalitions represent an obvious means by which to reduce excessive party fragmentation in Africa. However, this article examines whether such coalitions facilitate democratic consolidation in terms of contributing to incumbent turnovers as well as creating competitive, institutionalized party systems. Election data for all opposition coalitions formed in Africa’s electoral democracies since 2000 reveals that coalitions rarely result in incumbent defeat. In addition, I find that a sizeable share of a country’s total electoral volatility is often due to fluctuations in voting for opposition parties that enter and exit coalitions, indicating the inability of coalition members to build loyal constituencies and become institutionalized over time. I argue that this is because many of these coalitions are primarily office-seeking and consist of parties that are distinguished predominantly by the personality of their leaders rather than a distinct political programme that is relevant to the concerns of African citizens.

6. Sub-Saharan Africa in Contemporary Perspective

This chapter explores four sociological themes relevant to contemporary Africas prospects for economic growth, democratic consolidation, and political stability. First, it focuses on Africas demographic landscape, especially the confluence of high mortality from pandemics such as HIV/AIDS with a rapidly growing, young population that is increasingly moving to urban areas. Next, the chapter examines the implications of Africas immense ethnic diversity, and highlights variations among countries in terms of how they manage this diversity. Then, it discusses the structure of the labor force, the relationship between labor unions and the state, and the growing prominence of informal employment. Patterns, causes, and consequences of socioeconomic inequality in Africa constitute a fourth and final theme. Ethnic diversity represents a much more researched aspect of Africas demographic landscape. With the emergence of multi-party democracy during the 1990s, the impact of ethnicity on electoral outcomes became a key area of inquiry. Keywords: ethnic diversity; labor force; population dynamics; sub-Saharan Africa