Despite a revival of interest in the study of African political parties, we still know too little about their organization and behavior, our Research Affiliate Matthijs Bogaards writes in his chapter in The Routledge Handbook of Political Parties.

He argues that “democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1990 has proven once more that political parties are indispensable to the functioning of modern, representative democracy, and even in the continent’s electoral authoritarian regimes.”

“The old typologies have lost their relevance and the new ones have not yet been applied to the continent,” he writes. The chapter uses “the cartel party thesis as a framework of analysis for the study of African parties. It shows that African parties, like their Western counterparts, are closer to the state than to society, exhibiting features and behavior that undermine the functions they are expected to fulfil.”

The volume provides a systematic and comprehensive overview of the study of political parties provided by leading experts in the field, and is essential reading and an authoritative reference for scholars, students, researchers and practitioners involved in and actively concerned about research in the study of political parties, party systems, and party politics.

Learn more about the book here.