Legislating a minimum age of marriage at 18 has stirred counter-mobilization in some, but not all, countries where religious or traditional institutions enjoy constitutional authority. To explore differences between states...

Although many African governments introduced provisions for subnational elections in the early 1990s, there is variation in the extent to which these reforms were implemented and sustained. Our inductive analysis...

The cases of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in Zambia show major differences in the extent to which incoming ruling...

Theories of democratic decentralisation in democratising states suggest that such reforms will provide significant opportunities for parties in opposition at the national level by multiplying the arenas of political contestation....

Gender quotas change the rules of candidate selection, reflecting a demand-side solution to women's underrepresentation in politics. In contrast, limited attention has been given in the literature to possible supply-side...

The authors in this special issue on Democratization and Gender Quotas in Africa are in various ways exploring the long-term effects of processes of gendering political institutions through quota adoption....

Do dominant parties comply with its gender quota rule when they face an increased electoral threat? Contrary to conventional wisdom, we question whether increased levels of party competition are likely...

Quota policies securing the presence of marginalised groups in decision-making bodies have been adopted across sub-Saharan Africa. These policies are frequently understood through the lens of a pluralist perspective. This...

Concentration of power in the hands of the executive is one of the key challenges to democratic consolidation in Africa. Since the early 1990s, the African National Congress (ANC) has...

African electorates are expected to use non-evaluative rationales, like patronage and ethnicity, when casting their vote. In famine-struck countries like Malawi it is however worthwhile to investigate how a salient...

Traditional authorities were recognised and revitalised in several African countries in the 1990s. Based on conventional perceptions of the nature of traditional rule it is regarded as unethical for traditional...

In a referendum in July 2005 the people of Uganda voted overwhelmingly in support of reintroducing the multiparty system. As a result, one expected an increase in candidates running on...

Traditional leadership often coexists with modernpolitical institutions, yet we know little about how traditional and state authority cues—or those from male or female sources—affect public support for human rights issues....

Legislating a minimum age of marriage at 18 has stirred counter-mobilization in some, but not all, countries where religious or traditional institutions enjoy constitutional authority. Why does counter-mobilization arise in...

Det meste av den norske støtten til kvinnebevegelser i Afrika og utviklingsland generelt blir gitt bilateralt eller gjennom norske organisasjoner. Det var denne typen bistand som ble foreslått redusert i...

Å gi arabiske kvinner like politiske rettigheter er ikke nok for å sikre kvinners deltakelse, når hun samtidig er offer for diskriminerende familielover.