The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa

Issue Date July 2007
Volume 18
Issue 3
Page Numbers 126-140
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

Sub-Saharan Africa has been traditionally depicted as a place where formal institutional rules are largely irrelevant-yet in the past fifteen years these rules have come to matter, and this trend is unlikely to reverse.

About the Authors

Daniel N. Posner

Daniel N. Posner is Total Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and coauthor of Coethnicity: Diversity and the Dilemmas of Collective Action (2009).

View all work by Daniel N. Posner

Daniel J. Young

Daniel J. Young is a doctoral candidate in political science at UCLA and is finishing a dissertation on political parties in Africa based on fieldwork in Malawi.

View all work by Daniel J. Young

Further Reading

Volume 25, Issue 4

Growth, Security, and Democracy in Africa

Democracy’s fortunes rose in Africa in the 1990s, but more recently have been in retreat. The forces of democratic resurgence remain in play, however, as a look at the key…

Volume 21, Issue 3

The Mirage of Democracy in the DRC

Despite its historic 2006 elections, the Democratic Republic of Congo still lacks competent governance, leaving its democratic promise unfulfilled.

Volume 3, Issue 2

Zambia Starts Over

Read the full essay here.