Authoritatively Democratic: The Functioning of Elections in Botswana's Dominant Party System

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dc.contributor.advisorJones, Mark P.
dc.creatorBurchard, Stephanie Marie
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-08T00:33:00Z
dc.date.available2013-03-08T00:33:00Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractSince 1991, multiparty elections have been held in almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa. These elections, however, have returned the same "dominant" political parties to office time and again. While dominant party rule is often associated with authoritarianism and its variants, many of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are operating under dominant party rule are by most other indicators considered to be democratic (freedom and fairness of elections, independent press, protection of civil liberties and rights, etc.). Regardless, many researchers argue that lack of party alternation at the national level precludes dominant party systems from being considered democratic. I contend that previous analyses focused on elections at the national level only and, thus, are unable to accurately comment on the democratic quality of elections in dominant party systems. Further complicating matters, the logic of electoral behavior under these types of systems is not well understood. It is not clear how, if at all, electoral outcomes under dominant party systems affect individual-level democratic satisfaction--something that is intimately related to a country's democratic stability. Finally, we do not know what factors affect individual-level vote choice under dominant party systems and how these compare with more mature, consolidated democracies. This project contributes to our understanding of electoral behavior under dominant party systems by systematically examining several facets of elections in Botswana, sub-Saharan Africa's longest tenured dominant party system. I conduct both within country analysis using data from the constituency level and between country comparisons to examine the relationship between partisan competition and electoral behavior in Botswana and several of its continental counterparts. I use a combination of electoral data and survey data draw a more complete picture of the voting landscape under a dominant party system. My main findings indicate that dominant party systems where truly democratic elections (free and fair) are held exhibit significant levels of electoral competition; exert a negligible effect on democratic satisfaction; and that some citizens, conditional on educational attainment, do engage in ideological voting. Together, this project depicts a more complex and nuanced electoral environment under a dominant party system than previous research has acknowledged.
dc.format.extent144 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS POL.SCI. 2012 BURCHARD
dc.identifier.citationBurchard, Stephanie Marie. "Authoritatively Democratic: The Functioning of Elections in Botswana's Dominant Party System." (2012) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70213">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70213</a>.
dc.identifier.digitalBurchardSen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70213
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectSocial sciences
dc.subjectAfrican politics
dc.subjectBotswana
dc.subjectVoters
dc.subjectElections
dc.subjectDemocracy
dc.subjectDominant parties
dc.subjectPolitical science
dc.titleAuthoritatively Democratic: The Functioning of Elections in Botswana's Dominant Party System
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentPolitical Science
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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