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Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa Senegal in Comparative Perspective

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Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa Senegal in Comparative Perspective CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN POLITICAL ECONOMY Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa Senegal in Comparative Perspective Catherine Lena Kelly Contemporary African Political Economy Series Editor Eunice N. Sahle University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC, USA Series Editor Eunice N. Sahle is Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies and the Curriculum in Global Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Advisory Board: Bertha O. Koda, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Brij Maharaj, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Thandika Mkandawire, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; Cassandra Veney, United States International University-Africa, Kenya; John Pickles, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; and Wisdom J. Tettey, University of British Columbia, Canada. Contemporary African Political Economy (CAPE) publishes social science research that examines the intersection of political, social, and economic processes in contemporary Africa. The series is distinguished especially by its focus on the spatial, gendered, and cultural dimensions of these processes, as well as its emphasis on promoting empirically situated research. As consultancy-­ driven work has emerged in the last two decades as the dominant model of knowledge production about African politics and economy, CAPE offers an alternate intellectual space for scholarship that challenges theoretical and empirical orthodoxies and locates political and economic processes within their structural, historical, global, and local contexts. As an interdisciplinary series, CAPE broadens the field of traditional political economy by welcoming contributions from the fields of Anthropology, Development Studies, Geography, Health, Law, Political Science, Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. The Series Editor and Advisory Board particularly invite submissions focusing on the following thematic areas: urban processes; democracy and citizenship; agrarian structures, food security, and global commodity chains; health, education, and development; environment and climate change; social movements; immigration and African diaspora formations; natural resources, extractive industries, and global economy; media and socio-political processes; development and globalization; and conflict, displacement, and refugees. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14915 Catherine Lena Kelly Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa Senegal in Comparative Perspective Catherine Lena Kelly American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Washington, DC, USA Contemporary African Political Economy ISBN 978-3-030-19616-5 ISBN 978-3-030-19617-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19617-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © J. Ruscello / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my families in Dakar and Lawrence, with special thanks to Baaba Diallo and my mother Mary Byrd Kelly. FOREWORD What are the roles and functions of political parties in the complex democ- racies of Africa? For those immersed in the political practices of Western democracies, the temptation may be to apply Western models and assump- tions to answer the question. Granted, to a limited degree this approach would be correct: in Africa as elsewhere the political party serves as the basic building block of civic engagement and political activity. So, too, the active presence of several parties is one of the identifying characteristics of a functioning democracy (so much so that the term “multi-party democ- racy” is, when examined, somewhat a redundancy). But to assume that political party behavior in Africa models that of parties in the West would be a profound mistake. As Catherine Kelly demonstrates in Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective, the reality is much more complex. Dr. Kelly’s successful effort to unpack that complexity begins by tracing the phenomenon of political party proliferation in Senegal. After indepen- dence in 1960, Senegal was a single-party authoritarian state ruled by the Socialist Party. In the mid-1970s, the president permitted the first “party of contribution” to the ruling Socialist Party (1974) and allowed for the establishment of three ideologically distinct parties (1976). When unlim- ited party formation became legal in 1981, 14 parties registered to com- pete in the newfound political space. Today, party formation has accelerated and there are nearly 300 registered parties in Senegal. As these elevated numbers suggest, the research challenge confronting the effort to understand Senegalese party dynamics was inherently daunt- ing. The challenge was nonetheless met: Party Proliferation is the deeply vii viii FOREWORD and meticulously researched product of 18 months of intensive fieldwork in Senegal and almost 175 interviews of political elites (party leaders, min- isters, Members of Parliament, human rights activists, journalists, trade union members, and local elected officials) along with various forms of archival research and data-gathering. Among those interviewed were 46 individuals who had registered new political parties in Senegal from 1998 to 2003, critical primary sources who were difficult to identify and locate. The important core findings ofParty Proliferation are key to an under- standing of Senegalese politics and help illuminate party politics elsewhere in Africa. Dr. Kelly writes that “while the logics of party creation are mul- tiple and various opposition parties in Senegal are created to contest elec- tions, many other party leaders run organizations that function primarily to obtain patronage that does not depend on regularized vote-seeking.” And, she further notes: “Political parties formed primarily for negotiating patronage rarely become the consistent opposition organizations that are purported to bolster democracy and accountability.” These findings have clear implications for the rule of law. The extreme proliferation of political parties weakens the party system. As is the case in Senegal, the proliferation of patronage-seeking political parties has con- tributed in many cases to the prolongation of the rule of all-too-powerful presidents by reducing and diffusing the ability of the political party sys- tem to mount an effective opposition to such rule. This imbalance and unchecked power has led to numerous setbacks in the rule of law and, at times, the promotion of human rights. Party Proliferation is a well-written and interesting book that advances the understanding of the role of political parties beyond those that have successfully placed candidates in elected office. While focused on Senegal, the book has direct relevance to political and rule of law development in many other countries. With this publication, Dr. Kelly has performed a public service and notched a significant achievement. American Bar Association Alberto Mora Chicago, IL, USA Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Harvard Kennedy School Cambridge, MA, USA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book would not have been possible without the support of several organizations and many people from Lawrence, Kansas, to the Cité Cap Verdienne in Dakar. Parts of the book began as my doctoral dissertation project in the Harvard University Department of Government, where I had the pleasure to learn from many friends, advisors, and colleagues. I was so lucky to have Steve Levitsky as my dissertation committee chair and intellectual mentor during my years on campus and in the field. Steve saw potential and merit in the project from its early stages, challenged me to think about it cleverly and creatively, and made my time at Harvard the most rigorous and worthwhile learning experience that it could be. I truly could not have done it without him! Nahomi Ichino, Jorge Dominguez, and Leonardo Villalón offered very valuable insights and critiques as members of my dissertation committee, as well as some formative
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