
Activist Origins of Political Ambition
Opposition Candidacy in Africa's Electoral Authoritarian Regimes
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Activist Origins of Political Ambition
Opposition Candidacy in Africa's Electoral Authoritarian Regimes
About this book
Why do people run for office with opposition parties in electoral authoritarian regimes, where the risks of running are high, and the chances of victory are bleak? In Activist Origins of Political Ambition, Keith Weghorst offers a theory that candidacy decisions are set in motion in early life events and that civic activism experiences and careers in civil society organizations funnel aspirants towards opposition candidacy in electoral authoritarian regimes. The book also adapts existing explanations of candidacy decisions derived from leading democracies that can be applied to electoral authoritarian contexts. The mixed-methods research design features an in-depth study of Tanzania using original survey data, sequence methods, archival research, and qualitative data combined with an analysis of legislators across authoritarian and democratic regimes in Africa. A first-of-its kind study, the book's account of the origins of candidacy motivations offers contributions to its study in autocracies, as well as in leading democracies and the United States.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Running against All Odds
- 2 A Theory of Opposition Candidacy
- 3 Electoral Authoritarianism in Tanzania
- 4 Roots of Ambition: Civic Activism and Career Partisanship
- 5 From Roots to Branches: Career Pathways to Candidacy Choices
- 6 Winning Party Nomination Contests
- 7 Winning General Elections
- 8 Benefits of Winning (and Losing) Elections
- 9 Costs of Competing in Authoritarian Elections
- 10 Testing the Argument across Africa
- 11 Elections and Authoritarianism in the Twenty-first Century
- Appendix A Qualitative and Survey Interviews: Sample Design, Response Rates, and Representativeness
- Appendix B Statistical Results, Analysis Details, and Robustness
- References
- Index