Measuring Support for Multiethnic Parties in Zambia
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
ethnic voting, fractionalization, multiethnic parties, Zambia, Africa, constituency, province
Department
Political Science
Major
Political Science, Economics
Abstract
Ethnicity plays a huge role in elections, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The research on ethnic diversity or fractionalization thus far has addressed cross-country studies, examining why ethnicity plays such a huge role in national elections. This paper seeks to explain the role of ethnicity in elections held at smaller administrative units. I employ a multilevel logit regression model to test whether ethnic affiliations that hold at the individual level still remain strong at the constituency or provincial level. I find no evidence that constituency-level ethnic fractionalization affects an individual’s support for multiethnic party, but find mixed results for provincial-level linguistic fractionalization. In particular, there is little mobilization around the Bemba language, while the strength of mobilization around Tonga and Lozi languages rises.
Faculty Mentor
Professor Joel Fetzer
Funding Source or Research Program
Political Science Honors Program
Presentation Session
Session A
Location
Plaza Classroom 191
Start Date
24-3-2017 4:00 PM
End Date
24-3-2017 4:15 PM
Measuring Support for Multiethnic Parties in Zambia
Plaza Classroom 191
Ethnicity plays a huge role in elections, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The research on ethnic diversity or fractionalization thus far has addressed cross-country studies, examining why ethnicity plays such a huge role in national elections. This paper seeks to explain the role of ethnicity in elections held at smaller administrative units. I employ a multilevel logit regression model to test whether ethnic affiliations that hold at the individual level still remain strong at the constituency or provincial level. I find no evidence that constituency-level ethnic fractionalization affects an individual’s support for multiethnic party, but find mixed results for provincial-level linguistic fractionalization. In particular, there is little mobilization around the Bemba language, while the strength of mobilization around Tonga and Lozi languages rises.