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

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Mar 24th, 4:00 PM Mar 24th, 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.