Ethnicity and leadership succession in Africa

J. Londregan, H. Bienen, N. Van De Walle

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

This analysis uses cross-national data to test hypotheses from the literature on ethnicity in African politics. The first hypothesis is that, all else being equal, the larger the population share of the leader's ethnic group, the lower the probability that the leader loses power. The authors reject this hypothesis and show that leaders from larger ethnic groups run relatively greater risks of losing power than those from smaller ethnic groups. Nor do leaders from smaller ethnic groups resort more to nonconstitutional means of leadership change. The authors also show that African leaders are disproportionately likely to be replaced by leaders from their own ethnic group. -Authors

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-25
Number of pages25
JournalInternational Studies Quarterly
Volume39
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Political Science and International Relations

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