IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/statpp/v11y2020i1p59-85n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rurality and Party System Fragmentation in the Nigerian Presidential Elections of the Fourth Republic

Author

Listed:
  • Nwankwo Cletus Famous

    (Department of Geography, University of Nigeria Faculty of Social Sciences, Nsukka, Nigeria)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of rurality on party system fragmentation in the Nigerian presidential elections of the fourth republic. The findings show that party system fragmentation (PSF) has been characteristically low in the Nigerian presidential elections and rurality does not significantly predict party system fragmentation. Rurality has a negative effect on PSF in all the elections studied except the 2003 election but only significant in the 2011 poll. Thus, the paper cast doubt on previous studies that indicate that striking rural-urban differences manifest in party system fragmentation in African elections and attribute it to previous studies’ measure of rurality. The paper argues that the use of a composite measure of rurality instead of singular measures of rurality might provide better analysis that helps us understand the effect of rurality on party systems. Also, it argues that in the study of the rural-urban difference in voting behaviour or political behaviours more broadly, data should be aggregated based on cities and non-city areas because cities have distinctive urban characters compared with non-city places. Analyses done on states or constituencies level may not reveal the rural-urban difference because states and constituencies usually have a mix of rural and urban population and other characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Nwankwo Cletus Famous, 2020. "Rurality and Party System Fragmentation in the Nigerian Presidential Elections of the Fourth Republic," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 59-85, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:statpp:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:59-85:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/spp-2019-0007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/spp-2019-0007
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/spp-2019-0007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erdmann, Gero & Basedau, Matthias, 2007. "Problems of Categorizing and Explaining Party Systems in Africa," GIGA Working Papers 40, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Abdul Raufu Mustapha, 2009. "Institutionalising ethnic representation: How effective is affirmative action in Nigeria?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 561-576.
    3. Stephen Coleman, 1995. "Dynamics in the fragmentation of political party systems," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 141-155, May.
    4. Mozaffar, Shaheen & Scarritt, James R. & Galaich, Glen, 2003. "Electoral Institutions, Ethnopolitical Cleavages, and Party Systems in Africa's Emerging Democracies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(3), pages 379-390, August.
    5. Keith R. Weghorst & Staffan I. Lindberg, 2013. "What Drives the Swing Voter in Africa?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 717-734, July.
    6. Aliye Ahu Gulumser & Tuzin Baycan-Levent & Peter Nijkamp, 2009. "Mapping rurality: analysis of rural structure in Turkey," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(2/3/4), pages 130-157.
    7. Sebastian Elischer, 2008. "Do African parties contribute to democracy? Some findings from Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 43(2), pages 175-201.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz, 2016. "Competing cleavages in sub-Saharan Africa? How economic distance affects ethnic bloc politics," WIDER Working Paper Series 104, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz, 2016. "Competing cleavages in sub-Saharan Africa?: How economic distance affects ethnic bloc politics," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-104, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Jockers, Heinz & Kohnert, Dirk & Nugent, Paul, 2009. "The Successful Ghana Election of 2008: A Convenient Myth? Ethnicity in Ghana's elections revisited," MPRA Paper 16167, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Erdmann, Gero, 2007. "The Cleavage Model, Ethnicity and Voter Alignment in Africa: Conceptual and Methodological Problems Revisited," GIGA Working Papers 63, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    5. Pamphilious Faanu & Emmanuel Graham, 2017. "The Politics of Ethnocentrism: A Viability Test of Ghana’s Democracy?," Insight on Africa, , vol. 9(2), pages 141-158, July.
    6. repec:gig:joupla:v:3:y:2011:i:3:p:65-93 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Samuel Adams & Kingsley S. Agomor, 2015. "Democratic politics and voting behaviour in Ghana," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 365-381, December.
    8. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2016. "Liberals, Socialists, and pork-barrel politics in Greece," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(8), pages 1473-1492, August.
    9. Riccardo Pelizzo & Zim Nwokora, 2016. "Bridging the Divide: Measuring Party System Change and Classifying Party Systems," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 16/042, African Governance and Development Institute..
    10. You Zhou & Yuxin Yao & Zhen Chu & Zheng Lei & Yun Zheng, 2024. "A New Approach to Rural Classification Based on the Filter-Method System: An Empirical Study in Nanning, South China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-25, November.
    11. Jeremy Bowles & Benjamin Marx, 2022. "Turnover and Accountability in Africa's Parliaments," Working Papers hal-03873800, HAL.
    12. Michael Ehis Odijie & Mohammed Zayan Imoro, 2021. "Ghana’s Competitive Clientelism and Space for Long-Term Stable Policies," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    13. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero, 2012. "An Inquiry into the Use of Illegal Electoral Practices and Effects of Political Violence," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-16, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    14. Wahman, Michael & Basedau, Matthias, 2015. "Electoral Rentierism? The Cross-National and Subnational Effect of Oil on Electoral Competitiveness in Multiparty Autocracies," GIGA Working Papers 272, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    15. John Ishiyama, 2014. "Civil Wars and Party Systems," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(2), pages 425-447, June.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/45g1k15t9v9k8qtuslf5aouda4 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kyle L. Marquardt & Yoshiko M. Herrera, 2015. "Ethnicity as a Variable: An Assessment of Measures and Data Sets of Ethnicity and Related Identities," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(3), pages 689-716, September.
    18. Ann-Sofie Isaksson, 2011. "Social divisions and institutions: assessing institutional parameter variation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 331-357, June.
    19. Jean Pierre TRANCHANT & Grégoire ROTA-GRAZIOSI & Léandre BASSOLE & Jean-Louis ARCAND, 2006. "The Making of a (vice-) President: Party Politics, Ethnicity, Village Loyalty and Community-Driven Development," Working Papers 200633, CERDI.
    20. Carl Müller-Crepon, 2022. "Local ethno-political polarization and election violence in majoritarian vs. proportional systems," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 242-258, March.
    21. Mogues, Tewodaj & Billings, Lucy, 2015. "The making of public investments: Champions, coordination, and characteristics of nutrition interventions:," IFPRI discussion papers 1479, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:statpp:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:59-85:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.