Subnational authority and political alignment in African states

Abstract

ABSTRACT This thematic section examines the importance of, and variations in, political alignment within African regimes. Political alignment is how leaders establish sufficient political support across elites: we posit that formal appointments are the primary way that leaders manipulate political coalitions in order to secure their collective authority and tenure. Appointments, individually and collectively, can take on multiple characteristics: they can create inclusive or exclusive coalitions, transactional or loyal support, volatile or stable elite networks. Appointment powers have greater salience since governments institutionalized and formalized in governance systems across democratic and autocratic states. Manipulating who holds and secures power at the subnational and national levels, rather than repressive control or state capacity, underpins the stability, security, and survival of modern African regimes. Four articles expand on this theme, investigating how leaders manipulate senior and subnational elite coordination and violent competition across Africa; observing the effects of institutional changes on mayoral candidate platforms and party loyalty in Zambia; considering how intra-party leaderships shifts create new phases of senior elite integration and challenge in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe; and interrogating how attempts at Kenyan constitutional reforms have affected centre-periphery elite linkages.