That political parties are necessary ingredients of democratic governance is accepted as an incontrovertible fact by most political observers. Similarly, party system institutionalization is viewed as a requisite for the consolidation of democracy. In contrast, the effects of different party system characteristics on democracy are sharply contested. We contribute to this debate through a systematic analysis of the relationship between three party system characteristics (legislative volatility, the average age of parties, and the effective number of parliamentary parties) and the level of democracy in 33 African countries. Our results show that party system stability, measured by the average age of parties, and party system competitiveness, measured by the effective number of parties, have positive associations with democracy in African countries. Our results highlight the tension and potential trade-offs between stability and competition in the largely inchoate party systems of Africa.
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