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arXiv · 2506.04279

Nombre Effectif de Partis Politiques en Afrique: Une Nouvelle M\'ethode pour un Calcul Objectif et Institutionnellement Neutre

Adama Nouboukpo·Kodzo Michel Aladji·Muktar Bappa
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Abstract

Political fragmentation in Africa poses to a significant challenge to effective governance and stability. Traditional measures of party system fragmentation, such as the Effective Number of Parties (ENP) index, often fail to capture the nuanced realities of African political landscapes, particularly the influence of dominant parties, fluid party affiliations, and the impact of ethnic and regional cleavages. To address these limitations, this paper introduces two novel "apolitical" or "institutionally neutral" measures for calculating the effective number of parties, focusing on geographical and demographic dimensions, notably population size and territorial area. By incorporating these local realities and ensuring a minimum threshold of two parties, the proposed models offer a simpler and more contextually relevant framework for understanding political dynamics in Africa, especially in data-scarce environments. This approach provides a valuable tool for analyzing and streamlining political systems, with potential for broader application beyond the African context.

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Adama Nouboukpo, Kodzo Michel Aladji, Muktar Bappa. 2025-06-04. Nombre Effectif de Partis Politiques en Afrique: Une Nouvelle M\'ethode pour un Calcul Objectif et Institutionnellement Neutre. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04279

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