| Abstract: | The author makes two big and extremely questionable assumptions: 1) that the parties of the single and single-dominant-party states do have a central organization and a network of local branches roughly similar in structure to the so-called 'mass parties', differing only in degree-2) that the fact that the ruling party is either de facto or de jure supreme, constitutes a genuine common characteristic. The author considers the one or more of four advantages alleged to accrue from the single-party system. 1) That it is a necessary prerequisite for rapid economic advance. 2) That in some sense it follows the 'natural' inclinations of the population. 3) That it is a necessary prerequisite for 'nation-building'. 4) That it guarantees political stability. All these assertions are shown not to be consistent with one another, while no one of these four claims is true for every African state; all four are untrue for any one African state; and most of them are untrue for most African states. |
AfricaBib 
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Leiden University catalogue
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