Date of Award
Summer 8-23-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in International Studies
Organizational Unit
Josef Korbel School of International Studies, International Studies
First Advisor
Timothy D. Sisk
Second Advisor
Naazneen Barma
Third Advisor
Rachel Sigman
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Cote d'Ivoire, Democratization, Opposition, Political elite, Senegal
Abstract
The central puzzle of this study is why some countries are able to escape the hybridity trap to experience electoral turnover and further democratic deepening while others remain stuck in hybridity. This dissertation centers opposition goals and strategy as the key to explaining different democratic trajectories. Where the opposition seeks changes to key democratic institutions and pushes for those changes within existing institutions instead of focusing on an anti-incumbent strategy to win elections, they can set up an institutional framework that ultimately allows them to make progress towards electoral turnover and that can later constrain the executive and strengthen institutions that will facilitate further democratic deepening following that electoral turnover. This project uses a historical institutionalist research approach, conducting episode analysis for within-case analysis and structured, focused comparison for analysis across two primary and two shadow cases.
The alternative pathway towards democratization that is developed in this project is illustrated through episodic analytical narratives of two most similar cases: Senegal (1989-2000) and Côte d’Ivoire (1988-2000). Across three key episodes of institutional negotiation—negotiations of electoral rules from 1989-1993, negotiations around the electoral management body and the electoral code from 1993-1998, and negotiations around electoral coalitions from 1998-2000—the Senegalese opposition uses moderate institutional strategies to pursue incremental changes to the electoral regime, resulting in incremental progress towards electoral turnover in 2000 and laying the groundwork for democratic deepening post-turnover. By contrast, in Côte d’Ivoire across three episodes of negotiation—the return to multiparty politics and ruling party succession from 1988- 1993, the introduction of Ivoirité and expansion of the opposition from 1994-1996, and the coup d’etat and negotiations around new elections from 1996-2000—the opposition’s focus on the exclusionary rule of Ivoirité and their use of more radical extrainstitutional strategies results in the country remaining stuck in hybridity. Two shadow cases— Malawi (1992-1995) and Kenya (1978-2007)—highlight how the theory travels to other country contexts.
Copyright Date
8-2025
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Kelci Burckhardt
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
160 pgs
File Size
1.3 MB
Recommended Citation
Burckhardt, Kelci, "Escaping the Hybridity Trap: Opposition Strategy and Democratization in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2617.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2617
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