The Limits of Clientism: Multi-Party Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa

As a comment to Nicolas van de Walle's article in this issue, ‘The Impact of Multi-Party Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa’, it is argued that a qualitative approach can be more appropriate. Quantitative analyses will largely reflect the indicators chosen and the relative weight assigned to them in the first place. Besides, statistics are weak in Africa and the number of cases is limited. The commentary also suggests a more precise delineation and evaluation of the core aspects of neopatrimonialism. Institutions matter, however, and it is therefore argued that the qualitative aspects of democratic institutionalisation should be assessed for each country, here illustrated by Senegal as a case.