Skip to main content Accessibility help
×

Maintenance update

Due to planned maintenance, between 07:00 - 16:00 (UTC) purchasing will not be available. We apologise for any inconvenience.

  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Activist Origins of Political Ambition
  • Cited by 12
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      08 July 2022
      21 July 2022
      ISBN:
      9781009019705
      9781316519929
      9781009011518
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009019705
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.725kg, 400 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.58kg, 400 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Area Studies, African Studies, Law, Comparative Law, Politics and International Relations, African Government, Politics and Policy
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Area Studies, African Studies, Law, Comparative Law, Politics and International Relations, African Government, Politics and Policy
    Information

    Book description

    Why do people run for office with opposition parties in electoral authoritarian regimes, where the risks of running are high, and the chances of victory are bleak? In Activist Origins of Political Ambition, Keith Weghorst offers a theory that candidacy decisions are set in motion in early life events and that civic activism experiences and careers in civil society organizations funnel aspirants towards opposition candidacy in electoral authoritarian regimes. The book also adapts existing explanations of candidacy decisions derived from leading democracies that can be applied to electoral authoritarian contexts. The mixed-methods research design features an in-depth study of Tanzania using original survey data, sequence methods, archival research, and qualitative data combined with an analysis of legislators across authoritarian and democratic regimes in Africa. A first-of-its kind study, the book's account of the origins of candidacy motivations offers contributions to its study in autocracies, as well as in leading democracies and the United States.

    Reviews

    ‘Weghorst’s treatment of path dependency - both conceptually and empirically - stands out as one of his key intellectual contributions and is what makes this book important reading for any scholar of political institutions and history. It deserves a broad readership.’

    Fiona Shen-Bayh Source: Perspectives on Politics

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.