Opposition in a hybrid regime: The functions of opposition parties in Burkina Faso and Uganda

Abstract Despite growing interest in party politics Africa, the activities and roles of African opposition parties are still underexplored, especially context one-party-dominant ‘hybrid’ regimes where they allowed to operate but face a myriad constraints. In these settings, common dilemma: having participate regime’s institutions protest against them at same time. Existing frameworks fail provide full accurate picture how can erode incumbent’s dominance promote regime change. This article offers novel functional framework, drawing from comparative research Burkina Faso Uganda. It identifies set three functions that perform within hybrid regime: denunciation, mobilization dissent, succession signalling. Understanding parties’ through this alternative framework enables us reconcile seemingly contradictory behaviour work both status quo better evaluate their role setting.