Introduction. Understanding African politics : bringing the state back in / Nic Cheeseman -- Institutional legacies : understanding multiparty politics in historical perspective / Rachel Riedl -- Property and land institutions : origins, variations, and political effects / Catherine Boone -- Financial institutions : economic liberalisation, credit, and opposition party success / Leonardo Arriola -- Constitutions : the politics of constitutional reform / Muna Ndulo -- The police : laws, prosecutions and women's rights in Liberia / Peace Medie -- The bureaucracy : policy implementation and reform / M. Anne Pitcher and Manuel P. Teodoro -- Political parties : presidential succession crises and internal party democracy / Ian Cooper -- Elections : the power of elections in multiparty Africa / Carolien van Ham and Staffan Lindberg -- Electoral rules : the relationship between political exclusion and conflict / Brian Klaas -- Term limits : leadership, political competition and the transfer of power / Daniel Young and Daniel Posner -- The legislature : institutional strengthening in dominant-party states / Michaela Collord -- The judiciary : courts, judges and the rule of law / Peter VonDoepp -- Decentralisation : accountability in local government / Alexander Dyzenhaus -- Conclusion. political institutions and democracy in Africa : a research agenda / Nic Cheeseman