Strong theoretical assumptions link trust (political and social) to democratic politics. Trust is as necessary requirement of democratic regime stability and effectiveness, but is certainly reinforced by democracy and good governance. Studies focusing on western countries find strong empirical correlations between interpersonal trust, trust in political institutions, and overall democratic endorsement. What about the African context? To what extent trust in political institutions and support for the democratic regime result from citizens' levels of interpersonal trust or are, otherwise, merely the product of the ways in which citizens evaluate the outputs of the political system? Furthermore to what extent citizens' levels of trust and support for democracy vary as a function of territorial cleavages? This paper examines these questions, drawing on Afrobarometer data (round 5) which includes 51587 interviews with individual citizens in 34 African countries. The aim is to carry out a multilevel analysis which will control for important macro-level variables (e.g. urban population) and to how they interact with key independent variables (interpersonal trust, and evaluations of regime performance) to explain trust in political institutions and support for democracy. I argue that these are relevant questions to be surveyed a quarter century after the inception of the democratic opening in the continent. Even though there are instances of democratic reversal and of authoritarian resilience the move towards democratization has happened in most countries. This makes relevant to survey the sources of democratic support and of political trust in Africa.

Tanzania's ruling party continue to control a significant majority of rural constituencies at a time when opposition candidates have been able to win parliamentary seats in most large towns and cities. This paper begins by discussing the major causal factors behind this trend that has been gaining momentum over the last two decades. Two of these factors - the fact that rural voters have access to little information critical of the government, and opposition parties' difficulties in projecting themselves outside urban areas - are of particular interest when considering the rapidly growing population centres in Tanzania's rural constituencies.

As sites of in-migration, and because they form trade and transport hubs, rural population centres are generally places where the flow of information is high. They also tend to have a relatively strong opposition presence. These more typically urban characteristics highlight the shortcomings of using constituency boundaries to demarcate an urban-rural divide. Crucially, these centres are also well connected to the rest of their districts and act as conduits for flows of political information into smaller villages. This process already occurs on a small scale, both organically and as the result of deliberate opposition strategy. In the long-run, it has the potential to challenge some of the dynamics which have, up to this point, supported the government's electoral dominance of rural areas.

Race is always a sensitive topic to debate. Among the different definitions of what is race - or even if it effectivelly exists - there is a large range of positions. Despite of this, the race, understood as a social construction on the basis of unequal social relations, has been an important topic on recent social and political debate on African countries as Angola.

Hall (2013) says that the condition of people of african descent outside Africa is determinant on how they relate to this question, including on their political positioning.

In the other hand, African countries like Angola has treated the question of race as a secondary problem, given the priority of national unity construction (Malaquias, 1999). Assuming that race (and racism) was an colonial instrument to dominate local people, with the end of the colonial rule, this question would be automatically surpassed.

On present days, young Angolans from urban spaces are increasingly involved in the political debate, demanding more space for political participation and democracy. One of the instruments used to this purpose is the hip-hop language, which is marked by its concern with the debate of racial relations on diasporic spaces as Brazil, the United States and even Portugal.

If it is possible to say that the dialogue with diasporic spaces is a source to define their positions on democracy we wonder if the same can be can be verified regarding race and its effects on political positioning.

The urban-rural divide has received much attention in recent scholarship on African politics. But has it led to notable differences in how parties campaign in rural versus urban areas since the re-introduction of multi-partyism? Drawing on data on the speeches made by presidential candidates in Ghana and Kenya over the course of several electoral campaigns, this paper explores the scope and content of the urban-rural cleavage in these countries. It finds significant variation in the outreach strategies parties employ, the issues they highlight, and the mechanics of campaigns. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the difficulties parties face in reconciling the promises made in Africa's urban and rural areas, and what these imply for the durability of electoral coalitions on the continent.