Is Zambian Alternation left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Zambian Alternation scores +04 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores +05. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Zambian Alternation authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Zambian Alternation scores −01. Competitive elections with periodic restrictions on assembly and on the press under successive governments.

Atlas / Organisations / Zambian Alternation

Zambian Alternation

UPND / PF · 1991– · Zambia · Competitive Blocs · Electoral party · coding confidence medium

+04ECmarket

+05CUtraditional

−01AUpluralist

+03SCcentral

+03IDascriptive

−06CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Repeated transfers of power between rival parties, including an opposition victory in 2021 after four previous defeats.

Economic model

Copper-dependent, defaulted in 2020, restructured under the G20 common framework, subsidised farming inputs.

Organisation of powers

Competitive elections with periodic restrictions on assembly and on the press under successive governments.

Check a claim about Zambian Alternation. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +04

Coded +4: copper dependence, default and restructuring.

Documented act or statuteZambia defaulted in November 2020, the first African sovereign default of the pandemic, and completed restructuring in 2024.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +05

Coded +5: religious conservatism across parties.

Documented act or statuteZambia is constitutionally declared a Christian nation.

AU · Organisation of power · scored −01

Coded −1: repeated alternation with periodic restriction of assembly.

Documented act or statutePower transferred in 1991, 2011 and 2021; the 2021 winner had lost the four previous elections.
Documented act or statutePublic order legislation has been used by successive governments to restrict opposition rallies.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +03

Coded +3: a unitary state with decentralised constituency development funds.

Documented act or statuteThe constituency development fund was increased tenfold in 2022.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +03

Coded +3: civic citizenship with regional voting patterns.

ScholarshipVoting correlates strongly with province, though parties campaign nationally.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −06

Coded −6: entirely electoral since 1991.

Documented act or statuteThree transfers of power by election with no coup since independence.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Zambia

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Zambian Alternation. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/upnd/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.