“Dominant parties” in Southern Africa: what challenges for democracy?

1. “Dominant parties” in Southern Africa: what challenges for democracy? Luís de Brito IESE Maputo, 7 April 2011

2. Theinstrumentsofperceptionandanalysisofthe social world are alwaystheobjectof a struggle for theimpositionof a legitimatedefinition, dependingonthedifferent social positionsandinterests • Democracyis a social process • Democracyisaninstitutionalarrangementthatallowspoliticaldecisions to betaken. Itmustbebasedonthreeminimumprinciples: • Governmentcannotbeautoproclaimed • Governmentcannot assume anirrevocablepower • Governmentcannot assume power as “hisownproperty” • Thiswillbetranslatedin: • Mechanisms for thelimitationofpower(separationofpowers, ruleoflaw, periodicelections, etc.) • Freeandequalcompetion for power

4. SouthAfrica – The debate onthe “dominantparty” • GiliomeeandSimkins (1999). • Giliomee, MyburghandSchlemmer (2004) • Brooks (2004) • Southall (2005) The debate hasextended (without real development) for SouthernAfrica, mainlyfocusedonthequestionofliberationmovementsandtheirtendency to installonepartyauthoritariansystems

5. SouthAfrica (ANC) • 1994 – 62,7% + 7 provinces (GUN) • 1999 – 66,4% + 7 provinces • 2004 – 69,7% + all 9 provinces • 2009 – 65,9% - Western Cape

6. Mozambique (FrelimoandRenamo) • 1994 – 44,3% | 37,8% • 1999 – 48,5% | 38,8% • 2004 – 62,0% | 29,7% • 2009 – 74,7% | 17,7%

7. (Pre)dominantpartysystem: • Absolutemajorityofseats for a longperiod • Tendency for unclearseparationofpartyandstate • Tendency to controlallpower centres, including local government • Lowleveloftolerance for oppositionviews • Hegemonicpartysystem: • Higherlevelofhierarchiccontrol • Twolevelsystemofparties • Licensedopposition • No real (sometimeseven formal) competition • Manipulationofinstitutionsandelections’ fraud (as a condition for victoryandkeepingpower)

8. D D D D D LAS + IPR LAS LAS LAS LAS FPTP FPTP MMP FPTP FPTP FPTP PR PR PR PR FPTP Dominant Botswana Lesotho Malawi Zambia Tanzania SouthAfrica Namíbia Angola Mozambique Zimbabwe Hegemonic D = Decolonisation LAS = LiberationArmedStruggle IRC= Internal Popular Resistance FPTP = FirstPastthePost PR = ProportionalRepresentation MMP = MixedMemberProportional

9. Sometopicsfor reflexion: • Nationalismandauthoritarianpoliticalculture • Identitypolitics versus programaticpolitics • Democratizationfrom “above” • Politicalimplicationsandeffectsofexternalaid • Nationalbourgeoisieformationand “primitiveaccumulation” or “bellypolitics” andneopratimonialism • Levelofdevelopment (urbanisation/industrialisation, education/information/elite formation) • Natureand role ofoppositionparties • Thedeclining vote turnout

10. Brooks, H. (2004). TheDominantPartySystem: Challenges for SouthAfrica'sSecondDecadeofDemocracy. ElectoralInstituteofSouthernAfricaOccasionalPaperNumber 25, October. Johannesburg: EISA. • Gentili, A. M. (2005). Party, PartySystemsandDemocratisationinSub-SaharanAfrica. PaperPresentedattheSixth Global ForumonReinventingGovernment. Seoul, RepublicofKorea, 24-27 May. • Giliomee, H. andSimkins, C. (Eds.). (1999). TheAwkwardEmbrace: OnePartyDominationandDemocracy. Cape Town: Tafelberg. • Giliomee, H., Myburgh, J. andSchlemmer, L. (2001). DominantPartyRule, OppositionPoliticsandMinoritiesinSouthAfrica. In: Southall R. (Ed.). OppositionandDemocracyinSouthAfrica. London. Frank Cass, pp. 161-182. • Landsberg, Ch. (2004). Democratisation, DominantParties, andWeakOpposition: TheSouthernAfrican Project. . ElectoralInstituteofSouthernAfricaOccasionalPaperNumber 22, July. Johannesburg: EISA. • Southall, R. (2005). The ‘Dominant Party Debate’ in South Africa. Africa Spectrum, 40 (1), pp. 61-82.