One-party domination, a flaw in Africa’s democracy (original) (raw)

One-party domination, a flaw in Africas democracy: Comparative cases from Cameroon and South Africa

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2013

One-party domination has been firmly established as the mainstay of the political landscapes of most African countries. With a combination of both empirical and secondary data, this research set out to selectively examine the factors that contribute in entrenching the dominance of the ruling parties of Cameroon and South Africa. It also analyzed the extent to which one-party domination has contributed in thwarting good governance in these African states. This research revealed that, the dominant party in Cameroon has employed tactics spanning across corruption, nepotism, constitutional manipulations and annihilation of opposition, so as to consolidate its grip of power. In South Africa, the ruling party has largely benefited from the black majority of the population and has capitalized on racial politics, so as to secure its dominance. Amongst some recommendations made to ensure that democracy in Cameroon and South Africa works are: a separation of party from the state; the formation of inclusive governments; anti-corruption mechanisms; and respect for constitutional provisions.

Flaws in Africa's One-Party Dominant Democracies: The Case of Cameroon and South Africa.

One-party domination has been firmly established as the mainstay of African politics. The dominant party usually enjoys absolute majority in Parliament, its members occupy most positions in all levels of the state hierarchy and its ideologies and propaganda are the slogans in most public gatherings, local and national forums. Cameroon and South Africa are de jure multiparty states whose political landscapes have all been dominated by a single party since democratic elections at independence. With a combination of both empirical and secondary data, this paper sets out to examine the factors that help to entrench the supremacy of dominant parties and to analyze the extent to which one-party dominance has contributed in thwarting good governance in these selected African states.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA Edited By

ADLA COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED, 2018

This edition is a broadened research on political parties in Africa in general. The edition is given a fresh fillip by general agitation across African states, citizens have woken up in an unusual manner to demand restructuring of the state and governance which also inspired the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Crawford University to lend its weight to the agitation by organizing the First ever Multidimensional Conference on Critical National issues entitled: Restructuring Federalism and Governance in Nigeria. The earlier edition which focused on opposition political parties and democratization in Africa has incontrovertibly filled a great vacuum on scholarly research in opposition political parties in Africa. The publication in Africa of that edition and unrelenting enquiries from students has spurred us to perfect the edition by focusing on political parties in general. There is indeed a serious gap in research in political parties in this part of the world; that gap, we hope this edition will fill. We must quickly add that while we have blazed the trail in making the populace to be better informed on the existence and activities of political parties and governance in Nigeria, there are still other issues on political parties that are open for further research. It is remarkable that while political parties have flourished in Nigeria numbering about 60 as at last count, the fundamental problem remains that of maturity and value. The recurrent decimal is that while Africa copied everything from the colonial masters, West Minster parliamentary system of government and even presidential executive type from America, African politicians have failed to imbibe the etiquette of ideology or principle in the formation of parties. In other words, the most debasing traits of African parties are lack of ideology or principles. This serious lacuna has made African Political Parties to remain a dwarf and had impacted negatively on democratization sustainability. Political Parties are the bedrock of democracy and so if political parties are not solidly rooted on a firm ideology then the superstructure cannot stand which is the central problem of Africa democracy, nation building and development. As a result, while democracy cannot be sustained, every other thing; governance, institution and development remain problematic. This edition has engineered a debate on the need to have ideologically based parties, a democratic institution through leadership that can promote accountability, ethical values, corruption free society, strong institutions, credible elections and self-reliant nation industrialization wise. Indeed, this book has come to deepen and expand the space of research in the earlier edition: Opposition Political Parties and Democratization in Africa. This edition, with particular focus on Political Parties in general, governance and associated institutions in the polity, the students, policy makers, researchers will have complete material and information that will assist them in digging deep into issues to strengthen the Africa’s political parties, institutions, governance as this is critical ,in fact, the African Political Parties needed re-invigoration and regeneration to have right leadership and conducive environment without which African democracy will remain stunted.

Dilemmas of ‘Democratic Representation’ and One-Party Rule in Africa

During the transition in the 90s, unlike the pessimism portrayed by the African elite, some countries though small in number, notably Zambia and Mozambique had already made a successful transition from military-affiliated single party dictatorships to pluriform institutions and practices. Armed peace, while contested heavily as to its democratic credentials by opposition forces has resulted in regime change and relative peace for economic development. Ruling parties had used the moment of elections to rally the populace behind votes designed to intimidate the populace and a one party choice. Nigeria, Algeria and Burundi had of course slipped into political oblivion by the restitution of military rule. Seen from the outside, Africa is often characterized as a continent of civil conflict, refugees and displaced populations and economic crisis. Yes, some of the bloodiest conflicts since the end of WWII have been among Africans. Millions of refugees and IDPs, proportionately the largest number in developing countries, are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The forces of lawlessness, mercenaries, petty arms traders, narco-traffickers and smugglers have descended on African countries in conflict, fanning the flames of war, and profiteering from the destruction of the lives of our children. One may indeed ask whether the state-sponsored plunder of colonialism has not been replaced by private profiteering: the privatization of politics, plunder and exploitation!

Votes, Money and Violence: Political Parties and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa

Review of African Political Economy, 2009

Both foundations enabled us to invite numerous contributors and discussants from both Europe and Africa. we would also like to thank the contributors to this volume not only for the quality of their papers but also for their patience during what was a rather extended production period. The conference was organised by the Institute of African Affairs of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA, formerly German Overseas Institute); most of the contributions to this volume are based on early versions of the papers presented at the conference. The editors Hamburg, February 2006 VotEs, MoNEy ANd VIoLENCE and consolidation of democracy. It also seems to justify old reservations about the appropriateness of politics in Africa's multiethnic societies. One explanation for this public scepticism of the value of opposition parties is that they are not really visible in the periods between elections. we have learned from focus group interviews in Ghana and Zambia during 2003 that 'you see political parties only before the elections. Afterwards they disappear again, completely'. Before passing judgement on Africa's political landscape it is healthy to take a sober look at what is happening closer to home. A recent Eurobarometer (2004) survey indicates that only 16 per cent of the people interviewed in Europe trust political parties. The situation in Africa is not, therefore, an unusual one. Perhaps, there is no major reason to feel concerned about it. However, we do not know very much about the political meaning of different levels of trust in different political contexts, that is, in new democracies or hybrid regimes versus consolidated democracies. The collection of articles that make up this volume deals with these two core institutions of democracy: elections and political parties. Seymor Martin lipset's (2000) dictum on the "indispensability of political parties" remains unchallenged. Even African scholars who are critical to what is 'western' accept it. 1 Even beyond liberal democratic ideas, these two aspects of a democracy are important as a focus of research because in Africa there are many hybrid and even authoritarian regimes that attempt to obtain legitimacy via multi-party elections. Surprisingly, however, almost 15 years after the 'wind from the East that is shaking the coconut trees' of Africa (Omar Bongo, Africa, 9 April 1990), there is still little systematic empirical research in this area. while elections have received a fair degree of scholarly attention, this is not true as regards African political parties or party systems. Even the election research is limited, being concentrated on case studies and more often than not linked to the 'technical' issues of election observation. Systematic comparative research about the effects of elections and different election systems on, for example, the quality of the political regime (democratic, hybrid), the development of party systems, civil liberties, or political party organisation is largely missing. Andrew Reynolds' (1999) work is of course an exception, although in some respects it is typical. He (1999: 267) concludes his comparative analysis by stating that proportional representation (PR) electoral systems outperform their plurality-majority alternatives in many performance criteria, especially in

International Order of Political Parties and Governance in Africa

Political Parties and Governance in Africa, 2018

Preface This edition is a broadened research on political parties in Africa in general. The edition is given a fresh fillip by general agitation across African states, citizens have woken up in an unusual manner to demand restructuring of the state and governance which also inspired the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Crawford University to lend its weight to the agitation by organizing the First ever Multidimensional Conference on Critical National issues entitled: Restructuring Federalism and Governance in Nigeria. The earlier edition which focused on opposition political parties and democratization in Africa has incontrovertibly filled a great vacuum on scholarly research in opposition political parties in Africa. The publication in Africa of that edition and unrelenting enquiries from students has spurred us to perfect the edition by focusing on political parties in general. There is indeed a serious gap in research in political parties in this part of the world; that gap, we hope this edition will fill. We must quickly add that while we have blazed the trail in making the populace to be better informed on the existence and activities of political parties and governance in Nigeria, there are still other issues on political parties that are open for further research. It is remarkable that while political parties have flourished in Nigeria numbering about 90 as at last count, the fundamental problem remains that of maturity and value. The recurrent decimal is that while Africa copied everything from the colonial masters, West Minster parliamentary system of government and even presidential executive type from America, African politicians have failed to imbibe the etiquette of ideology or principle in the formation of parties. In other words, the most debasing traits of African parties are lack of ideology or principle. This serious lacuna has made African Political Parties to remain a dwarf and had impacted negatively on democratization sustainability. Political Parties are the bedrock of democracy and so if political parties are not solidly rooted on a firm ideology then the superstructure cannot stand which is the central problem of African democracy, nation building and development. As a result, while democracy cannot be sustained, every other thing; governance, institution and development remain problematic. This edition has engineered a debate on the need to have ideologically based parties, a democratic institution through leadership that can promote accountability, ethical values, corruption free society, strong institutions, credible elections and self-reliant nation industrialization wise. Indeed, this book has come to deepen and expand the space of research in the earlier edition: Opposition Political Parties and Democratization in Africa. This edition, with particular focus on Political Parties in general, governance and associated institutions in the polity, the students, policy makers, researchers will have complete material and information that will assist them in digging deep into issues to strengthen the Africa’s political parties, institutions and governance in this part of the world, in fact, the African Political Parties needed reinvigoration and regeneration to have right leadership and conducive environment without which African democracy will remain stunted. Professor Gabriel lanre Adeola