Democratisation in Southern Africa

• The article reviews the state of democratisation in Southern Africa and analyzes why the regional record is uneven across countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
• It provides comparative insights from Botswana and Lesotho

Democratisation in Southern Africa

• Southern African states experienced a slow process of democratization after political independence, with multi-party democracy being replaced by one-party or military regimes.
• A new dispensation emerged in the late 1980s/early 1990s with the re-emergence of multi-party democracy with relative peace.
• Democratisation remains mixed.

Transitions

• Some countries have not had a democratic transition.
• Others have transitioned from one-party or military regimes to multi-party democracies
• Some have reversals of democratic gains.

Key questions

• The fundamental question is not whether Southern African states are 'fit for democracy', but whether they are becoming ‘fit through democracy'.
• This paper investigates political transitions from authoritarian rule and wars towards democracy and peace
• It pinpoints a number of trends:
  • Some countries haven't begun transition
  • Others have experienced reversals
  • Some have stagnated
  • Few have progressed.

Democraticness

• "Democraticness" remains a mixed bag.
• The paper focuses on:
  • Whether the region has undergone democratic transition.
  • Whether the region is set on the road to democracy, peace, and socio-economic development.
  • Whether the region has experienced stalled transitions.
  • Whether democratic transition is extending to economic transition and socio-economic transformation.

Contextual Framework

• African countries attained political independence from colonial domination, exploitation, and authoritarian rule about 50 years ago.
• Most Southern African countries gained independence in the 1960s through negotiations.
• Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa gained independence through armed struggles in the 1970s and 1990s.
• Since the early 1990s, many Southern African states have faced the challenge of institutionalising democracy and peace after authoritarian regimes and civil wars.
  • Embarking on a road to democracy is different from sustaining a democratic moment.
  • Ensuring that democratic momentum is sustainable and irreversible is difficult with the early history of post-colonial Africa seeing many states adopting liberal constitutional arrangements that switched to military dictatorships or one-party systems.
  • This was the first democratic reversal in Africa

Third wave

• Africa's second transition has been underway since the late 1980sand early 1990s as part of the third wave of democratisation.
• Democracy and governance scholars are divided over whether there is democratisation in Africa since the 1990s.
• Some argue that the process is simply political liberalisation without democratic content.
• The recent political changes amount to democratic transition, though limited to procedural or formal democracy.
• Democratic transition is distinct from democratic consolidation.
• The democracy discourse has shifted from transitions (1990s) to democratic consolidation and type of 'democracy'.
• 'Transitologists' investigate the ‘conditions and modes of transition from dictatorship to democracy', while 'consolidologists' inquire into causes, conditions and models of the consolidation of young democracies'.

Assessment

• Assessing the state of democratisation in Southern Africa is informed by discourses on political transitions and the state of nurturing/consolidation.
• Key factor is situational analysis of SADC state
• Evidence needed to judge any consolidation and reversals of democratic process

SADC States

• A few SADC member states are long-enduring liberal democracies (Botswana, Seychelles, and Mauritius).
• Majority have undergone democratic transition recently (DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), although Swaziland's transition was blocked.

Reality

• Making broad generalisations about the state of democracy in Southern Africa can be misleading.
• Trajectories of democratisation vary by country
• Some countries are still far behind on the road of transition/consolidation.
• Transition/democratic consolidation are difficult to define.

Conceptual Points of Democracy

• While democracy is nebulous, it can be understood as a concept, political culture and practice in three ways:
  • Minimalist definition: theory and practice of democracy focus on political competition/contestation and participation.
  • Robert Dahl's seven criteria for democracy ('polyarchy'):
    • Control over governmental decisions constitutionally vested in elected officials.
    • Relatively frequent, fair and free elections.
      • Universal adult suffrage.
      • The right to run for public office.
      • Freedom of expression.
      • Access to alternative sources of information not monopolised by the government or any other single group.
      • Freedom of association.
  • Competition captures the uncertain peaceful competition for democratic rule.
  • Participation is political control of the citizens over their government which protects the right to vote and ensures universal suffrage.
  • This is procedural or electoral democracy.

Liberal Notion

• The liberal notion of democracy transcends procedural democracy to include the protection of political rights and civil liberties.
• It includes institutional dimensions like accountability, transparency, limited powers of leaders, citizen representation, rule of law, property and minority rights.
• Accountability has vertical (electoral channels), horizontal (accountability mechanisms), societal functions of civil associations, NGOs, mass media), and external dimensions.
• Liberal Democracy is a focus on institutional dimension

Social Democracy

• Social-structuralist definition extends democracy beyond proceduralist/electoralist and institutionalist dimensions.
• It introduces socio-economic dimensions and structural configuration of power
• While maintaining the proceduralist and institutionalist dimensions of democracy, it values social/economic rights and social power relations
• Essence transcends civil liberties/political rights to the socio-economic realm wherein socio-economic/cultural rights are fundamental.
• Maximalist definition is within the democracy-development nexus.
• There is a general consensus about a symbiotic relationship between democracy, peace and human development.
• Pursuit of democratisation in tandem with these is social or developmental democracy.
• This is the ideal form of democracy for Southern Africa beyond the neo-liberal model embraced by the region.

Simplified:

• Minimum democracy: simply procedural limited to elections
• Higher level : Emphasis placed on civil and political rights (as Freedom House does).
• Higher Ideation: Emphasis on socio-economic characteristics and the concomitant social configuration of power

SADC Investigation

• Worth investigating blocked transitions stagnation.
• Research problem: political transitions in some countries while not in others, but varying levels of ‘democraticness'.

Transition problems

• Easy to define transition as a change from one condition/continuous, dispute remains over democratic consolidation.
• Heated academic debates over consolidation in the democratic process.
• More than two successive elections that produce a legitimate government = democratic consolidation?
• More a country holds elections, the more its democracy gets consolidated over time?
• Types of elections following transition (Agyeman-Duah)
  • (a) transitional elections (first after dictatorial rule)
  • (b) test of democracy (second election)
  • (c) consolidating elections (third successive).
• Frequency/number of elections may not be sufficient and country has to experience a smooth 'regime change'/power alteration and maintain political stability.
• Diamond: democratic consolidation requires legitimate and institutionalised governance as well as enhanced civil society participation.
• Changes normalize democratic politics/reduce uncertainty
• Requires the expansion of citizen access/democratic culture, better leadership training/recruitment, other civil society functions
• Most urgently, it requires political institutionalization.
• Institutions matter for democracy
• Political institutions, political order adversely affected resulting in political decay if not effective & robust (Huntington and Fukuyama)
• Daron Acemoglu/James Robinson: key factors explaining success/failure of nations include institutions, leadership, democracy and peace.
• Barrack Obama: Importance of a rule-based system protected from personal ambitions.

Critics

• Political institutionalisation logic has own limits
• Down plays role of citizens
• Requires combining institutions with politic culture
• IDASA Southern African Democracy Barometer: sustainable democracy needs citizens willing to support/defend democratic practices.

Institution and culture

• Institutions = hardware and what people think = software.
• Africa needs strong institutions/not men.
• Requires transformative/visionary leaders setting advances national interest over personal.
• Africa needs citizen engagement in governance/development, accountability, people-centred development.
• Well-organised, engaging civil society needed as well for accountability.
• I am more inclined to the politic culture
• A political economy approach even better that measures improvement of socio-economic well-being.
• Software, hardware

Critical Appraisal

• Transitions have taken place in the Southern African region.
• Democracy & governance state of flux
• Regimes vary (see regime types)
• Previous research work
• SADC countries classified into four distinct regime types:
  • (1) closed authoritarian regimes (i.e. unreformed autocracies)
  • (2) electoral authoritarian regimes (façade democracies, to use Haynes' concept)
  • (3) electoral democratic regimes (regimes that reduce democracy to simple electioneering)
  • (4) liberal democratic regimes (regimes that allow for room for promotion of civil liberties and political rights in between regular elections).
• Democracy lacking those not yet transitions
• Swaziland not reformed its autocratic governance model despite democratisation wave.
• Governance is premised upon one person or small political elite wielding state power/running national affairs with little public input etc.
• Second electoral authoritarian regimes/liberalised autocracies
  • (a) Conduct regular elections, remain autocratic.
• Termed zone democracies, ambiguous democracies
  • (b) Includes Angola, DRC and Zimbabwe operates as façade democracies.
• Outcomes:
• Conflict Ridden
• Political Violence

Elections

• Electoral processes:
  • (a) lacking procedural certainty (legitimacy of electoral processes)
  • (b) substantiative (credibility of election results).
• Mozaffar/Schedler Electoral governance must be predicated upon legimacy Paradoxes and challenges

Conclusion

• Essence is political certainty
• Involves vulnerability
• Requires democracy scholars & activists agreement on
• Democracy is political uncertainty
• Requires well developed elections
• Lacking elements
• Governments unstable
• Political Stability

Classifications of SADC regimes

• Closed Authoritarian

  • Swaziland

• Electoral Authoritarian

  • Zimbabwe
  • DRC
  • Angola
  • Madagasca

• Electoral Democratic

  • Tanzania
  • Zambia
  • Malawi
  • Lesotho
  • Mozambique
  • Seychelles

• Liberal Democratic

  • Botswana
  • Mauritius
  • Namibia
  • South Africa

SADC

• Number of SADC countries have made progress
• However it has stalled
• Some conflicts
• Other marked with stability
• Process general norm
• Limited by political issues

Tension

• Sharp release limited model.
• More inclined to people centered.
• Adapt to their people
• Freedom of development closely linked.

Conclusion

There are limitations Push to responsive development

Small Regions

• Has not been given enough attention Trends analyzed hegemony
• Need power
• To stabilise democracy
• Must add two regions
• In respect of democracy

Comparisons

• Botswana & Lesotho
• Similar independence dates
• Population size limited
• Botswana is mixed
• Diversity is not an issue if its managed well

Institution & leadership

• Develop works less in Lesoho
• In this nations judiciary is weak, limited
• Political is linked to country
• strong leaders are need where their weak

Stability

• Lesotho limited
• Lesoo relies on SADC

Three Factors

Thrive

• Natural
• Economy Botswana
• More Independence

Differences

• Competition & power
• Zero sum in Botswana
• Had one party in time
• Dominance must to be limited
• Lesotho systems military in politics
• To improve to reform

Considerations

• Has had steps forward
• Some states limited
• War ended
• Conflict increasing Constitutional
• Some prolonged
• Military

Other points

• African peoples
• Limited women and gender
• Linkage weekenes
• Bauer & Taylor
• Botswana better
• Lesotho has constraints

Analysis of democratisation in Southern Africa, focusing on the uneven regional performance of countries in the SADC. It discusses the transitions from one-party rule to multi-party democracy and the challenges faced, using Botswana and Lesotho as examples.