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Accepted Paper:
Conflict resolution by institutional design: state formation in Namibia - public service and decentralisation
William A. Lindeke (Institute for Public Policy Research, Windhoek)
Paper short abstract:
Institutional transformation & social conflicts in Namibia since 1990: new state institutions include decentralisation and recentralisation; Public Service: the state payroll provides employment, extends ruling party control, serves as carrot and stick to rivals, and embodies the Affirmative Action.
Paper long abstract:
Namibia has been widely praised for the success of its transition from a prolonged armed struggle to a democratic and peaceful period of transitional development. This transformation required a multidimensional national reconciliation policy toward previously warring factions and a multi-racial and multi-ethnic population that experienced a highly differentiated impact of colonialism and war.
This paper examines specific elements of institutional transformation and fresh social conflicts since 1990. Among the new state institutions those of decentralisation remain the least developed and most troublesome and after two decades of independence, a reversal of power seems underway with significant recentralisation reforms gathering momentum. A further dimension of state society interaction covered is the relationship between the state and traditional ethnic structures and authorities.
Article 141 of the Constitution guaranteed all public employees at the birth of the new nation protected status requiring clear "due process" procedures for their removal. At the same time, expansion of the state payroll provides most of the formal employment increases since independence. Public Service brings sectors of government effectively under ruling party control, provides a carrot and stick approach to potential rivals, and embodies the Affirmative Action policy in the Constitution. Namibia now faces a turning point between "struggle rewards" and a more technocratic performance trajectory in the Public Service. This study will utilise primarily a desk research and the 5th Round of the Afrobarometer Opinion Survey which will be available shortly before the Conference.
Institutional transformations in southern Africa since 1990
Session 1