Paper short abstract:

The party dominance in South Africa, during the eve and consolidation of the democracy, has been a benign bridging in the political system to stabilise, constraining the threats represented by secessionist forces and ethnic violence in a divided society as South Africa

Paper long abstract:

In 1994 South Africa held its first democratic election under a new electoral system. Since then a tripartite alliance formed by the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and the Trade Union Alliance COSATU has been ruling the country with wide parliamentarian majorities. This article focuses in understanding the problems of democratic consolidation and state-building. In emerging democracies from authoritarian regimes, the legitimacy and stability of the new political system and the reduction of the conflict are the most concern issues to face front. I identify what type of party systems are associated with citizen participation, stable and effective government, and the containment of political violence. I argue that the implementation of a high inclusive proportional electoral system in a high divided society as South Africa and the resultant strong party system, generates stability, legitimacy and governability in these political systems. The use of a PR electoral system with a national constituency and low-level threshold has mitigated the regionalisation of the party system.

Taking as dependent variables: the stability, the governability, and the legitimacy in the political systems; and as independent variables: the degree of multi-party system, the proportionality of the electoral outcome, and the level of social division. I show that the emerging of a party dominance system in new democracies, with high divided societies, has a benign effect in the success of the democratisation. The resulting party dominance in South Africa has facilitated national integration and has constrained secessionist tendencies.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines a few protest songs and folktales selected randomly from Cameroon which reflect the traditional African concepts of leadership, freedom and democracy. It shows that the concepts of good leadership, freedom and democracy are fundamental to the concerns of African oral literature.

Paper long abstract:

Violence as a means of expressing and achieving political preferences is rife in struggles for liberty globally and particularly in Africa. Most of the great political changes the world has known have taken place under violent conditions. However, although violence has paid off where other means have failed, it must be rejected because it is coercive, costly and leads to disruptive actions whose results are uncertain. Written against the background of the social contract theory, this paper examines a few protest songs and folktales selected randomly from Cameroon which reflect the traditional African concepts of leadership, freedom and democracy. We highlight that the concepts of good leadership, freedom and democracy are fundamental to the concerns of African oral literature. The paper demonstrates how African oral literature can illuminate the current political process in Africa with the view of drawing implications for positive change. Finally, it is recommended that if the issues of violence, liberty, democracy, freedom, good governance and political change in Africa are to be addressed more successfully and if the politically fraught conditions of Africans are to be ameliorated, Africans must be prepared to undergo a radical change of mentality. We must be able to rehabilitate our oral literature to raise the level of consciousness to provoke positive change.

Keywords: Oral literature, liberty, good leadership, freedom, democracy, political change

Paper short abstract:

Democratic experiment in Cameroon , arouse a question concerning on the one hand, the continuity of power and the non-replacement of political regime (since 1982), the constitutional dispositions to extend term of office and, free power succession following endogenous and exogenous patterns.

Paper long abstract:

Scholars point out that African States are reputed for "failure to institutionalise power, which goes ahead to question their State structure either directly or indirectly ; as there is a somewhat form of State which is devoid of its identity and consequently, the State becomes an illusion ". This issue is relevant and before we progress, it is necessary we carry a study on Cameroon's political developments in terms of "political shift of power ", like every other African country as from the 1990 . Democratic experiment in Cameroon , arouse a question concerning on the one hand, the continuity of power and the non-replacement of political regime (since 1982), the constitutional dispositions to extend term of office, and on the other hand, free power succession following endogenous and exogenous patterns.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses sit-tightism in Africa, an undemocratic practice whereby an elected president refuses to leave office after his tenure of office has elapsed.This practice is against one of the cardinal tenets of democracy which is, term limits, always spelt out in a country's constitution.

Paper long abstract:

ABSTRACT

Democracy has no doubt gained currency among Africans as the best form of government but the extent to which the leaders bastardize its application is mind boggling and needs to be discussed for democratic consciousness among various stakeholders. It is against this backdrop that this paper undertakes to explore one of the anti-democratic trends in Africa's politics namely, sit-tightism, a phenomenon as well as a practice whereby an elected president uses suppression of the opposition and manipulation of the constitution to truncate his abdication of power after his constitutionally mandated term of office has elapsed and thereby stays put in office. This practice is against one of the cardinal tenets of democracy which is, term limits, always spelt out in a country's constitution. Using the historical analytical method as well as the realist/power theory approach, the paper explores the strategies employed in accomplishing this undemocratic phenomenon and discovers that the practice is a burden on democracy in Africa and also an affront on democratic consolidation as well as a nemesis to socio-economic and political development of affected nations in particular and the African continent in general. The paper recommends democratic consciousness among the citizenry as well as regional and global denouncement and sanctions against any nation involved as a deterrent.

Key words: Africa, constitution, democracy, sit-tightism and term limit.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the role of the media in the sensitive but critical process of regime change in African democratic experiments. Using the Nigerian experience in 2015 as a base, it examines the implications of elite behavior and media acquiescence for democratic growth in Africa

Paper long abstract:

All over the world, the media plays a pivotal role in politics. Essentially, media and communication institutions do not merely entertain, inform and educate citizens about the political choices available to them during elections; they also hold governments accountable for their policy decisions and actions whenever they get elected into power. Nowhere is this sensitive role of the media more significant than in the emerging democracies of Asia and Africa plagued by fragile and disruptive political actors and processes. Across the African continent, violent insurgencies and unstable political contraptions are on the increase, spurred by challenges emanating from regime changes and succession politics. As the biggest democracy in Africa, it is worrisome to note that Nigeria experienced the first peaceful civilian-civilian regime change since its independence in 1960 only in 2015. In many other countries, the process has continued to be frustrated by coalitions of powerful elites in pursuit of personal interests at the expense of sociopolitical instability and fragmentation of their homelands. From the prisms of the Social Responsibility Theory and Elite Theory, this paper interrogates the role of the media in promoting peaceful successions of power in Nigeria and draws attention to the behavior of elites as the most determinant factor in curbing disruptions and violence before, during and after transitions of governments.

Paper short abstract:

The restoration of democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999 has been applauded by observers of the nation's political development. However, the seemingly ceaseless litigation over election results has generated endless debate among the analysts. This panel is a contribution to this conversation.

Paper long abstract:

Since the restoration of democratic governance which heralded the Fourth Republic in 1999, the outcomes of the various elections conducted have generated heated controversies. Out of the five Presidential Elections conducted since 1999, only 2015 did not end in the law courts. While, electoral process in the country seems to demonstrate the democratic credentials of the nation, the results of most of these elections only lend credence to the phenomenon of 'voting without electing'. This has given way to disillusionment and appalling state of living of the majority the populace. The dwindling quality of government is not unconnected with the influence of neo-patrimonial network and fraudulent electoral process. The electoral heist, which robs the political elites the much needed legitimacy makes them, creates an amalgam of political network amongst major power merchants within the country for regime stability and political survival. The ruling elites are therefore not answerable to the citizens but to this network to the detriment of the common man. This work appraises the succession politics in the country since the rebirth of democracy, it argues that the nature of Nigeria's electoral process and neo-patrimonial network ultimately result in the legitimacy deficit as the power of the electorate is compromised through the patron-client relations. The study draws on data interview and extant literature to draw attention to succession politics in Nigeria. Credible electoral process is not only a sine qua non for standard democratic governance but also a crucial element for smooth and peaceful political succession.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, we argue that Liberia currently exists in a post-war arena of 'post-party' politics where a profound disregard for parties is the norm, and in which the electorate and politicians forum shop for candidates and/or political configurations they presume will deliver the best results.

Paper long abstract:

Liberia's 2017 elections represented a watershed moment in the country's political history. In addition to completing the first democratic transfer of power from one president to another since 1944, it resulted in wide representation across many different parties and independents as well as high levels of legislative turn-overs. Additionally, these polls brought forward political neophytes fronting parties as standard bearers, unprecedented numbers of party reconfigurations, increased levels of defections, and politicians/parties losing abysmally in presumed ethno-regional bases. In this paper, we argue that Liberia currently exists in a post-war arena of 'post-party' politics where a profound disregard for parties is the norm, and in which the electorate and politicians alike forum shop for candidates and/or political configurations they presume will deliver the best results for them as individuals, or for their communities and country. Although literature exploring electoral trends in Africa tends to emphasize ethno-regionalism and patronage as drivers and constraints in the choices of voters and politicians, we demonstrate instead that Liberians make relatively informed, strategic decisions about political alliances and ballot casting thereby complicating allegiances to ethnicity and region. By further eschewing party loyalties, Liberians have gradually become astute forum shoppers in a political marketplace that makes running for office and voting complex undertakings.

Paper short abstract:

On 1 August 2018, Zimbabwean army shot 6 civilians caught up in the crossfire of protestors alleging ZANU PF electoral theft of the July 30 elections. Heavy involvement of the military in the ruling party and governmnet pauses a lot of questions that must be interogated by way of research.

Paper long abstract:

Post-Mugabe era and the feasibility of regime change in Zimbabwe

Alexander M Rusero

ECAS 2019

Abstract

On 13 November 2017, the then Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantino Chiwenga called for a press conference whose central objective was denouncing President Robert Mugabe's sacking of his vice president and long-time confidant Emmerson Mnangagwa. Events of the unfolding week finally pressed Mugabe to announce his resignation following the impeachment proceedings that had started early morning of November 21. The whole political process took Zimbabwe and the world by surprise and occurred in the context of 'democratic fatigue' where all attempts to unseat and or remove Mugabe and his ZANU PF party had proved to be a pipe dream for the opposition. The main opposition of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was in massive disarray, financially constrained and had dismally failed to morph a unified coalition that could dethrone ZANU PF in the forthcoming 2018 harmonised elections later held on July 30. It is against this background that there is need to interrogate the feasibility of regime, which in essence occupies the attic on the menu of the socio-economic and political problems bedevilling Zimbabwe. With the visible military-ZANU PF conflation now the new political order, toppling ZANU PF from power in the immediate, precisely in the aftermath of the ZANU PF 2018 electoral victory is to greater extent proving to be an elusive dream.

Key words

Regime change, ZANU-PF, MDC, Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Mugabeism