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Paper short abstract:

Malawian and African politicians are much-derided as a class, including by scholars. This is partly a result of how "neopatrimonialism" has been deployed as a concept. I argue Malawian politicians in fact have complex and varied motivations in public life, many related to the concept of "home."

Paper long abstract:

Few features of contemporary Malawian society are seen to be more steeped in failure – and above all moral failure – as politics and politicians. Politicians are a derided category of persons worldwide, African politicians arguably more than most. And academic work is not immune: anthropologist Richard Werbner has identified a 'bias' amongst scholars 'against elites... as if they were the curse of liberal democracy.'

This paper interrogates "antipoliticianism" in post-Kamuzu Malawi. It suggests that there is, in any system of representative democracy, an inherent tension between the principle of popular sovereignty and the reality of leadership. This tension tends to resolve in more or less disdain for politicians. There are, moreover, peculiarities in the African literature over many decades – above all related to the use and misuse of the concept of “neopatrimonialism” – that have exacerbated these tendencies up to the present day. Regardless of the shift from dictatorial regimes to electoral democracy in Malawi and other places, politicians continue to be seen as peculiarly self-seeking and amoral as a class.

Based on extensive fieldwork and over 100 interviews with Malawian politicians, I challenge the prevailing cynicism and offer a defence of Malawian politicians in terms of their motivations in politics and the meanings inscribed in their work. I find them far from saintly, but for the most part also sincerely motivated by a desire to serve their communities. Constituency service, and the concept of their “home” constituency, are central to their ideas and ideals of public/community service.