This slim volume is not just an edited collection. The editors and authors have tried to provide a framework for understanding the function of political parties and their relationship to social divisions within countries in sub-Saharan Africa. For this reason alone, Party Systems and Democracy in Africa is worth looking at, given the many edited volumes that are published without collaborative approaches.
In Chapter 1, the editors argue convincingly that elections are a primary mode for transition to political pluralism and that they define patterns of stability and change. However, party systems both threaten and are threatened by the ethnic, language, and cultural divisions within a country. This is an argument that has long been made by scholars of politics in sub-Saharan Africa but bears repeating in a donor-driven environment that promotes democratic governance in Africa.
If there is a significant gap in this work, it is the absence of a significant discussion of the anthropological and historical patterns that influence political culture and democratic movements in the countries in question. It is also limited in that it examines only six of the party systems in a continent of 54 states. A discussion of complex organizations such as political parties cries out for a mixed methodology. Given that this is an edited collection, a chapter using public-opinion data, such as that available through Afrobarometer, would have been useful. Most importantly, there is no discussion of the many party systems that serve as control agents for patronage and corruption that are the norm in Africa. Finally, in an issue area that should be rich in drama, the volume is dry; as is the case with so much social science in the twenty-first century, the chapters here lack the human drama that is politics and history in a fascinating but chronically misgoverned part of the world.
The collective of authors divide the party systems they try to understand into one-party dominant systems (South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia) and two-party and multiple-party systems (Ghana, Benin, and Zambia). The latter lack the commonality that defines one-party dominance systems. In addition to overview chapters at the beginning and end, the editors present six case studies that use their collective framework.
The first two chapters (Chapter 1 by the editors and Chapter 2 by Matthijs Bogaards) are conceptual and ask whether political parties are important in Africa and whether or not elections make a positive contribution to African democracy. The answer to both questions is a qualified yes. The case studies, particularly those focusing on one-party dominant systems, confirm this.
Steve Friedman, a veteran South Africa watcher, kicks off the case studies with an insightful and prescient discussion of the meltdown and creeping corruption of the African National Congress since 1994. Christian John Makgala and Shane Mac Giollabhui burst the bubble of Botswana’s democratic image, suggesting a move toward authoritarianism under the current president, Ian Khama, while conjecturing on whether or not he will depart on schedule. Henning Melber suggests that Namibia, dominated by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) has evolved into a mildly authoritarian party-administrative state. Cyril K. Daddieh and George M. Bob-Milliar heap praise, perhaps rightly so, on the democracy that is now Ghana. Rachel M. Gisselquist discusses the puzzle (a lack of pattern to the politics of that country) that is Benin, the only Francophone example in an Anglophone-oriented volume. Dan Paget provides us with a snapshot of the party system in Zambia, but without a solid understanding of the influences of Kenneth Kaunda’s United National Independence Party (UNIP). The editors provide a short concluding chapter that offers a teaser on the use of public-opinion data that should have been highlighted throughout.
Among the editors’ conclusions is that countries transformed by liberation movements, not surprisingly, tend to be party-dominant systems. These party-dominant systems can be stable umbrella organizations or can slide toward rent-seeking corrupt politics and a blending of state and party structures. However, they see one-party systems as often inherently weak over time, and the one-party system is likely to slip into patterns of shrinking competition, controlled political debate, increasing intolerance, and elite (authoritarian) decision making. The primary danger of the dominant-party state is a move toward increased social control.
The widespread presence of party-dominance systems suggests ill for pluralist institutional development in sub-Saharan Africa. For a better understanding of political party characteristics, one must understand the historical and cultural foundations of the party system in sub-Saharan Africa. One hesitates to say it, but this volume is probably too short. It lacks the richness of analysis that one would expect from the dramas and personalities that define politics in Africa.
Two-party and stable multiparty systems often appear to have evolved out of historical political divisions within society, institutional structures characterized by strong judicial processes and a politically complex civil society system. These environmental patterns perhaps need more attention within the context of political party watching. Unstable multiparty systems tend to move toward increased ethnic fragmentation, segmented patronage, weak political institutions, and state–social linkages. For all of their tendency toward fragmentation, the authors suggest that two-party and stable multiple-party systems are evidence of more institutionally secure political processes.
This is a very readable little volume. It was deftly conceived and makes a contribution to the literature on political parties in less-developed states. The editors are to be commended on their framework and collective methodology. The cost of the hardcover at somewhat less than a dollar a page, however, precludes it from use in the classroom and condemns it to a library existence vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the copy machine. The paperback and online versions are almost as expensive.
