The role of ethnicity in multi-party politics in Malawi and Zambia

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 helped pave the way for political change in Africa, for it indirectly opened the way to the popularizing of democracy on the continent. Western aid donors withheld aid to the authoritarian governments of Malawi and Zambia to urge them to adopt liberalized pol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary African studies 1998-07, Vol.16 (2), p.227-247
Main Author: Osei-Hwedie, Bertha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparison
Democracy
DEMOCRATIC PROCESS AND INSTITUTIONS
Democratization
Elections
Ethnic groups
Ethnicity
ETHNICITY AND ETHNIC GROUPS
Factors
Government formation
Liberalization
MALAWI
Multiparty system
Political change
POLITICAL PARTY
Political systems
Stability
VOTING
ZAMBIA
Zimbabwe
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Summary:The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 helped pave the way for political change in Africa, for it indirectly opened the way to the popularizing of democracy on the continent. Western aid donors withheld aid to the authoritarian governments of Malawi and Zambia to urge them to adopt liberalized political systems. Zambia held its first multi-party elections in 23 years in October 1991. Malawi's multi-party elections took place in May 1994. As both countries are relatively new democracies, analyses the role of ethnicity in multi-party politics with a view to explaining the major problems confronting the new democratic governments. Ethnicity helps explain the fragile political situation in both countries. While the one-party system tended to blur ethnic divisions, multi-party politics has exacerbated ethnic and regional tensions because there is no great need for coalitions to build support. (Quotes from original text)
ISSN:0258-9001
1469-9397
DOI:10.1080/02589009808729629