Government & Politics Corr

1 CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND Augustine Titani Magolowondo INTRODUCTION This book is about Government and politics in Malawi. The diversity of issues that are discussed in the subsequent chapters bears testimony to the complexity of this subject matter. The aim of this first chapter is twofold. First, as you may have probably experienced in our daily discourse, the terms Government and politics are often confused with other key terms such as state and nation. As a starting point, this chapter clarifies these related concepts, which are inherently connected but yet conceptually distinct. Second, the discussion in this chapter aims at providing the context within which politics and Government in Malawi operate. In this regard, I look at both the political history and key socio-economic characteristics of Malawi. Finally, I discuss challenges facing Malawi’s politics and Government today. WHAT IS POLITICS? The concept of politics is as old as Government itself. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher (384–322 BC) argued that ‘man is by nature a political animal’. What was meant is that politics is not only inevitable but also essential to human activity. In other words, wherever there are human beings, politics is unavoidable. However, much as Aristotle’s maxim has become almost indisputable among the students of politics, there is no consensus on what exactly is to be understood by politics. To appreciate the conceptual complexity of politics, let us consider for instance the 2000 constitutional amendment to Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution (popularly called the ‘crossing of the floor’ provision). This amendment was to result in any member of Parliament (MP) losing his/her seat should he/she join 1 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN MALAWI any organisation whose objectives were deemed to be political in nature. Before this amendment, an MP could only lose his/her seat if he/she joined another political party that was represented in Parliament. Later, the constitutional amendment was overturned by the courts on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. We are not interested in reviewing or reviving this case here. We are only interested in the controversial question that this amendment raised. The question is that of defining organisational objectives that are ‘political in nature’ or, put simply, defining what politics is. The commonly used definition of politics has been provided by Harold Lasswell (1936). He defines politics as being concerned with ‘Who gets what, when, and how?’ There are a number of observations that can be made here. First, it is clear that politics is a social process that exists in any social setting. This is because the question, ‘Who gets what, when and how?’ is the kind of question that cuts across all societal levels: family, community, district, regional and governmental. Second, the issue at the centre of politics is choice. Choice in politics is largely to do with (re)distribution of resources. Resources exist in different forms and at different levels of society. Material resources could be money and development projects. Other resources could be power and authority. Furthermore, the question of who gets what, when and how also presupposes a diversity of interests and values, a phenomenon that is a norm in all human societies. Given this reality, politics is, therefore, not concerned with the elimination of differences and conflicts. Rather, it is the role of politics to reconcile and resolve them through negotiation, bargaining, persuasion and compromise. DEFINING STATE, NATION, AND GOVERNMENT Informally, the terms state, nation and Government are often used interchangeably but in political science it is important to clarify exactly what each term means. State A state is made up of four elements namely: population, territory, Government and sovereignty. This means that a state is an institution within a defined geographical area with its own people who are governed by one sovereign Government. Sovereignty is the exclusive and undivided power to make and enforce laws. In other words, people of a state must abide by the laws passed by the state through its machinery called Government even if they are ignorant of those laws or did not participate in their formulation. The state has at its disposal ‘state apparatuses’ such 2 Chapter 1: Conceptual and Contextual Background as the public bureaucracy, the police, the armed forces and the courts. The parameters within which powers of the state are exercised are defined by both domestic laws (such as the Malawi Constitution) and international laws and treaties (such as the United Nations Charter). Sovereignty also implies that each state is equal to and yet independent of other states. Thus, Malawi is legally equal to the USA, although the latter is territorially bigger and economically stronger than the former. What this means is that Malawi has the same rights as the USA. Nation A nation refers to a particular group of people who identify with one another and share a common genealogy and/or historical origin, culture and language. Their sense of belonging to this particular group that is bound together by the kind of factors mentioned gives rise to a sense of national identity. Such people may not necessarily be found in the same state. For instance, the Chewa, who are a group of people that passes a test of a nation on all the attributes, are found not only in Malawi but also in Zambia and Mozambique. In fact most African states consist of more than one nation. That is to say, many of the African states are a constellation of groupings of people that are heterogeneous in terms of their origin, culture and language. When a state is comprised of people that belong to only one nation, it is referred to as a nation-state. A good example is Swaziland. It is important to note that when states are made up of diverse groups of people or nations, it does not necessarily mean that it is not possible to develop some form of common identity that would define their belonging to one state. On the contrary, once a state is defined, the next task becomes that of building a nation. Following the end of colonialism, for instance, it became an overarching agenda of the African leaders who took over from the colonialists to build this common national identity. With the passage of time, people started identifying themselves with a particular state and developed some form of a common identity of being Malawians although among them are Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asians, and Europeans. As a matter of fact, most modern states are multinational, multicultural states, yet they strive to achieve a single national identity. Government The word Government has its etymological roots in the Greek term, ‘kyvernites’ which means ‘steersman’, ‘governor’ or ‘pilot’. To govern is therefore to steer, to guide or to give directions. In this regard, Government is the machinery through 3 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN MALAWI which a state operates. Thus, Government consists of institutions that are responsible for making collective decisions for society. It is through Government that the state is able to not only formulate the rules and laws but also enforce them. The exclusive powers that we said the state possesses to use force are executed through Government. As a rule, it is inconceivable to have an effective state without a Government. Branches of Government In modern states, Government comprises of three institutions, popularly called arms or branches of Government. They are the Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary. The primary responsibility of the Executive is to formulate policies and implement laws. Government is often narrowly reduced to mean the Executive arm of Government. This is particularly so because much of what is said about Government being the agency of the state is undertaken by the Executive. The Head of Government, commonly called President or Prime Minister, and his/her Cabinet constitute the Executive. The Legislature is the branch of Government whose prime function is to make laws. The legislative body can be made up of one chamber as in Malawi which has the National Assembly or two chambers called lower and upper chambers such as in the UK and USA whose upper chamber is the House of Lords and the Senate respectively. The single or lower chamber consists of elected members, called, in Malawi and in some other countries, members of Parliament (MPs). Other than making laws, the Legislature also serves two other functions: that of representation and oversight. As elected representatives of the people, MPs are supposed to represent the interests and aspirations of the electorate whenever they are conducting state business in the National Assembly. The oversight functions are performed when, for instance, MPs are scrutinising the national budget that the Executive has presented or when they debate on a proposed piece of legislation. The third arm of Government, the Judiciary, is the one that interprets the laws and resolves disputes that may arise among people and/or institutions. It is headed by the Chief Justice. It comprises courts which are of different classes. The Supreme Court of Appeal is the highest court. Below it are the High Court, the magistrates’ courts, the industrial relations court and other lower courts that may be established by an act of Parliament. Functions of Government In a way, the functions of these three branches of Government outline what Governments do. In other words, if one wanted to understand the role of Government in society, one needs to look at what the Executive, the Legislature 4 Chapter 1: Conceptual and Contextual Background and the Judiciary do. Given the extensive tasks that are performed by these institutions as briefly outlined here and also as the subsequent chapters illustrate, it is apparent that Government is probably the most significant element of the state.

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