Democratic transition and consolidation in Africa Transition in Zambia: The Hybridisation of the Third Republic DR GERO ERDMANN INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, HAMBURG/BERLIN DR NEO SIMUTANYI UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA KONRAD ADENAUER FOUNDATION • OCCASIONAL PAPERS • ZAMBIA • DECEMBER 2003 © KAS, 2003 All rights reserved While copyright in this publication as a whole is vested in the Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung, copyright in the text rests with the individual authors, and no paper may be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission, in writing, of both authors and the publisher. It should be noted that any opinions expressed are the responsibility of the individual authors and that the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung does not necessarily subscribe to the opinions of contributors. Published by: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Gelu House, 1st floor Kamuzu Procession Road Lilongwe Malawi Telephone: +265 1 75 92 74 Telefax: +265 1 75 90 74 E-mail: [email protected] www.kas.de Editing, DTP and production: Tyrus Text and Design, South Africa Reproduction: Rapid Repro, South Africa Printing: Montfort Press, Balaka, Malawi Table of contents List of tables v About the authors vi Preface vii Chapter1: Introduction 1 1.1 Methodological approach and research programme 1 1.2 Conceptual remark 2 Chapter 2: The starting point at 1990: Characteristics of the 3 previous regime and democratic deficits 2.1 Characteristics of political rule during the 3 non-democratic regime 2.2 Political opposition under authoritarian rule 6 2.3 Violation of human rights 6 2.4 Participation of society in the political process 8 2.5 The opening of the authoritarian system 9 2.6 Beginning of the democratic phase and the 13 reversal of the process Chapter 3: Assessment of political regime (democracy) 21 3.1 Human rights and minority rights 21 3.2 Rule of law 24 3.3 Participation 26 3.4 Political competition 29 3.4.1 Political parties 29 iv TRANSITION IN ZAMBIA: THE HYBRIDISATION OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC 3.4.2 Development and role of civil society 40 3.5 Separation of powers: Checks and balances 44 3.5.1 The national arena 44 3.5.2 The local arena 47 3.6 Political culture: Understanding of democracy, 49 support of democracy and values Chapter 4: Evaluation of the democratic transition process 61 4.1 Context of democratic consolidation 61 4.1.1 Economic conditions 62 4.1.2 Socio-economic structures 66 4.1.3 Corruption 67 4.1.4 International/regional context 70 4.2 Institutional structures: Continuities and change 70 4.2.1 The role of the executive (presidency, 70 party state relationship) 4.2.2 The security apparatus (police, military) 72 4.2.3 Behaviour patterns of political actors 73 4.2.4 Shortcomings of the political opposition 75 4.3 Transition legacies 76 Chapter 5: Assessment of prospects for further change 81 Chapter 6: The role of major external players and their support 83 for democratisation Chapter 7: Summary and main findings 85 Bibliography 91 Glossary of acronyms 99 List of tables • Table 1: Parliamentary election results, distribution of seats 3 1964, 1968 • Table 2: Political rights and civil liberties in Zambia, 1973–1991 7 • Table 3: Participation in parliamentary, presidential elections 8 and referenda, 1964–1988 • Table 4: Political rights and civil liberties in Zambia, 1991–2003 21 • Table 5: Participation in parliamentary and presidential elections, 28 1988–2001 • Table 6: Parliamentary election results, distribution of seats 31 1991, 1996, 2001 • Table 7: Support for democracy in Zambia, 1998 and 51 2000, per cent • Table 8: Democratic attitudes index in Zambia, 1998 52 and 2000, per cent • Table 9: Macro-economic indicators, 1990–2002 63 • Table 10: Development of macro-economic and social indicators, 64 1990–2000 (2001) • Table 11: Transparency International corruption perception 68 index for Zambia, 1998–2002 v About the authors Dr Gero Erdmann is a senior research fellow at the German Institute of African Affairs and is the Institute’s representative in Berlin. In addition, he lectures political science at the University of Hamburg. Dr Erdmann has been published widely on issues of political transition and democratisation processes, political culture, neopatrimonialism, traditional forms of power, political parties, party systems and political systems in general. His research focuses regionally on Eastern and Southern Africa but also encompasses Ghana. Dr Neo Richard Simutanyi holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences and is a research fellow in the Governance Research Programme at the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the University of Zambia. He is also a lecturer in Politics and Government in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zambia. Dr Simutanyi specialises in the area of political and labour studies. His research and consultancy work encompasses a wide field of empirical and qualitative analyses of Zambia’s political transition processes. vi Preface Since the Third Wave of Democratisation broke along African shores, many books and articles have been written about the particular transition processes. Nevertheless, ten years down the line there is still a lack of comparative research on a sound methodological basis and a deficit in elaborate case studies. The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) – a German political foundation – in 2002 started a series of assessments on democratisation processes in sub-Saharan Africa. On the basis of a common set of questions, the state and problems of democratic transition were analysed in order to enable a cross-country comparison. A first set of studies started in 2002 and covered Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. In 2003 the number of case studies was extended to Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Decisive for the selection of the case studies became their defunct character of the democratisation process. In all seven countries the democratic transition process was either never successfully accomplished or was, after a very promising beginning, sooner or later reversed. To some degree the countries’ democratisation processes can even be labelled an “extended process of transition”.1 The comparative approach of the study aims to highlight differences in the democratisation processes as well as to identify commonalities and roots for the problems encountered. Besides, the qualitative analysis attempts to provide an academic foundation for the development of adequate policies in support of democracy in Africa in general and for KAS in particular. The seven case studies were conducted by teams of German and African scholars; the latter originating from the country under review. As a qualitative measurement of democracy, the studies are based on personal observations, approximately 200 interviews and secondary sources that also encompassed empirical data gained from various surveys. Drawing on the paradigms of democracy by Robert A Dahl and Larry Diamond, the analyses focus on political competition and participation, civil and political rights, political and civil pluralism, the rule of law, and checks and balances. Additionally, the studies address aspects of political culture and the behaviour of key actors. In order to avoid the shortcomings of a mere vii viii TRANSITION IN ZAMBIA: THE HYBRIDISATION OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC assessment of the status quo which would fall short of identifying underlying causes for obstacles in the democratic consolidation, the analyses emphasise the process character and take into account developments within the transition process and historical legacies that still might have an impact. In the case of the present Zambia study, the research team comprised Dr Gero Erdmann and Dr Neo Simutanyi, both scholars widely acknowledged for their in-depth analysis of Zambian politics. On behalf of KAS we would like to thank Dr Erdmann and Dr Simutanyi for their dedication and excellent cooperation during the project period. The present analysis comes at a time when Zambia is moving to another crucial stage of its democratisation process. In the early 1990s Zambia set an example when it brought down an authoritarian single-party state in a peaceful manner and adopted a new constitution upholding human rights and a democratic government. Although President Chiluba started to introduce political and constitutional reforms, over time the new regime slowly revealed authoritarian attitudes characterised by misuse of power. Since President Mwanawasa came to power in December 2001, the style of politics has changed and parliamentary and constitutional reform as well as issues of local government have returned to the political agenda. Openness and transparency are features of the new political culture and it provides hope that Zambia’s process of democratisation will gain new momentum, dispersing its current character of a hybrid regime. As a transition democracy, Zambia still faces the challenge of ‘weakening opposition’ in the wake of increasing co-optation of strong opposition leaders into the cabinet. On the other hand, the judiciary will prove its independence as it grapples with high profile court cases on corruption, and the 2001 alleged ‘illegitimate’ general election litigation against the incumbent president. Samson Lembani Andrea E Ostheimer Programme Director Research Coordinator/Dep. Representative Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Malawi Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, South Africa NOTE 1 G Erdmann, Neopatrimoniale Herrschaft – oder: Warum es in Afrika so viele Hybridregime gibt, in: P Bendel/ A Croissant/ F Rüb (eds.), Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur.