Political Parties in Africa: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Political parties are foundational and essential features of representative government.  Their roles and functions are to essential to ensuring a fully functioning democracy as they serve as the central actor between the electorate and the government, exercise control over government, develop programs, and collect, consolidate, and articulate public needs and opinions to the policy making apparatus.  These roles and functions grant significant power to political parties.  The interesting question, however, is whether these roles apply to political parties in developing democracies.  More specifically, how does this apply in Africa?   

Many African states actively utilize competitive political parties; nevertheless, these parties are distinguishable from those seen in advanced democratic nations.  For example, African political parties often lack strong the institutional foundations that are found in the United States or Western Europe and instead are heavily dependent upon patronage and ethnicity.   To be clear, despite the use of political parties and even competitive electoral systems, most Africa states are described as semi-democracies or anocracies as the legacies of colonialism and violence continue to permeate the political landscape.  In short, despite overt commitment to representative and democratic government there are often covert actions that parties utilize that undermine these very commitments.  The consequence of dysfunctional democracy and party behavior is often conflict and instability.

African conflicts, wars, and insurgencies are unarguably intertwined with developmental stagnation and even failure.  In fact, some reports estimate Africa annually loses over $18 billion dollars as a result of violent conflict.  In states that are often characterized as fragile, failing, or failed these conflicts continue to undermine development and perpetuate political instability.  An examination of Nigerian politics illustrates the potential security and stability crises that can emerge from the party dysfunction.

Nigeria is the most populated nation in African, the fifth largest exporter of oil to the United States, and ranked number fourteen on the 2012 world’s most failed states list.  These facts alone indicate Nigeria’s importance not only to Africa but also to the international community.  Despite its importance, Nigeria has been plagued with violence and instability that many attribute to its political system and its political parties.  One report states that “politics and violence are synonymous in Nigeria.”  In fact, some reports accuse political parties of intentionally undermining peace and security by engaging with and in hiring “political thugs” to carry out political violence against the opposition.  The result of these activities has been to create a culture of fear, violence, and corruption that some have alleged resulted in the strengthening of Boko Haram.

In April 2012 Nigeria’s former National Security Adviser (NSA), Owoye Azazi accused the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of creating the environmental conditions that gave rise to increased activity by Boko Haram.  The PDP adamantly refuted Azazi’s comments but unfortunately in July 2012 Azazi’s comments picked up steam and were reiterated by Senator Sadik Abubakar Yar’Adua.  Azazi does not provide evidence for his claims and there is arguably an amalgamation of causes that led to Boko Haram; nevertheless, his comments do illustrate the frustration over Boko Haram and the feeling that political parties have created instability such that Nigeria is ripe for the emergence of radical groups.  

Academic research indicates that political instability often leaves a “power vacuum” which encourages dissidents to mobilize and some assert even engage in guerilla warfare.  In Nigeria’s case corruption and the accompanying political violence is believed to have created the necessary socioeconomic conditions such as poverty and unemployment that encourage dissident mobilization. In fact, the Nigerian government, its political institutions, and its parties have allowed crime to run unabated and the result has been extreme violence.  

 

The use of political parties as an instrument of ensuring representative government is well established in Western Europe and the United States.  The significance of this role is not merely academic; indeed, competitive multiparty elections in Africa have been found to reduce the potential for rebellion and violence.  This is a result of the electorate believing that they have a voice in government.  Nevertheless, even when democratic elections are held they are often replete with fraud and violence.  Unfortunately, as Nigeria indicates this violence is often at the hands of politicians and parties themselves as they engineer political assassinations as well as encourage ethnic and communal violence.  Long term these sorts of behaviors have wide-ranging consequences including undermining the state’s ability to provide security thus facilitating instability that embolden groups like Boko Haram.

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Sources:       

Adekunle, Julius O.  “Political Violence, Democracy, and the Nigerian Economy.”  In   

    Democracy in Africa, edited  by Saliba Sarsar and Julius O. Adekunle, 89-110.  Durham,     

    North Carolina:  Carolina Academic Press, 2012.

Carey, Sabine, “Rebellion in Africa.”  Journal of Peace Research 44, no.11 (January 2007):   

     47:64.

Erdmann, Gero.  “Party Research: Western European Bias and the African Laybrinth.”  In Votes,   

    Money and Violence:  Political Parties and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by      

    Matthias  Basedau, Gero Erdmann, and Andreas Mehler, 34-58.  Sweden:  University of

    Kwazulu-Natal  , South Africa, 2007.

Kuenzi, Michelle and Gina Lambright, “Party Systems and Democratic Consolidation in Africa’s    

     Electoral Regimes.”  Party Politics 11, no.4 (June 2005): 423-446.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201208010653.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201011150795.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201204290215.html

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120126/kano-boko-haram- violence%20?page=0,1

http://nationaldailyngr.com/featured-news/boko-haram-group-disagrees-with-pdp-over-azazi

http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/africas%20missing%20bils.pdf

  

http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/07/how-pdp-created-the-environment-for-boko-haram-to-thrive-by-senator-yaradua/