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Liberal Democracy and its Critics in Africa
Political Dysfunction and the Struggle for Social Progress
By Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo Zed Books Ltd
Copyright © 2005 individual contributors
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84813-722-6
CHAPTER 1
The problematics of liberal democracy and democratic process: lessons for deconstructing and building African democracies
TUKUMBI LUMUMBA-KASONGO
Introduction: objectives and issues
Africans are seeking democracy as a matter of survival; they believe that there are no alternatives to this quest, that they have nothing to lose and a great deal to gain. This awareness has grown in recent years, as it has become more and more obvious that neither the indigenous political elites nor the multilateral development agencies are capable of dealing with the African crisis. Insofar as the democracy movement in Africa gets its impetus from the social and economic aspirations of people in Africa yearning for 'a second independence from their leaders,' it will be markedly different from liberal democracy. In all probability, it will emphasize concrete economic and social rights rather than abstract political rights; it will insist on the democratization of economic opportunities, the social betterment of the people, a strong welfare system. (Ake 1996: 139)
We cannot deconstruct a system that we do not know or understand. The political system that has been adopted in most parts of Africa since the early 1990s is that fragment of liberal democracy known as multi-partyism. Therefore, deconstruction will be of liberal democracy as it has been experienced in Africa. This book examines both practical and theoretical interpretations of liberal democracy in order to critique this theory and explore what we can learn during this transitional period.
There is a widely held conviction that democracy can produce the best social systems, ruling classes, citizenry, social and gender relationships and governing systems as reflected by their decision-making processes. The assumption behind this reasoning is sociologically controversial because it perceives democracy as normatively good. As is shown in this chapter, the above philosophical meanings of democracy have been historically constrained and contradicted by the power of the state. The relevant question is, what kind of democracy can embody the above characteristics of the best system in Africa?
Given the fact that by 2004 most African states have adopted liberal democracy as their system of governance, my first objective is to clarify theoretically the issues raised in the case studies analysed in this book. For this purpose, I examine theoretically and conceptually the major philosophical assumptions of liberal democracy, identify elements associated with its various processes and discuss its dominant social and political characteristics.
Another related objective is to critique liberal democracy from a historical-structural perspective focusing on why a social phenomenon behaves and reproduces itself the way it does. Using the theory of liberal democracy as a causal explanatory theory (science) as well as an ideological phenomenon (value system) which relates and shapes science in a dynamic manner, I have argued that science and ideology are complementary tools to be used to understand the nature of the relationship between the state and society.
The first part of this chapter deals with the theory of liberal democracy and the second is a reflective discussion of some specific problems related to liberal democracy as reflected in the African conditions. It synthesizes and clarifies thoughts, ideas and issues about democracy and the democratic process written in the form of a critical essay.
The following intellectual guidelines include: What is liberal democracy? What social values does it articulate at large? What are the processes that produce this democracy? What role do citizens, as voters and consumers, play in this democracy? All these questions lead to the main questions, which are: What kind of liberal democracy has been adopted in Africa? How does it function organizationally, legally and behaviourally? How can it be an effective social process? What kind of democracy can be socially and economically progressive, philosophically and ideologically relevant, and technologically appropriate in Africa? How can such a democracy be produced?
It is argued that no contemporary nation-state, individual or social class has a monopoly over democracy and that democracy and its processes are historically and socially learning processes or cognitive human experiences. Democracy can be practised if a people have a relatively high level of social consciousness about their social conditions. It is correct to generalize that after the collapse of the Soviet Union the majority of the world perceived democracy as an instrument of social progress. Yet why is it that liberal democracy has produced some positive social, economic and political effects in some regions but not others? How can these successes and failures be measured? Do the processes that produce or sustain democracy matter in terms of their impact in a given society?
Deconstructing and reconstructing democracy in Africa are both historical and philosophical processes. This is a reflective exercise with both paradigmatic and policy assumptions and implications. Research and change are the main foci of this essay, a reflective work in that it critiques liberal democracy philosophically and socially while exploring the possibility of inventing an alternative. Democratic processes are not natural as they embody social forces and ideological purposes with concrete objectives about what kind of society is to be built for the people involved. Who are the agents of these processes? How do they operate and what instruments do they use to promote these processes? What are the philosophical assumptions behind this democracy in terms of its main normative values such as justice, freedom, and social and gender equity and equality?
The study of deconstructing democracy in Africa must be framed with the logic of the broader ideological foundation of the power struggles that have shaped and characterized African politics for more than forty years. In 1995, CODESRIA published a major work in which this author participated, African Studies in Social Movements and Democracy, which examined various cases of the struggle for democracy that took place in Africa between the 1970s and 1990s. This study is an important reference work in the process of deconstructing the current structures of the African states and societies.
The polarization of the world by the ideological, military and power struggles between the Soviet Union and the United States did not contribute to the development of liberal democracy in Africa. On the contrary, these struggles inhibited possibilities for the rise and expansion of both centralized democracy and liberal democracy models by controlling the agencies of social change, including the people, their history and their culture, in the name of state ideology and security. In most situations in Africa, these models were used predominantly as the instruments of control and manipulation. In most cases during the Cold War era, state apparatuses, especially ruling political parties and executive branches of government, essentially served as national intelligence agencies for the superpowers to investigate, recruit and intimidate progressive forces and halt their agendas.
This polarization contributed to the establishment of the most notorious dictators in Africa, including Idi Amin of Uganda, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Macias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea and Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo. Both social and political rights, which are the foundation of democracy, were limited and constrained by the dicta of the dominant ideologies. The international conflict created a non-democratic world, especially in the southern hemisphere, heavily armed and policed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
As of the end of 2002, electoral democracies existed in more than 180 countries. In the 1970s, one-party regimes and military dictatorships, supported by multinational corporations including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United States and the Soviet Union, held power over Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe.
In Africa, since the presidential elections in Benin where Mathieu Kérékou was defeated and replaced by Nicéphore Soglo in 1991, new electoral democracies have produced new presidents and parliaments. The emerging trend in electoral democracies is reflected in the role of coalitions in the democratic process. The formation of coalitions or the alliances with opposition parties is having some success in winning presidential and legislative elections by defeating the old ruling parties in Ghana, Kenya and Senegal, despite resistance by the state apparatuses and ruling parties. In Mali in the 2002 elections, the transition was smoother than anticipated with the election of General Amadou Toumani Touré, former head of state, as president, as in Benin with the re-election of Mathieu Kérékou in 1996 and 2001. The re-election of Thabo Mbeki as president in April 2004 is a testimony to the consolidation of democracy in South Africa.
Despite its shortcomings as an ideological rather than pragmatic phenomenon, coalition-building is seen by Africans and African analysts as an encouraging sign in the transfer of state power. Coalition-building has contributed to avoiding violent power struggles in countries where it has been used effectively. It also embodies elements of newness and inspiration, which are expected to be part of liberal democracy. Not only have the claims of this democracy become global, but democracy itself is being perceived as a global value. For many people in developing countries, democracy is the saviour. It is defined either as a dimension of development or a force complementary to development. As Claude Ake wrote:
Democracy requires even development, otherwise it cannot give equal opportunities to all, it cannot incorporate all to articulate their interests to negotiate them. It cannot produce a political community in which all are able to enjoy rights, nor avoid compromising justice because it takes the development of consciousness and capabilities to seek and enjoy justice. That is why development, especially even development in this broad sense, is an integral part of the process of democratization. (Ake 1992: 50)
At the same time, many lumpen-intellectuals and lumpen-proletarians have used foreign-sponsored arms against regimes in their countries in the name of liberal democracy. Both in Côte d'Ivoire and the DRC the so-called rebels have used liberal democracy, human rights and constitutional arguments to challenge regimes that kill civilians and cause massive destruction of fragile social infrastructures.
Liberal democracy has had massive support among various groups in Africa since the 1990s and there are high expectations about what it can produce for society. In most cases, these expectations have taken the form of almost magic solutions to poverty, political instability, vicious power struggles and internal and sub-regional wars.
Nevertheless, there is a paradox between what is expected of liberal democracy and its implications for social and economic conditions in Africa. While Africa is adopting liberal democracy as the most promising formula for unleashing individual energy and generating political participation, African social and economic conditions are worsening.
Despite the historical and cultural particularities, and the extreme exploitative role characterized as marginalization in international political economy, Africa will not be able to progress collectively and sustain its progress without some kind of democracy. One of the factors that has significantly contributed to the lack of social progress in Africa is not that it is too marginalized in international relations, commerce, trade, financial capital and technology, but that it is too highly integrated into the global economy and is thus too open to the vagaries of the capitalist economy. The nature of Africa's integration and its openness are among the most important reasons for the underdevelopment of the continent. Thus, the logical consequence of my reasoning is that Africans should invent their own form of democracy as a means for social progress. The question is, what kind of democracy can best serve as a tool of social mobilization and social participation?
The post-depression and post-Second World War eras in Africa represented new trends in the nature of the relationship between the colonial powers with their 'liberal democracy' and the efforts of their colonized subjects to advance the decolonization process. I characterize this period as the second effective colonization period. Boundaries, which had been shifting since the Berlin Conference of October 1884 and January 1885 as a result of new deals or negotiations between the European powers, became more clearly defined in West Africa, the Great Lakes region, and Eastern and Southern Africa. In North Africa the question of Western Sahara became a central issue in the redefinition of Morocco. This redefinition was based on the exploitation of raw materials for European industries and their markets. Furthermore, as a result of contradictions related to war, including the psychological disposition of Africans who fought and died to defend Europe, new knowledge gained by the conditions of war contributed to the acceleration of various struggles of political independence. The spirit related to the liberation of Europe from Nazism and fascism is directly linked to the dynamics of decolonization that occurred in Africa.
Additionally, the rise and the activism of leftist movements in Europe, especially the expansion of International Socialism, created possibilities for new social and ideological alliances to take place in metropolitan Europe, with implications for its colonies. This is how someone like Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire formed an alliance with the French Communist Party after the formation of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA). The demand for democracy in Europe by the working classes supported the decolonization movements in Africa. The colonial state was no longer perceived as 'immortal', even in the case of Belgium, which thought otherwise in its historically anomalous attempt permanently to isolate the Belgian Congo from other European colonial experiences. Thus, colonial state reforms, which took various forms with local elections in the British and French colonies, fostered new political and social negotiations that would redefine colonial politics in Africa. A key element here is the projection of electoral democracy as part of the decolonization process. The question is, did this electoral process imply or signify the practical existence of democratic norms and values? Between the post-Second World War era in the 1940s and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, many different social groups systematically engaged in various struggles for political independence in Africa. The wars of liberation, popular movements and class-based power struggles took place in most parts of Africa with the main objective of obtaining state power by any means.
I will not elaborate on the normative assessment of what liberal democracy and its processes ought to be. Various social classes have differing expectations concerning what they think liberal democracy should do. The general discussion on the significance of liberal democracy has to take into account the social-class base of its advocates. Do African peasants, farmers, petit-bourgeois intellectuals and organic intellectuals all have the same concept of liberal democracy and its policy implications? Does liberal democracy effectively operate the same way among various social classes, regardless of the social status of the people involved?
Liberal democracy and democratic process: a general perspective
General principles of liberal democracy within the framework of the realist school of thought One can conceptualize liberal democracy from idealist or realist perspectives and reach relatively the same conclusions. Liberal democracy has become an almost magic word among various social groups around the world, including Africa. Is there any conceptual consensus concerning its definition and usage? In this section, I define liberal democracy in its classical sense, identifying its major characteristics. The main objective is to interpret liberal democracy theoretically in order to understand the case studies analysed in this book.
In the West, the realist school of thought providing the framework for this section has been dominant in analysing state formation and international relations since the Second World War. Liberal democracy as adopted in Africa was produced partially as a part of the state-centric reforms and agenda.
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