Political Science Politics of Southern Africa
by
Carolyn M. Somerville
  • LAST REVIEWED: 26 March 2021
  • LAST MODIFIED: 21 April 2021
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0114

Introduction

Southern Africa comprises the ten countries of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The region shares many of the same experiences of precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial rule as other regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Along with other countries across the continent, the countries of Southern African experienced colonial history. At the same time, Gretchen Bauer and Scott D. Taylor, in their book Politics in Southern Africa (Bauer and Taylor 2011, cited under General Overviews), describe Southern Africa as having a quality of “regionness” that makes it distinct from other African regions. European settlement in Southern Africa tended to be more entrenched and lasted longer than in the rest of Africa. European settler colonies existed in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, and Mozambique, and, consequently, these African countries were among the last to achieve independence (Angola and Mozambique in the 1970s, Zimbabwe in 1980, and Namibia in 1990; South Africa became a minority-led republic in 1961 and achieved majority rule in 1994). And where Europeans settled, the end of white minority rule required armed struggle on the part of Africans in order to achieve independence. After independence, the countries that fought wars of independence implemented socialist or redistributionist policies, which made them targets of external interference and destabilization. Angola and Mozambique experienced punishing retribution from South Africa and the United States for turning to the Eastern bloc for support. Moreover, whether a country committed itself to socialist policies or not, they all found themselves confronting the South African apartheid state, which was determined to maintain economic and military hegemony in the region at any cost. Finally, the countries of the region have a long history of economic interdependence. Because of South Africa’s dominance, neighboring countries were dependent upon South Africa for trade, transportation (especially the land-locked countries), and communication. In addition, migrants from neighboring Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Lesotho historically journeyed to South Africa to work in that country’s agricultural, mining, and manufacturing industries. The earnings that migrants made became crucial to the survival of families left behind back home. Eventually, Southern African countries created regional integration schemes, among them the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community, to improve their economic fortunes and develop cooperative security regimes. Ohio University Press created its Ohio Short Histories of Africa series (cited under General Overviews), a collection of short books on a number of historical figures, events, and movements in Southern Africa.

General Overviews

For an introduction to the region, a number of books provide an excellent historical background. Two recommended books are Bauer and Taylor 2011, which covers more contemporary events in the region, and Denoon and Nyeko 1984, which examines precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial history up to the mid-1980s. For a different perspective on the region, Love 2005 examines Southern Africa in the context of world politics and the forces of globalization. A more recent book on Southern Africa, Mlambo and Parsons 2019, covers the history of the region over many millennia.

  • Bauer, Gretchen, and Scott D. Taylor, eds. Politics in Southern Africa: Transition and Transformation. 2d ed. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2011.

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    The political, economic, and social conditions of Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as well as chapters covering regional issues (HIV/AIDS, women, and foreign relations). The book is an important introduction to the region and excellent for undergraduate students.

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  • Denoon, Donald, and Balam Nyeko. Southern Africa since 1800. London: Longman, 1984.

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    Discusses precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial history of the region and the impact of South Africa on neighboring countries.

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  • Love, Janice. Southern Africa in World Politics: Local Aspirations and Global Entanglements. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2005.

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    An examination of the forces of globalization broadly defined (military, political, economic, cultural, migration, and environmental). The author examines the interactions of local, regional, and global actors and forces and their impact on peoples, states, and societies in Southern Africa.

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  • Mlambo, Alois S., and Neil Parsons. A History of Southern Africa. London: Red Globe Press, 2019.

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    A short, concise overview of Southern Africa that covers its history from the Stone Age to the present day and highlighting the politics, culture, and social aspects of the region.

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  • Ohio Short Histories of Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.

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    Ohio University Press has published a series of short books on African leaders, including Steve Biko, Goban Mbeki, Tabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe, and Albert Luthuli. Other topics covered in the Short Histories series include the ANC Youth League, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and The Soweto Uprising.

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Historical Background

The countries of Southern Africa share many cultural and historical experiences, yet each country is unique in its experiences and historical trajectories. To gain familiarity, several excellent readings on the individual countries in the region are available. Unfortunately, readings for some countries, such as Lesotho and Eswatini, tend to be limited, while much has been written about South Africa.

South Africa

Thompson and Berat 2014 is a good introduction to the history of South Africa, offering a comprehensive yet easily readable book on the country. Campbell 2016 examines South Africa in the post-apartheid years and includes many comparisons to US history and politics, making it very accessible for undergraduate students. For a more concise history of South Africa, or for those with some knowledge of the country, Clark and Worger 2004 is recommended. Anyone wanting to gain knowledge of the post-apartheid years, especially the Mbeki years, should consider Gumede 2007 on the rise and fall of President Mbeki, including his failed AIDS policy and the corruption and centralizing tendencies of his regime. A special issue of The Journal of Southern African, Bundy 2019 reassesses Nelson Mandela’s history and legacy. Rotberg 2014, a special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, provides an important discussion of many political, social, and economic challenges facing South Africa after Mandela. Butler 2017 surveys the contemporary political, cultural, social, and economic challenges in South Africa.

  • Bundy, Colin. ed. Special Issue: Reassessing Mandela. Journal of Southern African Studies 45.6 (2019).

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    This special issue resulted from a workshop that explored the history and legacy of Nelson Mandela. The contributions explore Mandela’s Tembu heritage and his relationships with the ANC, the Left, and Umkhonto we Sizwe as well as his marriage to Winnie Mandela.

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  • Butler, Anthony. Contemporary South Africa. 3d ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

    DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-37338-0Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Discusses the politics, economics, and social issues in post-apartheid South Africa and provides a brief introduction to pre-1994 history. A comprehensive look at the issues faced by South Africans today.

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  • Campbell, John. Morning in South Africa. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

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    A succinct discussion of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma, assessing governance, the land question, poverty, education, and health. For undergraduates, the connections made to US racial politics and history are helpful.

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  • Clark, Nancy L., and William H. Worger. South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Harlow, UK: Pearson Longman, 2004.

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    A short, concise history of apartheid from its origins to its demise in 2004. Because of its condensed treatment of the subject, this book would be more useful for graduate students or scholars who have some familiarity with South Africa.

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  • Gumede, William Mervin. Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC. London: Zed, 2007.

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    Discusses the rise and fall of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.

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  • Rotberg, Robert I., ed. Special Issue: Strengthening Governance in South Africa: Building on Mandela’s Legacy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 652 (2014).

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    The entire issue, devoted to South Africa after Mandela, includes articles written by South African and non–South African scholars on issues of governance, democracy, unemployment, the situation of women and children, education, crime, health, the media, and foreign relations.

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  • Thompson, Leonard, and Lynn Berat. A History of South Africa. 4th ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.

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    A very engaging and comprehensive introduction to the history of South Africa, covering the precolonial, colonial, apartheid, and post-apartheid (from 1994 to 2013) history of South Africa.

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Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe

For introductions to the countries of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, several books are recommended. On Angola, Birmingham 2015 presents a concise history of Angola and covers the period from the beginning of Portuguese colonialism until after the end of the civil war. Soares de Oliveira 2015 discusses the consolidation of power by the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), before, during, and after the war. Chabal and Vidal 2008 contains essays discussing Angola’s history from the precolonial era to the post-independence period. Newitt 2017 offers readers a brief, but comprehensive history of Mozambique. For a comprehensive history of Namibia, Wallace and Kinahan 2011 covers Namibia history from the precolonial years to the coming of power of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO). Melber 2014 provides a critical account of postcolonial rule under SWAPO. On Zimbabwe, Raftopoulos and Mlambo 2009 explores the country’s history through the lens of identity and citizenship. Dorman 2016 discusses the history of Zimbabwe during the Mugabe regime.

  • Birmingham, David. A Short History of Modern Angola. London: Hurst, 2015.

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    A succinct history of Angola that covers the beginning of Portuguese colonialism in 1820 to 2015.

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  • Chabal, Patrick, and Nuno Vidal, eds. Angola: The Weight of History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.

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    The authors, all Lusophone African experts, examine the impact of precolonial and colonial history, the evolution of the nationalist movement, and the effects of oil wealth on the development of Angola’s political, economic, and social structures.

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  • Dorman, Sara Rich. Understanding Zimbabwe: From Liberation to Authoritarianism. London: Hurst, 2016.

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    The author examines Zimbabwean politics from 1965 to 2014 and the country’s road to authoritarianism. Decades of policies of inclusion and exclusion were used by the ZANU/PF leadership to exercise control of the state and the nation and to legitimize its political power. Under the banner of unity and nationalism, the government employed material benefits, ideology, and force to reward some groups and disregard others. In turn, groups that were demobilized or weakened by the government contested their exclusion from postcolonial politics.

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  • Melber, Henning. Understanding Namibia: The Trials of Independence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

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    The author picks up where Wallace and Kinahan 2011 ends and critically explores postcolonial rule in Namibia under SWAPO rule.

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  • Newitt, Malyn. A Short History of Mozambique. London: Hurst, 2017.

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    A good introduction to the history of Mozambique that spans the 16th through the 21st centuries.

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  • Raftopoulos, Brian, and Alois Mlambo, eds. Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-colonial Period to 2008. Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver, 2009.

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    Analyzes the history of Zimbabwe and its long and continuing struggles over the idea of identity, belonging, and citizenship.

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  • Soares de Oliveira, Ricardo. Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola since the Civil War. London: Hurst, 2015.

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    The author examines how the governing party, the MPLA, and the political elites came to dominate the political economy of Angola during and after the long civil war, to the detriment of the majority of the population who remain excluded from the peace dividends. An excellent source of material for graduate students and those with some knowledge of modern Angola.

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  • Wallace, Marion, with John Kinahan. A History of Namibia: From the Beginning to 1990. London: Hurst, 2011.

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    A good introduction to the precolonial, colonial, and post-independence history of Namibia.

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Southern African News

To follow current events in the region, online news sources are available. For South Africa, the City Press is a weekly news source, Business Day focuses on business and the economy, and the Mail & Guardian is a major news source from a critical liberal perspective. The Herald Online is one of the oldest news source in Zimbabwe, and it offers news and information on that country. The Zimbabwe Guardian is an independent online news source that began publishing in 2006. Botswana’s online news sources includes the Botswana Guardian. Noticias, an online news source covering Mozambique, publishes in English and Portuguese. The Zambia Daily Mail provides information about Zambia. Namibia’s online news source, the Namibian, has been published since 2004 and provides national and international news and information.

Journals

Several journals regularly publish articles on Southern Africa, including the Journal of Southern African Studies and Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies. The other journals listed address the continent of Africa and regularly include writings specific to the Southern African region. Unlike the previous two journals mentioned, Africa covers the entire continent, including the region of Southern Africa. African Affairs, one of the oldest journals devoted to Africa, covers a variety of topics concerning the entire continent as well as the region. African Studies Review regularly publishes articles on the region of Southern Africa. The Journal of Contemporary African Studies is devoted to publishing works that explore developments and change in Africa, including Southern Africa. The Journal of Modern African Studies covers current topics in the region and the continent. Africa Insight covers African affairs. Lusotopie publishes political research on issues related to Portuguese history and colonization. Articles are published in English, French, or Portuguese. Politique Africaine, is a French-language journal that, while primarily covering Francophone Africa, periodically publishes articles on Southern African politics.

Democracy and Civil Society

The following sections provide overviews on the roles of Civil Society, Democracy and Democratic Consolidation, Corruption, Political Violence, and Post-conflict Reconciliation and Mediation in Southern African politics.

Civil Society

The resurgence of democracy in African countries beginning in the 1990s gave rise to scholarship that examines the role of civil society in political transitions and the consolidation of democratic governance. Civil society groups have been in the forefront of demands for the end of authoritarian rule, the return to democratic rule, more accountable government, and the consolidation of democracy (see Bratton 1994 and Ross 2004). While civil society groups such as the churches in Malawi took the lead in providing national leadership to challenge authoritarian rule, VonDoepp 2002 finds that, at the local level, church officials were reluctant to raise political issues because of their dependence, financially and otherwise, on local political and economic elites. In South Africa, civil society groups also exhibit a range of attitudes toward the state, as noted in Habib 2005, which analyzes three types of civil society groups. Some civil society groups engage the state cooperatively, while others prefer to take a more adversarial approach. One of the challenges faced by civil society organizations is how to remain relevant once a democratic regime takes power. Sinwell 2011 discusses the rise and fall of civic organizations in the new South Africa once its leaders gained positions in the government, leaving civil society groups bereft of their most capable leaders. Two of the cited works challenge the notion that civil society can reduce clientelist and neo-patrimonial relations in Africa. Messiant 2001 discusses the Eduardo Dos Santos Foundation, a “civil society” organization created by the president of Angola for the purpose of strengthening presidential power, and Affolter and Cabula 2010 suggests how Angolan civil society organizations can be improved to make them more effective in confronting the MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola—Partido do Trabalho) government. Gaynor 2010, on the Malawi Economic Justice Network, makes the argument that the network has transformed from a bridge between civil society groups and the state and donors into a clientelist relationship linking the member organizations and the network’s leaders. Molutsi and Holm 1990 ponders whether non–civil society traditional institutions, such as Botswana’s kgotla, can contribute to building democracy. Sishuwa 2020, a study of Zambia and Zimbabwe challenges the idea of the importance of civil society as a driver of the democratization process.

  • Affolter, Friedrich W., and Henrique F. Cabula. “Strengthening ‘Reflective Practice’ within Angolan Civil Society Organizations.” Voluntas 21.2 (2010): 271–292.

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    Explores the weakness of Angolan civil society organizations and suggests the need for international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to strengthen civil society organizations (CSOs) using an institutional coaching and mentoring method.

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  • Bratton, Michael. “Civil Society and Political Transitions in Africa.” In Civil Society and the State in Africa. Edited by John W. Harberson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan, 51–81. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994.

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    Compares the roles of the churches in Kenya and labor unions in Zambia in the political transition to multiparty democracy.

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  • Gaynor, Niahm. “Between Citizenship and Clientship: The Politics of Participatory Governance in Malawi.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.4 (December 2010): 801–816.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.527637Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Created to act as a bridge between smaller civil society groups and the state and international donors, the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) evolved into a clientelist relationship between the national leaders and the member organizations.

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  • Habib, Adam. “State-Civil Society Relations in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Social Research 72.3 (Fall 2005): 671–692.

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    Habib identifies three types of civil society actors in South Africa, depending on their cooperative or adversarial approach to working with the government. Argues that this plurality bodes well for consolidating democracy in South Africa.

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  • Messiant, Christine. “The Eduardo Dos Santos Foundation: Or, How Angola’s Regime is Taking over Civil Society.” African Affairs 100.399 (2001): 287–309.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/100.399.287Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Looks at how the Eduardo Dos Santos Foundation in Angola, created by President Eduardo Dos Santos and the MPLA government, strengthens presidential power through the reinforcement of clientelist relations between the president and the Angolan population.

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  • Molutsi, Patrick P., and John D. Holm. “Developing Democracy When Civil Society Is Weak: The Case of Botswana.” African Affairs 89.356 (1990): 323–340.

    DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098302Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Because civil society groups are often weak or nonexistent, the authors suggest that traditional institutions of political control, such as the kgotla in Botswana, may provide citizens with some institutional mechanisms for establishing accountability over leaders.

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  • Ross, Kenneth R. “‘Worrisome Trends’: The Voice of the Churches in Malawi’s Third Term Debate.” African Affairs 103.410 (2004): 91–107.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adh001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author assesses the contribution of Malawian churches in the democratic process, but he acknowledges that strong democracy requires strong opposition parties as well as the development of a broad and active civil society.

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  • Sinwell, Luke. “Rethinking South Africa’s Transition: From Transformative to Mainstream Approaches to Participatory Development.” African Studies 70.3 (December 2011): 359–375.

    DOI: 10.1080/00020184.2011.628798Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Discusses the rise and decline of people’s power and civic organizations in South Africa, principally due to the movement of its best leaders into positions of power in the government and the ANC government’s preference for using civil society organizations to implement development rather than influence development.

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  • Sishuwa, Sishuwa. “Surviving on Borrowed Power: Rethinking the Role of Civil Society in Zambia’s Third-Term Debate.” Journal of Southern African Studies 46.3 (2020): 471–490.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2020.1730644Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In a critique of the democratization literature that views civil society as controlling the inclinations of authoritarian leaders, the author posits that multiparty political systems and economic liberalism have weakened the strength and ability of civil society to drive political change, as in the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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  • VonDoepp, Peter. “Are Malawi’s Clergy Civil Society Activists? The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class.” In A Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi. Edited by Harri Englund, 123–139. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002.

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    A critique of civil society literature that assumes the relative autonomy of civil society actors from larger social influences through the example of local religious leaders who eschew getting involved in politics because of their relations with and dependence on local social and political classes.

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Civil Society Groups Challenge the State

How effective are civil society organizations in aggregating the demands of their members and influencing government policies? What are the challenges facing individual civil society organizations? In South Africa there are a range of civil society groups, some highly organized and effective, and others struggling to function. The Treatment Action Campaign is a highly effective and influential civil society group that successfully challenged the Mbeki government on its AIDS policies. Vandormael 2007 attributes its effectiveness to its strength in using grassroots activism and professional expertise. Siwisa 2008 analyzes the difficulties within the Concerned Citizens Forum (CCF), which is beset by racial and class divisions between the white and Indian intellectuals who constitute its leadership and the black and poor activists who form the activist base. Patel 2008 presents the case of the radical thinking that informs the actions of the shack dweller’s movement. Larmer 2006 discusses the role of the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia in the rise of the pro-democracy movement, which resulted in elections that ended Kenneth Kaunda’s regime. Aeby 2016 finds Zimbabwe’s civil society organizations to be ineffective in promoting peace and democratization after the 2008 elections. Gabay 2015 applies the work of Foucault to critique efforts by Malawian civil society organizations to help the majority of the population. Naicker and Bruchhausen 2016 uses subaltern studies to understand civil society resistance in Mpondoland (1959–1961) and Marikana (2012).

  • Aeby, Michael. “Making an Impact from the Margins? Civil Society Groups in Zimbabwe’s Interim Power-Sharing Process.” Journal of Modern African Studies 54.4 (2016): 703–728.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X16000616Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines whether Zimbabwe’s civil society organizations effectively helped to promote peace-making and democratization after the 2008 elections, which led to a power-sharing arrangement between the government and the opposition party.

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  • Gabay, Clive. Exploring an African Civil Society: Development and Democracy in Malawi, 1994–2014. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2015.

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    Using a Foucauldian approach, Gabay in this case study of civil society organizations in Malawi during the era of democracy shows how they reinforce the political and economic institutions that keep Malawians poor.

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  • Larmer, Miles. “‘The Hour Has Come at the Pit’: The Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia and the Movement for Multi-party Democracy, 1982–1991.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.2 (June 2006): 293–312.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070600656234Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A study of the role of the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia in challenging the government of Kenneth Kaunda and in the growth of the pro-democracy movement, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD). However, once in power, the MMD abandoned the interests of the union, whose critical support had enabled it to win the 1991 elections.

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  • Naicker, Camalita, and Sarah Bruchhausen. “Broadening Conceptions of Democracy and Citizenship: The Subaltern Histories of Rural Resistance in Mpondoland and Marikana.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 34.3 (2016): 388–403.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2016.1232882Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors apply subaltern studies to their analysis of the rural protest in Mpondoland in 1959–1961 and the more recent revolt of mineworkers at Marikana/Lonmin in 2012, and argue that the revolts of rural dwellers and migrant workers arise from an alternative view of politics, one that challenges top-down conceptions of land, citizenship, and civil society.

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  • Patel, Raj. “A Short Course in Politics at the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 43.1 (2008): 95–112.

    DOI: 10.1177/0021909607085587Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of radical democratic politics within the shack dwellers movement in Durban, South Africa, and the government’s response to the organization.

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  • Siwisa, Buntu. “Crowd Renting or Struggling from Below? The Concerned Citizens’ Forum in Mpumalanga Township, Durban, 1999–2005.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.4 (December 2008): 919–938.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070802456839Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A critical assessment of the Concerned Citizens Forum (CCF), a grassroots organization struggling against the racial and class divisions that pit the mostly middle-class white and Indian intellectuals and activists who form its core leadership against its mostly black and poor youth activist base.

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  • Vandormael, Alain. “The TAC’s ‘Intellectual Campaign’ (2000–2004): Social Movements and Epistemic Communities.” Politikon 34.2 (2007): 217–233.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589340701725306Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Combining the insights of social movement theory and Haas’s notion of epistemic communities (reliance on professionals and experts within an issue area), the author analyzes the success of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in challenging the AIDS policies of the South African government.

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Democracy and Democratic Consolidation

In the late 1990s, Southern African states began to transition from white minority/black majority authoritarian rule to democratic rule. White minority rule ended in Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia (1990), and South Africa (1994). Decades of black majority authoritarian rule in Angola (1992) and Mozambique (1994), in the form of one-party Marxist-Leninist states, ended with the introduction of multiparty elections in both Lusophone states. Vibrant multiparty elections challenged and removed the incumbent leaders in Zambia in 1991 and Malawi in 1994, as discussed in Ihonvbere 1997 and Englund 2002, respectively. While democratic elections continue to be held regularly, the consolidation of democracy remains a more difficult accomplishment. Ruling parties in Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe have continued to win subsequent democratic elections. As Beall, et al. 2005 argues, the consolidation of democracy is weakened by the one-party dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. Brooks 2017 examines the failure of the ANC to uphold its commitment to participatory democracy once it gained power. Friedman 2019 locates the limits of change for the majority of South Africans in the ANC elites’ acceptance of the cultural values and economic assumptions of the white minority-led regimes. Alence and Pitcher 2019 explores the impact of state capture in South Africa and its challenge to overcoming the legacy of apartheid. Schubert 2010 locates the weakness of democratic consolidation in the machinations of political incumbents and ruling parties to ensure victory at the polls. Wroe 2012 argues that the era of political and economic liberalism makes it more difficult for leaders to hang on to power, citing the case of Malawi, in which President Mutharika, pressured by constitutional restrictions and the suspension of donor aid, found it impossible to continue in office. Riutta 2009 argues that democratic consolidation in Zambia requires strengthening democratic participation through civic education projects. Reports, publications, and news on democracy, democratization, and democratic consolidation can be found on the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre website.

  • Alence, Rod, and Anne Pitcher. “Resisting State Capture in South Africa.” Journal of Democracy 30.4 (2019): 5–19.

    DOI: 10.1353/jod.2019.0065Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors discuss the challenges facing democratic South Africa as it tries to combat the problem of state capture. Despite the electoral victory of Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019, declining voter turnout and the continuing problems of social and economic inequality make it difficult for South Africa to overcome the legacy of apartheid.

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  • Beall, Jo, Stephen Gelb, and Shireen Hassim. “Fragile Stability: State and Society in Democratic South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 31.4 (2005): 681–700.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500370415Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using a state-in-society framework to assess South Africa’s transition to democracy, the authors judge the country’s status as one of “fragile stability.” The deepening of state-society linkages and the consolidation of democracy remain weak due to the one-party dominant political system and the centralizing and authoritarian tendencies of the ANC government.

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  • Brooks, Heidi. “The Mass Movement and Public Policy: Discourses of Participatory Democracy in Post-1994 South Africa.” Journal of Modern African Studies 55.1 (2017): 105–127.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X16000793Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    According to the author, despite the ANC’s pre-1994 commitment to participatory democracy, it has failed to uphold participatory democracy as a model of governance.

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  • Englund, Harri, ed. A Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002.

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    A collection of essays that explore democratization, human rights, politics, and civil society in the era of multiparty politics in Malawi.

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  • Friedman, Steven. “The More Things Change . . . South Africa’s Democracy and the Burden of the Past.” Social Research: An International Journal 86.1 (2019): 279–303.

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    A path dependency analysis of the limits of change and the weakness of democracy in post-apartheid South Africa. The structural foundations of apartheid minority rule, based upon economic and social exclusion, continue under the ANC.

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  • Governance and Social Development Resource Centre.

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    Provides information on issues of democracy and democratization useful to policymakers, scholars, and practitioners.

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  • Ihonvbere, Julius O. “From Despotism to Democracy: The Rise of Multiparty Politics in Malawi.” Third World Quarterly 18.2 (1997): 225–247.

    DOI: 10.1080/01436599714920Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An analysis of the factors that led to the end of the thirty-year despotic rule of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the Malawi Congress Party, and to the 1994 multiparty elections won by the opposition candidate, Bakili Muluzi and the United Democratic Front.

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  • Riutta, Satu. Democratic Participation in Rural Tanzania and Zambia: The Impact of Civic Education. Boulder, CO: FirstForum, 2009.

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    Based upon field research, the author argues for the importance of civic education in expanding democratic participation and to ensure the survival of democracy. Civic education projects resulted in cognitive and participatory benefits for the most disadvantaged groups, such as women.

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  • Schubert, Jon. “‘Democratisation’ and the Consolidation of Political Authority in Post-war Angola.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.3 (September 2010): 657–672.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.507572Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    On the surface the Angolan government vocalizes support for democracy and democratic elections, but beneath the democratic veneer, the government used the 2006–2007 voter registration process to deepen its control over civil society and to ensure continued MPLA control over all aspects of society.

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  • Wroe, Daniel. “Donors, Dependency, and Political Crisis in Malawi.” African Affairs 111.442 (2012): 135–144.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adr076Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Looks at the constraints that an African gatekeeper state faces in the era of political and economic liberalism. President Mutharika’s attempts to hold onto power became impossible in the face of internal and external pressure to uphold his commitments to support human rights and the constitution and implement sound economic policies.

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Elections

Elections in Southern Africa in the 21st century provide opportunities for assessing the quality of democracy in the region. Most problematic are the elections in Angola, Namibia, and Mozambique, in which the ruling parties garnered over 60 percent of the vote, weakening even further the main opposition parties. Hamill 2010 presents an analysis of the same 2009 South African election, but with less optimism because of what the author views as the ANC’s continued hegemony and the daunting challenges the opposition parties face in appealing to voters. Everatt 2016 finds that, since 2004, many poorer voters have stopped registering and/or voting, which undermines democracy in South Africa. Pitcher 2020 analyzes Mozambique’s fraught 2019 elections through the lens of “pernicious polarization.” Melber 2010 analyzes the 2009 elections in Namibia and draws similar conclusions in assessing democratic elections. The ruling party, the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), won the approval of three-fourths of the electorate, reinforcing its one-party dominance. Roque 2010 views the 2008 legislative elections in Angola as having reinforced the hegemony of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola—Partido do Trabalho (MPLA; People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola—Labor Party) and the president’s personalized rule, rather than consolidating Angolan democracy. Baldwin 2010 assesses a series of Zambian multiparty elections as failing to deepen democracy, since elections have brought about only a change in leadership rather than an alternation in the political party in power. Bratton and Masunungure 2008 judges Zimbabwe’s disputed 2008 presidential elections as confirming Zimbabwe to be an example of electoral authoritarianism. Magaisa 2019 analyzes the election that secured Emmerson Mnangagwa victory in the 2018 elections and finds little has changed in terms of Zimbabwe as an example of competitive authoritarianism. Smiddy and Young 2009 affirms that the 2009 Malawi elections advanced democracy because the president’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), emerged as the first national party to win by garnering support in all of Malawi’s regions, resulting in a unified government for the first time in that country’s democratic history. For Botswana, Brown 2020 believes that in the long term a competitive two-party system will emerge in Botswana

  • Baldwin, Kate. “Zambia: One Party in Perpetuity?” In Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat. Edited by Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, 295–309. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

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    Zambian elections have seen changes in leadership over the course of its recent democratic history, but the lack of political party turnover undermines the deepening of democracy in the country.

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  • Bratton, Michael, and Eldred Masunungure. “Zimbabwe’s Long Agony.” Journal of Democracy 19.4 (October 2008): 41–55.

    DOI: 10.1353/jod.0.0024Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An analysis of the disputed 2008 presidential elections and the role of the ruling party and the military in securing a victory for President Robert Mugabe, creating what the authors label a militarized form of electoral authoritarianism.

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  • Brown, Chris. “Botswana Votes 2019: Two-Party Competition and the Khama Factor.” Journal of Southern African Studies 46.4 (2020): 703–722.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2020.1778901Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Despite the fact that former president Ian Khama abandoned the Botswana Democratic Party (BDS) and the opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change, lost vote share and parliamentary representation, the BDS still managed to win the 2019 elections. The author remains optimistic that Botswana is on track to become a competitive two-party system.

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  • Everatt, David. “The Era of Ineluctability? Post-Apartheid South Africa after 20 Years of Democratic Elections.” Journal of Southern African Studies 42.1 (2016): 49–64.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2016.1116326Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Through the use of voter behavior data, the author finds that the poorest voters have stopped registering and/or voting in South African elections, a trend that undermines South African democracy.

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  • Hamill, James. “A (Qualified) Reaffirmation of ANC Hegemony: Assessing South Africa’s 2009 Election.” Politikon 37.1 (April 2010): 3–23.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2010.492147Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An analysis of the results of South Africa’s 2009 elections for the ANC and the major opposition parties (the Democratic Alliance, Congress of the People, and the Inkatha Freedom Party). Looks at the prospects for the ANC’s continued hegemony and the challenges facing the opposition parties.

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  • Magaisa, Alex. “Zimbabwe: An Opportunity Lost.” Journal of Democracy 30.1 (2019): 143–157.

    DOI: 10.1353/jod.2019.0011Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author analyzes the 2018 presidential elections and finds that they were marred by ZANU-PF’s domination of state resources, the violence against the opposition party and its supporters, and the international community’s condemnation of the excessive use of force demonstrates a repeat of the 2008 elections and marks Zimbabwe as an example of competitive authoritarianism. In addition, President Mnangagwa, the winner of the presidential election, remains beholden to the military who put him in office by helping him secure his electoral victory.

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  • Melber, Henning. “Namibia’s National Assembly and Presidential Elections 2009: Did Democracy Win?” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28.2 (April 2010): 203–214.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589001003736827Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Analyzes the 2009 executive and legislative elections. Although several parties fielded candidates, in the end SWAPO continued to win the majority of the votes, making the country a one-party-dominant state supported by three-fourths of the voters.

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  • Pitcher, M. Anne. “Mozambican Elections 2019: Pernicious Polarization, Democratic Decline, and Rising Authoritarianism.” African Affairs 119.476 (2020): 468–486.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adaa012Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Though Frelimo overwhelmingly won the 2019 presidential and legislative elections, they were marred by widespread violent conflict, killings, and election irregularities. The author discusses the election in the context of rising authoritarianism and “pernicious polarization” that has increased since 2013.

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  • Roque, Paula Cristina. “Angola’s Façade Democracy.” In Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat. Edited by Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, 324–337. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

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    The 2008 legislative elections in Angola served to reinforce the hegemony of the MPLA and President dos Santos’s personalized rule rather than real political liberalization.

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  • Smiddy, Kimberly, and Daniel J. Young. “Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Malawi, May 2009.” Electoral Studies 28.4 (2009): 662–666.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2009.09.003Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A positive judgment of the 2009 Malawi elections: President Mutharika’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), became the first national party to win through garnering support in Malawi’s three regions, which resulted in a unified government for the first time in the country’s democratic history.

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Corruption

Corruption, the misuse of public office for private gain, permeates all societies, but it is particularly pervasive in Southern African countries. Corruption undermines the rule of law, thereby weakening the prospects for democratic consolidation. The process of political and economic liberalization has led governments, nongovernmental organizations, and donors to address the problem. Taylor 2006 looks at the efforts of the Zambian and Kenyan governments to press corruption charges against the previous regimes, countering the belief that corruption is culturally endemic to Africa. Hyslop 2005 compares corruption in the apartheid and post-apartheid governments. Bähre 2005 focuses on the failure of South African officials and development organizations to address corruption in a community development project. Bracking 2009 argues for understanding corruption in Zimbabwe as an instrumental use of class formation to solidify power by the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). A number of authors are skeptical about some efforts to control corruption in the region. Pearce, et al. 2017 focuses on the continuing problem of corruption for Angola’s president, João Lourenço. Controlling corruption through the application of market principles in the public sector may result in greater corruption in Malawi, according to Tambulasi 2009. In the case of South Africa, Wenzel 2007 argues that public management models used to improve public sector delivery may result in more, not less, corruption. Carr 2009 critically evaluates the Southern African Development Community’s Anti-Corruption Protocol as being donor-driven, not African-driven.

  • Bähre, Erik. “How to Ignore Corruption: Reporting the Shortcoming of Development in South Africa.” Current Anthropology 46.1 (February 2005): 107–113.

    DOI: 10.1086/424768Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A study of a development project in a poor South African community in which the ANC and development organizations ignored evidence of corruption.

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  • Bracking, Sarah L. “Political Economies of Corruption beyond Liberalism: An Interpretive View of Zimbabwe.” Singapore Journal of Topical Geography 30.1 (2009): 35–51.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9493.2008.00360.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using a post-structuralist approach, the author identifies corruption in Zimbabwe as an instrument of elite class formation to solidify the power of the Mugabe regime and its allies.

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  • Carr, Indira. “Corruption, the Southern African Development Community Anti-corruption Protocol and the Principal-Agent-Client Model.” International Journal of Law in Context 5.2 (2009): 147–177.

    DOI: 10.1017/S174455230999005XSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A critical view of the Southern African Development Community’s Protocol on Corruption, a top-down, donor-driven approach to controlling corruption. According to the author, unless anti-corruption measures reflect the social, cultural, and political realities of a country, corrupt attitudes and behaviors are likely to endure.

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  • Hyslop, Jonathan. “Political Corruption: Before and after Apartheid.” Journal of Southern African Studies 31.4 (2005): 773–789.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500370555Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines corruption during the apartheid government and its continuation after 1994 as the government incorporated the homeland bureaucracy into the post-apartheid civil service and created a new black middle class of bureaucrats.

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  • Pearce, Justin, Didier Péclard, and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. “Angola’s Elections and the Politics of Presidential Succession.” African Affairs 117.466 (2017): 146–160.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adx045Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors assess the prospects for Angolan politics with the coming to power of Joāo Lourenço amidst growing dissatisfaction with MPLA leadership. Though Lourenço initially took action to challenge the closest allies of the previous president, Eduardo Dos Santos, it is not evident that Lourenço will continue to eliminate the corruption and other ills that plague Angola.

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  • Tambulasi, Richard I. C. “All That Glisters Is Not Gold: New Public Management and Corruption in Malawi’s Local Governance.” Development Southern Africa 26.2 (June 2009): 173–188.

    DOI: 10.1080/03768350902899447Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A critical evaluation of the new public management (NPM) paradigm, based on the use of market principles to run the public sector. Using Malawi as a case study, the author challenges the stated outcomes of NPM. Rather than foster accountability, transparency, and good governance, the NPM results in greater corruption, mismanagement, and waste at the local government level.

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  • Taylor, Scott D. “Divergent Politico-legal Responses to Past Presidential Corruption in Zambia and Kenya: Catching the ‘Big Fish,’ Or Letting Him Off the Hook?” Third World Quarterly 27.2 (2006): 281–301.

    DOI: 10.1080/01436590500432325Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Disputes the neo-patrimonial literature, which views corruption as being culturally endemic to African societies. Under certain conditions, some newly elected regimes can press charges of corruption against the previous one. Explains why Zambia was more successful in prosecuting presidential corruption than Kenya.

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  • Wenzel, Philip. “Public-Sector Transformation in South Africa: Getting the Basics Right.” Progress in Development Studies 7.1 (2007): 47–64.

    DOI: 10.1177/146499340600700105Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Argues that public sector delivery in South Africa, based on public management models, will result in increased arbitrariness and corruption in the long run.

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Political Violence

Several authors explore the gamut of political violence used to achieve political outcomes in countries throughout the region. (“Violence” here includes verbal, written, and physical acts.) The violent tactics employed by the former colonial powers to maintain control have often been replicated by some postcolonial leaders. In the post-independence era, ruling political parties and their opponents, as well as individuals, have resorted to violence to guarantee desired outcomes: to maintain power, to take power, or to guarantee access to patronage and benefits. Chisango and Gwandure 2011 explores the use of violent discourse by political parties in Zimbabwe and South Africa, which functions to delegitimize opposing political parties, and also increases the likelihood of intergroup physical violence. Colonial tactics of violence by leaders to dominate their subjects continued in the postcolonial era under Mozambique’s Frente de Libertação Moçambique (Frelimo) party, according to Igreja 2010. Pearce 2020 examines the continuing violence between Frelimo and the opposition party, Renamo, twenty years after the signing of the General Peace Accords that ended Mozambique’s civil war. Similarly, Jones and Manda 2006 discusses Hastings Banda’s use of the colonial tactics of control in Malawi, which include verbal humiliation and physical violence to impose hegemonic control over the population after he came to power. Mapuva 2010 discusses the militarization of political institutions and the accompanying mobilization of the youth to violently attack those deemed insufficiently supportive of the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). The tragic implications of this violence, explored in Alexander and Chitofiri 2010, find that the 2008 Zimbabwe elections saw violence taken to new extremes as ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) battled for control in Zimbabwe, with the tragic result of tearing apart long-held bonds between community members. Hickman 2011 analyzes post-election violence and compares the experiences of Zimbabwe and Kenya. Morreira 2010 focuses on the lives of Zimbabwean migrants, who, seeking safety in South Africa, instead end up suffering indifference, hostility, and violent xenophobic attacks. Not all countries in the region suffer from extreme violence, however. There are oases of relative peace in a number of Southern African countries. Burnell 2005 examines Zambian “exceptionalism” in maintaining domestic peace and challenges the assumption that social conflict and economic deprivation can result only in intergroup violence.

  • Alexander, Jocelyn, and Kudakwashe Chitofiri. “The Consequences of Violent Politics in Norton, Zimbabwe.” The Round Table 99.411 (December 2010): 673–686.

    DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2010.530410Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Based on interviews of ZANU-PF and MDC supporters in Norton, the authors discuss the factors that shaped political violence during the 2008 elections and the breaking of social bonds between individuals in the community.

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  • Burnell, Peter J. “From Low-Conflict Polity to Democratic Civil Peace: Explaining Zambian Exceptionalism.” African Studies 64.2 (December 2005): 107–133.

    DOI: 10.1080/00020180500355470Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Despite facing severe social and economic conditions, Zambia has maintained a domestic democratic peace. The author attributes the “exceptionalism” of Zambia to a society culturally socialized to eschew violence, strong support for democracy, and a post-independence history of peace.

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  • Chisango, Tadios, and Calvin Gwandure. “Delegitimisation of Disliked Political Organisations through Biased Language and Acronyming.” Journal of Psychology in Africa 21.3 (2011): 455–458.

    DOI: 10.1080/14330237.2011.10820481Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Focusing on South Africa and Zimbabwe, the authors investigate the use of biased political discourse and use of acronyms by political parties used to denigrate opponent parties. Biased language results in the delegitimization of other political parties, contributes to the polarization of societal groups, and may lead to intergroup violence.

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  • Hickman, John. “Explaining Post-election Violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe.” Journal of Third World Studies 28.1 (Spring 2011): 29–46.

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    Analysis of post-election violence in the two countries and the common and different factors that explain why violence occurred in both countries.

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  • Igreja, Victor. “Frelimo’s Political Ruling through Violence and Memory in Postcolonial Mozambique.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.4 (December 2010): 781–799.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.527636Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author explores Frelimo’s anticolonial and post-independence use of violence to rule the population through an analysis of the 1982 “Meeting of the Compromised” and President Machel’s leadership role in the week-long event, which interrogated and humiliated Frelimo’s “enemies.”

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  • Jones, Alison, and Domoka Lucinda Manda. “Violence and ‘Othering’ in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa: Case Study; Banda’s Malawi.” Journal of African Cultural Studies 18.2 (December 2006): 197–213.

    DOI: 10.1080/13696810601105038Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using a postcolonial perspective, the authors explore the process of “Othering” and its accompanying violence to explain the Banda regime and its hegemonic control of the Malawi population.

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  • Mapuva, Jephias. “Militarisation of Public Institutions, Flawed Electoral Processes and Curtailed Citizen Participation: The Case of Zimbabwe.” Journal of Legislative Studies 16.4 (December 2010): 460–475.

    DOI: 10.1080/13572334.2010.519456Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author discusses the militarization of political institutions in Zimbabwe in which current or retired security personnel are appointed to head state institutions to control resources and to ensure the electoral victories of ZANU-PF. The militarization of political institutions functions to radicalize and politicize youth, who use violent methods to intimidate the electorate, especially the regime’s opponents.

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  • Morreira, Shannon. “Seeking Solidarity: Zimbabwean Undocumented Migrants in Cape Town, 2007.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.2 (June 2010): 433–448.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.485793Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author examines the situation of undocumented migrants who have migrated from Zimbabwe for the safety of South Africa, only to discover that South Africans do not view their experiences of structural violence to be worthy of refugee status in South Africa. Consequently, Zimbabweans continue to face structural violence in South Africa and xenophobic violence.

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  • Pearce, Justin. “History, Legitimacy and Renamo’s Return to Arms in Central Mozambique.” Africa 90.4 (2020): 774–795.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0001972020000315Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Twenty years after the signing of the General Peace Accords that ended the Mozambican civil war between the Frelimo government and Renamo, the country witnessed a renewed outbreak of fighting as Renamo took up arms against Frelimo with the support of the civilian population in central Mozambique. The return to violence, according to the author, was due to Renamo’s view of the anti-colonial struggle, the failure to implement the accords that addressed Renamo’s needs, and the perceived lack of democracy in present-day Mozambique.

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Post-conflict Reconciliation and Mediation

Across Southern African countries, wars of liberation and civil wars have not always ended in the defeat of one side or another. Negotiations through third parties helped to end conflicts in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. In South Africa the ruling National Party and the opposition parties successfully and peacefully negotiated a historic agreement. Post-conflict reconciliation in South Africa included the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), publicly held hearings in which victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses shared their experiences. This is considered to be a positive and peaceful way to reconcile a nation in the wake of human rights abuses, and Gibson 2006 judges the process a good one. Krog 2008 analyzes the TRC’s importance and achievements using the African concept of ubuntu (interconnectedness). However, the TRC has also been criticized for its inability to achieve social justice. Simcock 2011 discusses efforts to achieve social justice through apartheid reparation litigation, which holds corporations accountable for apartheid-era human rights abuses. Seekings 2008 finds conditional support for distributive justice among South Africans of all races. Kashyap 2009, using a feminist lens, finds the TRC lacking. While South Africa pursued justice through truth, Namibia’s leaders decided to ignore the human rights abuses that occurred in South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) camps. Höhn 2010 discusses the efforts of a Namibian human rights organization to turn to the International Criminal Court to investigate the human rights abuses in that country. For Metsola 2010, national reconciliation in Namibia remains elusive as long as the SWAPO government refuses to reconcile with individuals and groups who fought to hold on to white minority rule. Azevedo-Harman 2015 argues that Mozambique’s lack of decentralization and inclusionary politics contributes to its stalled reconciliation and democratization process, which periodically results in renewed violence between Renamo and Frelimo. Makahamadze 2019 ponders a potential role for Zimbabwe’s political parties in peacebuilding efforts in that country.

  • Azevedo-Harman, Elisabete. “Patching Things Up in Mozambique.” Journal of Democracy 26.2 (2015): 139–150.

    DOI: 10.1353/jod.2015.0036Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author discusses Mozambique’s stalled reconciliation and democratization process and the periodic outbreak of violence between the Frelimo government and the opposition party, Renamo.

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  • Gibson, James L. “The Contributions of Truth to Reconciliation: Lessons from South Africa.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 50.3 (June 2006): 409–432.

    DOI: 10.1177/0022002706287115Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    According to the author, the TRC hearings, by exposing the truth of harmful acts committed by supporters and opponents of apartheid, have contributed to racial reconciliation and the democratization process.

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  • Höhn, Sabine. “International Justice and Reconciliation in Namibia: The ICC Submission and Public Memory.” African Affairs 109.436 (2010): 471–488.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adp087Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Based upon a 2006 request by a Namibian human rights organization, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), asking the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC to investigate gross human rights abuses carried out by SWAPO during and after the struggle for independence, the author challenges prevailing notions about justice and reconciliation in the wake of gross human rights violations.

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  • Kashyap, Rina. “Narrative and Truth: A Feminist Critique of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Contemporary Justice Review 12.4 (December 2009): 449–467.

    DOI: 10.1080/10282580903343100Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A feminist critique of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in terms of narrative, truth, listening, and restorative justice.

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  • Krog, Antjie. “‘This Thing Called Reconciliation . . . ’ Forgiveness as Part of an Interconnectedness-Towards-Wholeness.” South Africa Journal of Philosophy 27.4 (2008): 353–366.

    DOI: 10.4314/sajpem.v27i4.31524Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Through the African worldview of ubuntu (interconnectedness), the author examines the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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  • Makahamadze, Tompson. “The Role of Political Parties in Peacebuilding Following Disputed Elections in Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe.” Africa Insight 49.3 (2019): 142–158.

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    Using Zimbabwe as a case study, the author analyzes the history of political violence before, during, and after elections and the potential role of political parties in peacebuilding efforts.

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  • Metsola, Lalli. “The Struggle Continues? The Spectre of Liberation, Memory Politics and ‘War Veterans’ in Namibia.” Development and Change 41.4 (2010): 589–613.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01651.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author examines how the narrative of national liberation is used to shape identity, citizenship, and the distribution of resources in Namibia, and posits that SWAPO policies divide the country into two groups, making national reconciliation difficult to achieve.

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  • Seekings, Jeremy. “‘Just Deserts’: Race, Class and Distributive Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.1 (March 2008): 39–60.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070701832874Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Based on survey data, the author challenges the notion that multicultural diversity inhibits support for distributive justice. Across the racial divide, South Africans give (conditional) support for redistributive policies, especially if the recipients are elderly, poor, or unemployed persons with families to support.

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  • Simcock, Julian. “Unfinished Business: Reconciling the Apartheid Reparation Litigation with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Stanford Journal of International Law 47.239 (2011): 239–263.

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    Examines the 2002 apartheid reparation litigation and argues that the Alien Tort Statute complies with the intention and the purpose of the TRC and is a valid mechanism in aiding victims to pursue justice against corporations that were complicit in apartheid human rights abuses.

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Key Political Actors

The following sections outline the key political actors in Southern African politics, including the State, Political Elites, and Political Parties.

The State

The classic definition of “the state” describes it as having the ability to execute actions and policies, having a monopoly of the use of force over a defined territory, and having the capability to act as the primary authority over its territory and the inhabitants who live there. In short, the state function is to settle disputes between peoples and organizations, provide domestic security, and set the laws and rights by which people and organizations will be governed. In addition, the classic notion of state sovereignty implies that a state operates independently from internal rivals and foreign actors. This has not been the case throughout Southern Africa. The ability of states to enjoy sovereign power has always been contested. Colonialism introduced modern (Western) political institutions and law when there already existed traditional political institutions and customary law. In postcolonial Southern Africa, traditional authority and external actors compete with the state in terms of its ability to project power and authority. Abrahams 2016 analyzes South Africa’s nation-building and social cohesion projects as essentially an attempt of the ANC state to establish its hegemony. Mamdani 1996 discusses “decentralized despotism” and explores the legacy of colonial rule and its impact on postcolonial states. Maundeni 2002 compares precolonial state structures and cultures in Botswana and Zimbabwe to explain the differences between the two postcolonial states. Samatar 1999, calling Botswana the “African miracle,” argues that the country defies the Marxist and “strong society/weak state” theories used to analyze the African state. Hillbom 2011, looking at Botswana in the 21st century, argues that rather than an “African miracle,” Botswana resembles a gatekeeping state.

Political Elites

How have political elites in Southern Africa maneuvered to ensure their hold on power? How have political elites been constrained by formal political institutions and law? A number of scholars explore how ruling elites use formal and informal institutions to consolidate and maintain their power. Reddy 2010, employing the theories of neopatrimonialism, elite culture, and institutionalism, discusses the rise of elite conflict and factionalization within the ANC and the culture of violence within South Africa. VonDoepp 2005 explores this issue through an examination of political elites in Malawi. Southall 2019 contrasts the politics of inclusivity carried out by Nelson Mandela with Zuma’s less inclusive policies that have re-polarized South African politics. De Oliveira 2007, on Angola, demonstrates how the ruling MPLA elite has used the rents from the national oil company to survive. Conflict over the rents from Mozambique’s natural resources pits the Frelimo and Renamo political elites against each other and contributes to a continued political crisis, according to Macuane, et al. 2017. Bratton 2016 explores how political elites make elite political settlements to maintain their rule. LeBas and Munemo 2019 explains political elite conflict in Zimbabwe, using the concept of pernicious polarization. Good 2010 presents an analysis of Botswana, showing how the political elite’s dependence upon Lieutenant General Ian Khama created opportunities for Khama to militarize bureaucratic institutions and further the centralizing tendencies to strengthen his hold on power, and simultaneously weakened Botswana’s democracy. A number of scholars challenge the notion of political elites as merely predatory or neopatrimonial. Van Donge 2008 presents an analysis of Zambia that shows that predatory behavior of political elites, through the efforts of government officials and international actors, was punished. Sumich 2008 challenges the neopatrimonial thesis through the author’s research on Frelimo elites, who, under liberalization, maintain power by reducing their vertical clientelist networks.

  • Bratton, Michael. Power Politics in Zimbabwe. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2016.

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    Traces Zimbabwe’s history from colonial to postcolonial rule and documents how negotiated political settlements are undermined by authoritarian elites. An excellent book with implications not only for democracy in Zimbabwe, but also in other authoritarian regimes.

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  • de Oliveira, Ricardo Soares. “Business Success, Angola-Style: Postcolonial Politics and the Rise and Rise of Sonangol.” Journal of Modern Africa Studies 45.4 (2007): 595–619.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X07002893Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Looks at how the Angolan elite, through the national oil company, Sonangol, ensures its own continued political and economic survival while most other state institutions are failing and the vast majority of Angolans barely survive.

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  • Good, Kenneth. “The Illusion of Democracy in Botswana.” In Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat. Edited by Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, 280–294. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

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    A sobering assessment of Botswana’s democracy under the centralizing tendencies and the militarization of key bureaucratic institutions by the current president, Lt. General Ian Khama.

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  • LeBas, Adrienne, and Ngonidzashe Munemo. “Elite Conflict, Compromise, and Enduring Authoritarianism: Polarization in Zimbabwe, 1980–2008.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 681.1 (2019): 209–226.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002716218813897Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine two periods in Zimbabwe’s post-colonial history—from 1980 to 1987 and from 2000 to 2008—in which Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, carried out conflict-producing policies against its main opposition party. While both periods witnessed deep polarizing conflict and violence, only during the latter case did Zimbabwe experience pernicious polarization, in which conflict between the opposing parties also includes the masses. Pernicious polarization, due to conflicts over the foundational myths of a country and the state’s purpose, is more intractable and makes it more difficult for political elites to resolve their differences.

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  • Macuane, José Jaime, Lars Buur, and Celso Marcos Monjane. “Power, Conflict and Natural Resources: The Mozambican Crisis Revisited.” African Affairs 117.468 (2017): 415–428.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adx029Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    According to the authors, the end of the Mozambican civil war resulted in a political settlement based upon national unity that provided some rents from the ruling Frelimo government to its rival, Renamo. With the discovery of coal and natural gas, the goal of the Frelimo elite to maintain power through their control over the rents from natural resources has led to the pursuit of short-term goals rather than a pursuit of more inclusive and long-term political goals that would satisfy the Renamo leadership as well as factions within Frelimo. The desire to maintain the current Frelimo elite in power creates the conditions for the continued political crisis within Mozambique.

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  • Reddy, Thiven. “ANC Decline, Social Mobilization and Political Society: Understanding South Africa’s Evolving Culture.” Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 37.2–3 (December 2010): 185–206.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2010.522329Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Drawing upon theories of neopatrimonialism, elite culture, and institutionalism, the author discusses the rise of elite conflict and factionalization within the ANC, the weakening of civil society, the rise of a violent political culture in post-apartheid South Africa, and the challenges posed for democracy.

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  • Southall, Roger. “Polarization in South Africa: Toward Democratic Deepening or Democratic Delay?” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 681.1 (2019): 194–208.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002716218806913Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The end of apartheid rule and the democratization process allowed South Africa to overcome its deep political polarization. The Mandela government opted for a policy of inclusivity, which helped to reduce deep racial and class conflicts. However, under Zuma, ANC policies became less inclusive and the resulting corruption and anemic economic growth, combined with the party’s attempt to hold onto power at all costs, contribute to the re-polarization of the country.

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  • Sumich, Jason. “Politics after the Time of Hunger in Mozambique: A Critique of Neo-patrimonial Interpretation of African Elites.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.1 (March 2008): 111–125.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070701832916Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author challenges the neopatrimonial thesis that views elite behavior as characterized by intense competition to establish vertical clientelist networks to maintain power. To the contrary, liberalization has allowed Frelimo elites to maintain power by reducing opportunities for social and economic mobility for the middle class.

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  • van Donge, Jan Kees. “The Plundering of Zambian Resources by Frederick Chiluba and His Friends: A Case Study of the Interaction between National Politics and the International Drive towards Good Governance.” African Affairs 108.430 (2008): 69–90.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adn073Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author challenges the predatory African elite analysis through a case study of the efforts of Zambian and international actors to punish government officials for corruption and theft.

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  • VonDoepp, Peter. “Institutions, Resources, and Elite Strategies: Making Sense of Malawi’s Democratic Trajectory.” In The Fate of Africa’s Democratic Experiments: Elites and Institutions. Edited by Leonardo A. Villalón and Peter VonDoepp, 175–198. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

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    A comparison of two periods in Malawi’s political history (1994–2000 and after 2000) and how the ruling party elites use formal and informal institutions to consolidate their hold on power.

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Political Parties

Strong vibrant democracy requires strong political parties. Southern African countries have experienced strong one-party democracy, to the detriment of their societies. Ruling parties monopolize resources and opportunities that make it difficult, if not impossible, for opposition parties to win. Opposition parties, even after the period of political liberalization, remain weak and ineffective, often unable to hold the ruling party accountable to the population (Subudubudu and Osei-Hwedie 2006). Sindjoun, et al. 2010 includes essays on the relationship between political parties and democracy. Chirwa and Nijzink 2012 asks whether political institutions, including political parties, contribute to government accountability. For internal political party developments, LeBas 2011 explores this issue in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Beresford 2015 analyzes the ANC’s “gatekeeper” politics and the undermining of political party unity. Elischer 2013 challenges the notion that African political parties are predominantly ethnic parties and finds a diversity of party types. Manning 2005 analyzes relations between the ruling Frelimo party and the opposition party, Renamo. Nieftagodien 2015 examines the rise of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party and its leader, Julius Malema. Kim 2017 finds that Zambian political parties build winning coalitions by combining the support of their ethnic kin and that of other socioeconomic groups, which has led to political party turnover. Giollabhuí 2018 discusses the successful transformation of the Democratic Alliance party into a viable opposition party to the ANC. See also the subsection Political Party Resources for the websites of a number of the region’s political parties.

  • Beresford, Alexander. “Power, Patronage, and Gatekeeper Politics in South Africa.” African Affairs 114.455 (2015): 226–248.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adu083Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    As a form of patronage politics, the ANC’s “gatekeeper politics,” according to the author, results in bitter struggles as elites battle for power, which undermines party unity and the ability to deliver goods and services to the population.

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  • Chirwa, Danwood M., and Lia Nijzink, eds. Accountable Government in Africa: Perspectives from Public Law and Political Studies. New York: United Nations University Press, 2012.

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    A collection of essays exploring the effectiveness of African political institutions, including political parties, in fostering accountable governments.

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  • Elischer, Sebastian. Political Parties in Africa: Ethnicity and Party Formation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139519755Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Though case studies of a number of African countries, the author challenges the predominant viewpoint that monoethnic parties prevail in Africa. He finds that a majority of parties are nonethnic or multiethnic. Southern African countries discussed include Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, and Zambia.

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  • Giollabhuí, Shane Mac. “How Does an Opposition Party Become Successful in a Dominant Party System? The Case of South Africa.” African Affairs 118.470 (2018): 147–167.

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    The Democratic Alliance party emerged after the end of apartheid as a weakened party and viewed negatively as a whites-only party by the majority of black Africans. With enough resources, DA elites, according to the author, become more centralized, professional, and corporatist. As a result, the DA evolved from being a party that mobilized votes on the basis of minority identity to a party that promoted competence and good governance. In transforming itself, the DA won important victories in municipalities and provinces, becoming a credible opposition party to the ANC.

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  • Kim, Kyung Eun. “Party Strategy in Multidimensional Competition in Africa: The Example of Zambia.” Comparative Politics 50.1 (2017): 21–43.

    DOI: 10.5129/001041517821864426Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author analyzes how political parties in Zambia form winning coalitions and gain votes by building support beyond their ethnic bases and attracting socioeconomic groups, which has led to political party turnover.

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  • LeBas, Adrienne. From Protest to Parties: Party-Building and Democratization in Africa. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546862.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Analyzes the differences of opposition party strength and development in hybrid regimes, including Zimbabwe and Zambia.

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  • Manning, Carrie. “Assessing Adaptation to Democratic Politics in Mozambique.” In The Fate of Africa’s Democratic Experiments: Elites and Institutions. Edited by Leonardo A. Villalón and Peter VonDoepp, 221–245. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

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    An analysis of how the democratization process in Mozambique has influenced dynamics within the ruling party, and also the impact of democratic politics on Frelimo’s relationship with the opposition party, Renamo.

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  • Nieftagodien, Noor. “The Economic Freedom Fighters and the Politics of Memory and Forgetting.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 114.2 (2015): 446–456.

    DOI: 10.1215/00382876-2862820Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A critical study of the rise and contradictions of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party in South Africa and its ability to mobilize the youth and other disaffected sectors of the South African population.

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  • Sindjoun, Luc, Marian Simms, and Kay Lawson, eds. Political Parties and Democracy. Vol. 4, Africa and Oceania. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010.

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    Examines the relationship between political parties and democracy, including chapters on Namibia and South Africa.

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  • Subudubudu, David, and Bertha Z. Osei-Hwedie. “Pitfalls of Parliamentary Democracy and Botswana.” Africa Spectrum 41.1 (2006): 35–53.

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    Analysis of the weaknesses of the opposition parties in providing a challenge to the ruling party and holding it accountable to the population.

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Political Party Resources

The websites of the political parties in Southern Africa offer invaluable information to interested scholars and students. The website of the governing party of South Africa, the African National Congress, contains valuable information on the party’s positions and its leadership. The most vocal opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, has an excellent website that includes the party’s position on both domestic and international issues. The website of the Economic Freedom Fighters contains information on this opposition party in South Africa. The website of the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), the ruling party in Zimbabwe since independence, includes information on activities of the party, who’s who in government, and the constitution. The opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, maintains a website that details the policy positions of the party, the history of the party, and current news. The website of Angola’s ruling party, the MPLA, includes information about the history of the party, speeches of the president, election information, and other useful items. For the country of Namibia, the ruling SWAPO party maintains a website that provides information on the economy and education, government leadership, and the history of the party. The website of Frelimo offers information about Mozambique’s ruling party and its programs. The governing Botswana Democratic Party provides a history of the party, government documents, and links to the women’s and youth wings on its website.

Foreign Policy and Regional Integration

Postcolonial Southern African countries were among the last countries to achieve independence, as white minority regimes refused to give up power in the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola, and in the white minority settler states of Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. From the early days of independence until the 1994 South African election, the countries faced the challenge of how to confront the apartheid regime. Malawi’s Hastings Kamuzu Banda proved to be the most amenable to apartheid South Africa. Eswatini, Botswana, and Lesotho, while strongly opposed to South Africa, could not afford to provoke South Africa into conducting attacks against them, and they followed more moderate foreign policies. Angola and Mozambique, strongly opposed to apartheid and supportive of liberation movements in Namibia and South Africa, bore the brunt of South Africa’s military and economic retaliatory responses. In addition, the Cold War impacted the foreign and domestic policies of each country. Regional integration schemes provided another response to the challenges of development, economic growth, and security, promoting the establishment of collective international organizations. Regional integration schemes in Southern Africa date back to the early years of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the success of Southern African regional integration organizations is mitigated by the weaknesses of the member states. A lack of resources to fund regional integration organizations, ideological and political differences, and personal conflicts within these organizations have reduced their overall effectiveness. With the end of apartheid rule and the Cold War, the countries of the region confront new struggles, including globalization and the Zimbabwe situation—and the resulting refugee problem.

Foreign Policy

Bauer and Taylor 2011 provides a good overview of Southern African foreign policy, including a discussion of the problems of Zimbabwe. Other authors explore the foreign policy of a particular country. Matthee 2016 examines South Africa’s foreign policy under President Jacob Zuma and notes a shift toward China and Russia. Hamill and Hoffman 2009 analyzes the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of South African policy toward Zimbabwe. In another approach to South African foreign policy, the authors of Serrão and Bischoff 2009 use realist and social constructivist theories to explain the ambiguity and weakness of South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policies. Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2010 explores the growing ties between Zimbabwe and Angola, and Youde 2007 discusses Zimbabwe’s foreign policy shift toward China. Mthembu 2019 looks at the rise and opportunities for South Africa and the other BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to shape global governance.

  • Bauer, Gretchen, and Scott D. Taylor. “Southern Africa’s International Relations.” In Politics in Southern Africa: Transition and Transformation. 2d ed. By Gretchen Bauer and Scott D. Taylor, 353–376. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2011.

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    Discusses Southern African foreign relations, including the crisis in Zimbabwe and the challenges of Southern African regional organizations.

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  • Hamill, James, and John Hoffman. “‘Quiet Diplomacy’ or Appeasement? South Africa Policy towards Zimbabwe.” The Round Table 98.402 (June 2009): 373–384.

    DOI: 10.1080/00358530902895584Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A critical analysis of South Africa’s rhetoric and support of liberal values. The authors argue that, with regard to the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe, the South African government has abandoned democratic values and respect for human rights. Instead, South Africa’s engagement with Zimbabwe rests upon values such as “liberation solidarity,” “SADC unity,” and the export of the South African model of “governments of national unity.”

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  • Matthee, Heinrich. “Turning from the West: South Africa’s Ominous Pivot.” World Affairs 178.4 (2016): 14–23.

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    Traces the shift of South Africa’s foreign policy under President Jacob Zuma away from the West and toward China and Russia in an attempt to delink from the country’s neocolonial past.

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  • Mthembu, Philani. “South Africa and BRICS in a Multipolar World: Towards a Diffusion of Power and Ideas?” Africa Insight 48.4 (2019): 39–55.

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    The author contends that in a multipolar world, along with the decline of the Western-led international system, states such as South Africa and the other BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), as well as nonstate actors, have an opportunity to shape global governance through their power, both material and ideational.

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  • Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. “Angola-Zimbabwe Relations: A Study in the Search for Regional Alliances.” The Round Table 99.441 (December 2010): 631–653.

    DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2010.530406Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author traces the growing ties of cooperation between Angola and Zimbabwe since the 1990s. Both countries have built strong economic ties to China, and they collaborated on military intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the late 1990s.

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  • Serrão, Olivier, and Paul-Henri Bischoff. “Foreign Policy Ambiguity on the Part of an Emergent Middle Power: South African Foreign Policy through Other Lenses.” Politikon 36.3 (December 2009): 363–380.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589341003600189Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using rationalist and ideationalist international relations theories, the authors explain the ambiguity and weakness of South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy.

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  • Youde, Jeremy. “Why Look East? Zimbabwean Foreign Policy and China.” Africa Today 53.3 (Spring 2007): 3–19.

    DOI: 10.2979/AFT.2007.53.3.2Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Explores Zimbabwe’s turn to China as an attempt to project its state identity in order to reinforce its domestic support and assert its importance as an international actor, and to allow President Mugabe to prove his freedom fighter and anti-imperialist credentials. Whether this turn will prove successful remains an open question.

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Regional Integration

Southern African countries emerged from colonialism economically weak, dependent, and often politically unstable. Compounding these challenges, the region faced a formidable neighbor in South Africa, whose military, economic, and political capabilities far exceeded those of the other states in the region. How could these states address their individual domestic problems and international challenges? It seemed obvious that self-reliance, or each of them going alone, would not produce effective solutions. Somehow, they would have to unite and cooperate in order to achieve their objectives and gain benefits. To enhance cooperation on economic and security matters, states within a region often create regional integration schemes. Southern African states have created several regional institutions and treaty-based agreements for this purpose. One of the oldest, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), dates back to 1910. Because of South Africa’s economic, military, and structural preponderance, nine Southern African states formed the Southern African Development Coordination Conference in 1980 as a counterweight to South Africa and to develop regional development projects. With the end of apartheid control of Namibia in 1990 and the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, the organization admitted the two countries and changed its name to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Lee 2003 provides an introduction to the evolution of this organization and the challenges confronted by its member states. Gibb 2006 provides an analysis of the South African Customs Union, and McGowan and Ahwireng-Obeng 1998 provides a discussion of the SADC. Both share the opinion that South African hegemony challenges any project. Nathan 2006 provides a pessimistic assessment of the SADC’s ability to develop a common security regime. A recent development in the creation of economic integration schemes is the newly created African Continental Free Trade Area whose goal is to increase intra-African trade to increase economic growth and industrialization for the 54 African countries. Ndonga, et al. 2020 question whether small land-locked countries such as Malawi will benefit from the AfCFTA.

  • Gibb, Richard. “The New Southern African Customs Union Agreement: Dependence with Democracy.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.3 (September 2006): 583–603.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070600830557Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In 2004, the Southern African Customs Union (incorporating South Africa and the BLNS states [Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Namibia]) negotiated a new agreement to introduce greater equality among the partners. But given South Africa’s economic, demographic, and industrial dominance within the group, Gibb argues that South Africa will continue to control the SACU.

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  • Lee, Margaret. The Political Economy of Regionalism in Southern Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003.

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    Analyzes the evolution of regional economic integration in Southern Africa and the prospects of success for the SADC.

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  • McGowan, Patrick J., and Fred Ahwireng-Obeng. “Partner or Hegemon? South Africa in Africa: Part Two.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 16.2 (1998): 165–195.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589009808729627Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Due to South Africa’s economic and structural advantages in Africa, the authors posit that South Africa will play the role of the regional hegemon, as evidenced by its behavior in SACU and SADC negotiations with its regional partners.

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  • Nathan, Laurie. “SADC’s Uncommon Approach to Common Security, 1992–2003.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.3 (September 2006): 605–622.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070600830755Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The inability of the SADC to forge a common security regime and to engage in successful peacemaking is due to an absence of common values among the members, a reluctance to surrender state sovereignty, and the economic and administrative weaknesses of the member states.

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  • Ndonga, Dennis, Emmanuel Laryea, and Murendere Chaponda. “Assessing the Potential Impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area on Least Developed Countries: A Case Study of Malawi.” Journal of Southern African Studies 46.4 (2020): 773–792.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2020.1767888Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors questions whether the African Continental Free Trade Area, created in 2018, will economically benefit a less developed country such as Malawi. One impact of the free trade agreement will reduce the revenues generated from tariffs, which may potentially undermine Malawi’s economy.

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Economy

The economies of Southern African countries, like those of other countries in the continent, have been profoundly impacted by colonial and postcolonial policies. Southern African countries emerged from colonialism poor, underdeveloped, and dependent upon more developed countries. Agriculture, often the largest sector of society, fails to generate the development needed to grow the economy and provide for the population. African farmers compete with farmers in other parts of the world who produce more efficiently. Moreover, after independence, few governments devoted the necessary resources to the agriculture sector to make it viable on the global market. In the agricultural sector, land reform and land redistribution have emerged as a critical issue, raising conflicts between groups and between society and the state. In South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana, the mining and manufacturing sectors produce export goods that are competitive in the global economy. As a result, labor in these industries has been able to develop the political muscle to influence government policies and social trends, particularly as a social movement outside of government rather than inside the circle of power (as in South Africa). Where organized labor and labor unions are strong, workers experience better wages and working conditions. To expand the ranks of the trade union movement, some unions have campaigned to mobilize and unionize workers in the informal sector.

Political Economy

Political struggles in Southern African also involve economic and social issues. The end of colonial rule and postcolonial civil wars engendered hopes that the population would taste the fruits of independence and peace, not only in the form of civil and political rights, but also in the form of economic rights, such as the right to education, jobs, and healthy lives. To meet the needs of the population and to secure their power, post-independence regimes chose between two economic models, market capitalism and state socialism. In the 1980s, with the collapse of Communist rule in the Soviet Union, Angola and Mozambique abandoned state socialism as an economic model and took steps to implement market reforms. Other Southern African countries facing severe economic problems turned from redistributive policies to following the so-called Washington Consensus, adopting more free market development policies. Structural adjustment policies, adopted by Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and other countries in the region, have been critically analyzed by a number of scholars. Arrighi, et al. 2010 critiques the region’s turn to neoclassical capitalist economic development, which does little to improve the lives of the poor. In South Africa, initial ANC efforts to foster equality and redistribution slowed considerably when the government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) model. Marais 1998 argues that GEAR makes impossible the type of thoroughgoing economic and social change needed. Padayachee 2005, reviewing the first decade of ANC rule, suggests that policies geared to the needs of the poor would better reduce poverty and lower unemployment. What chance is there for a reconsideration of economic growth policies? Nattrass and Seekings 2001 does not anticipate a change in ANC economic strategy because the groups that benefit from such policies (urban workers and public sector employees) tend to be strong supporters of the ANC, and they vote, while the poor and unemployed South Africans do not vote and exert no pressure on the government. A different perspective on economic growth policies from Marshfield 2010 provides an analysis that finds that economic growth makes a positive contribution to South Africa because it contributes to the deracialization of the economy and expands the black middle class, which ultimately will contribute to greater democratic stability. Besides economic growth models as a key ANC policy, a second feature of South Africa’s post-apartheid economic policies has been the implementation of the controversial Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies. Tangri and Southall 2008, while supportive of BEE for its potential to deracialize the economy, acknowledges the criticism leveled against black empowerment initiatives. Iheduru 2008 provides an evaluation of BEE policies and finds that BEE-compliant companies performed better than noncompliant businesses. Taylor 2007 investigates business-state relations in South Africa, Zambia, and South Africa. Southall 2017 links Zimbabwe’s economic policies (dollarization and the use of bonds) to ZANU-PF’s attempt to remain in power.

  • Arrighi, Giovanni, Nicole Aschoff, and Ben Scully. “Accumulation by Dispossession and Its Limits: The Southern Africa Paradigm Revisited.” Studies in Comparative International Development 45.4 (2010): 410–438.

    DOI: 10.1007/s12116-010-9075-7Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors critique classical notions of capitalist economic development and suggest that South African and Southern African development policies must focus first on improving the welfare of the majority of the population if successful development is to occur.

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  • Iheduru, Okechukwu C. “Why ‘Anglo Licks the ANC’s Boots’: Globalization and State-Capital Relations in South Africa.” African Affairs 107.428 (2008): 333–360.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adn037Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of state-business relations in post-apartheid South Africa and the “fateful compromise” between the ANC and the business community in which the latter has agreed to implement Black Economic Empowerment policies, with the result that BEE-compliant companies have actually performed better than noncompliant businesses.

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  • Marais, Hein. South Africa: Limits to Change; The Political Economy of Transition. London: Zed, 1998.

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    A critical assessment of the limits of the transition in South Africa due to negotiated compromises and the economic policies adopted by the ANC that limit its ability to produce more thoroughgoing economic and social change. Second edition published 2001.

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  • Marshfield, Jonathan L. “Evaluating South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Democratic Prospects through the Lens of Economic Development Theory.” Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business 9.4 (2010): 431–470.

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    The result of the ANC’s economic development strategy, by positively contributing to the development of a nonracial middle class, will contribute to democratic stability. Available online.

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  • Nattrass, Nicoli, and Jeremy Seekings. “Democracy and Distribution in Highly Unequal Economies: The Case of South Africa.” Journal of Modern African Studies 39.3 (September 2001): 471–498.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X01003688Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The prospects for poor and unemployed voters pressuring the government to implement redistribution policies are highly unlikely in a post-apartheid South Africa, due to the powerlessness this group and the power of urban workers and public sector employees, who benefit from labor market regulation that preserves income inequalities.

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  • Padayachee, Vishnu. “The South African Economy, 1994–2004.” Social Research 72.3 (Fall 2005): 549–580.

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    Ten years into ANC rule, the author evaluates the government’s macroeconomic policies, arguing for a more pro-poor macroeconomic approach to reduce poverty and lower unemployment.

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  • Southall, Roger Jonathan. “Bond Notes, Borrowing, and Heading for Bust: Zimbabwe’s Persistent Crisis.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 51.3 (2017): 389–405.

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    The author discusses Zimbabwe’s economic crisis and the government’s attempt to deal with the crisis through its policies of dollarization and the use of bonds. The author concludes that Zimbabwe’s “persistent crisis” will continue due to the fact that even under the leadership of Emmerson Mnangagwa, economic and political reforms will be tepid, so as to keep ZANU-PF in power.

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  • Tangri, Roger, and Roger Southall. “The Politics of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.3 (September 2008): 699–716.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070802295856Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines the controversy over the South African Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies, which have been cautiously implemented so as not to anger major white corporate interests. Nevertheless, BEE has been severely criticized by trade unions and black business groups.

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  • Taylor, Scott D. Business and the State in Southern Africa: The Politics of Economic Reform. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2007.

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    Looks at government-state relations in promoting economic growth and development in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

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Labor and Labor Relations

Nonagricultural labor, historically, plays an important role in many Southern African countries. Colonial rule led to the creation of trade unions in the mining and manufacturing industries. As a result, a number of countries in the region have strong labor movements. Mine and manufacturing workers in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have struggled to improve the wages and working conditions of their members in both the colonial and the postcolonial periods. Labor mobilized politically to end colonialism and has not hesitated to protest and mobilize against postcolonial authoritarian rule. In a number of countries, labor has been at the forefront of opposition to neoliberal economic policies. After 1994 many poor and working-class South Africans anticipated their new government would improve their lives. Instead, the government shifted from an emphasis on redistribution of wealth and improving employment opportunities to implementing a neoliberal policy, Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR). How has GEAR impacted workers and working conditions? How have workers responded to the government’s economic policies? Barchiesi 2008 discusses the experiences of union workers, who, opine neoliberal policies, have undermined worker solidarity and resulted in workers surviving through individualized, rather than collective, solutions. Botiveau 2014 discusses the growing split within the mineworkers committee, which culminated in the strikes and killings at Marikana. Pons-Vignon and Anseeuw 2009 acknowledges some of the improvements the ANC has made to improve the conditions of workers but suggests that, on balance, the ANC’s policies undermine the economic rights of South Africans. In contrast to the pessimism of Pons-Vignon and Anseeuw 2009, White 2010 finds hope in the women-led farm workers’ trade union, Sikhula Sonke, that uses creative methods to challenge the state. Paret 2017 explores the fragmentation of the South African labor movement. Other works explore labor relations and unions in Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zambia or address new forms of trade unionism. Chinguno 2010–2011 looks at the efforts of trade unions to organize informal sector workers in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Miller 2005 studies the attempts of retail workers in Mozambique and Zambia to extract a better deal from Shoprite, the South African multinational corporation. Gibbs 2005 examines the rise and fall of a successful garment union in Lesotho. Kenny 2011 discusses new forms of unionism in the creation of “mall committees” in South Africa.

  • Barchiesi, Franco. “Wage Labor, Precarious Employment, and Social Inclusion in the Making of South Africa’s Postapartheid Transition.” African Studies Review 51.2 (2008): 119–142.

    DOI: 10.1353/arw.0.0083Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Union workers in South Africa have experienced a decrease in employment security and a weakening of worker solidarity as a result of neoliberal policies. But in challenging industrial restructuring, workers turn to individualized strategies for personal survival rather than using collective action, which was used successfully to fight the apartheid regime.

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  • Botiveau, Raphaël. “The Politics of Marikana and South Africa’s Changing Labour Relations.” African Affairs 113.450 (2014): 128–137.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adt073Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of the changing dynamics in the relationship between laborers in the mining sector and the ANC-aligned mining union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The emergence of a more radical and competing mining union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), set the stage for labor conflict, which culminated in a strike that lasted eleven days in 2012 and the killing of thirty-four mineworkers at Marikana. If industrial workers have abandoned the ANC-aligned unions, it is because they feel abandoned by the government’s neo-liberal policies that have failed to improve the social and economic conditions of workers.

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  • Chinguno, Crispen. “Trade Unions and Workers in the Periphery: Forging New Forms of Solidarity?” Journal of Workplace Rights 15.3–4 (2010–2011): 367–386.

    DOI: 10.2190/WR.15.3-4.iSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author explores attempts by trade unions in Zimbabwe and South Africa to develop relations with workers in the informal economy, often hampered by the inability of unions to understand the conditions and needs of informal sector workers, which limits the possibilities to expand the trade union movement throughout the region.

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  • Gibbs, Tim. “‘Union Boys in Caps Leading Factory Girls Astray?’ The Politics of Labour Reform in Lesotho’s ‘Feminised’ Garment Industry.” Journal of Southern African Studies 31.1 (March 2005): 95–115.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500035752Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An analysis of the rise and fall of the Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union, at one time the largest and most successful union in the Lesotho garment industry

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  • Kenny, Bridget. “Reconstructing the Political? Mall Committees and South African Precarious Retail Workers.” LABOUR, Capital and Society 44.1 (2011): 44–69.

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    The author examines the efforts of a traditional South African trade union to organize women workers in the retail sector through a new organizational form, the “mall committee,” and asks whether this new form of unionism reinforces or challenges the divisions between the precarious retail workers and their union shop stewards.

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  • Miller, Darlene. “Regional Solidarity and a New Regional Moment in Post-Apartheid Southern Africa—Retail Workers in Mozambique and Zambia.” LABOUR, Capital and Society 38.1–2 (2005): 94–125.

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    A case study of the demands of workers in Mozambique and Zambia for better wages and working conditions from their employer, Shoprite, a South African multinational corporation. The company’s refusal to accede to the workers’ demands has led to growing labor militancy and union activism in both countries.

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  • Paret, Marcel. “South Africa’s Divided Working-Class Movements.” Current History 116.790 (2017): 176–182.

    DOI: 10.1525/curh.2017.116.790.176Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Explores the fragmentation of the working class in South Africa due to labor’s declining bargaining power and the high levels of unemployment.

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  • Pons-Vignon, Nicolas, and Ward Anseeuw. “Great Expectations: Working Conditions in South Africa since the End of Apartheid.” Journal of Southern African Studies 35.4 (December 2009): 883–899.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070903313236Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Despite the ANC’s efforts to improve the conditions of work through labor market regulation, work and living conditions have deteriorated due to outsourcing, the casualization of labor, and the practice of hiring more women and foreign workers. Economic rights have been undermined by the government’s neoliberal economic policies.

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  • White, Fiona. “Deepening Democracy: A Farm Workers’ Movement in the Western Cape.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.3 (September 2010): 673–691.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.507575Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In this study of the women-led farm workers’ trade union, Sikhula Sonke, the author discusses the creative methods employed to empower female farm workers to challenge the state and the unfair labor practices of farm owners/employers. Through its use of moderate and radical practices, Sikhula Sonke contributes to democracy.

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Land Reform and Land Restitution

Perhaps no issue has been more contentious than the land issue in Southern Africa. Settler regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa appropriated the majority of the land for European settlement, relegating blacks to small pieces of territory (Bantustans in South Africa and tribal lands in Zimbabwe) that quickly could not support the surplus of people living there. In negotiations with white minority regimes, constitutional guarantees meant that land could be exchanged only on a “willing seller, willing buyer” basis. As a result, until the 2000 Fast-Track Land Reform program implemented in Zimbabwe, very little land was transferred from European settlers to blacks. While land-reform policies in Zimbabwe have engendered much conflict and scholarly attention, Alexander 2006 shows that the land reform policies of the Mugabe era mirror the colonial era in that both are about conflicts over who has authority over the land. Ndhlovu 2018 employs the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to evaluate Zimbabwe’s Fast-Track Land Reform Program. A highly critical evaluation of Zimbabwe’s land policies is provided in Richardson 2005, which faults the process for undermining the rule of law and economic growth. Peters and Kambewa 2007 argues that Malawi’s land reform policies will not solve the growing conflict and competition for land, but will instead create more insecurity because some groups will have difficulties gaining access or holding on to land. The land reform process in South Africa is discussed in Atuahene 2011, which criticizes the South African government for underfunding land reform efforts. Everingham and Jannecke 2006 documents that after land restitution was made to three South African communities, communal solidarity weakened as internal conflicts erupted over how to negotiate with state authorities and private businesses. Walker 2005 asks whether the South African government should look beyond land restitution to restore rights to its citizens. Finally, Hall 2011 looks at the increasing and problematic trend of “land grabbing” by domestic and international actors, and the impact of this practice on small African landowners and rural social and economic structures. Melber 2019 criticizes Namibia’s land restoration policies for failing to provide genuine restorative justice to those who were historically dispossessed of their lands.

  • Alexander, Jocelyn. The Unsettled Land: State-Making and the Politics of Land in Zimbabwe, 1893–2003. Oxford: James Currey, 2006.

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    An analysis of state-making from the colonial to the postcolonial period, through the lens of land, land policy, nationalism, and contestations between local and state institutions over who has authority over land. Published in conjunction with Weaver Press (Harare) and Ohio University Press.

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  • Atuahene, Bernadette. “South Africa’s Land Reform Crisis: Eliminating the Legacy of Apartheid.” Foreign Affairs 90.4 (July–August 2011): 121–129.

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    The ANC government, by underfunding land reform efforts and failing to help the beneficiaries of land reform obtain the needed capital and skills, contributes to the reinforcement of racial inequalities. Without greater efforts by the government and the international community, the author predicts major political conflict in the future.

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  • Everingham, Mark, and Crystal Jannecke. “Land Restitution and Democratic Citizenship in South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.3 (September 2006): 545–562.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070600830508Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors question the benefits of land restitution policies as a means to help dispossessed groups exercise citizenship through the restoration of their property rights, because socioeconomic differences and different preferences emerge that threaten communal solidarity as the groups negotiate with government authorities and private interests regarding land use.

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  • Hall, Ruth. “Land Grabbing in Southern Africa: The Many Faces of the Investor Rush.” Review of African Political Economy 38.128 (2011): 193–214.

    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2011.582753Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author explores the emerging forms of land grabbing by domestic and international actors, the impact on smallholder African farmers, and the potential transformations in agrarian structures.

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  • Melber, Henning. “Colonialism, Land, Ethnicity, and Class: Namibia after the Second National Land Conference.” Africa Spectrum 54.1 (2019): 73–86.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002039719848506Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    While land restitution remains one of the most contentious issue facing Namibia, the winners of land restitution, the elite land grabbers, include members of the political and bureaucratic elite as well as wealthy foreigners. Ethnic groups, with legitimate claims to land that was stolen during German colonialism and South African–imposed apartheid rule, as well as the poor have not seen their traditional lands restored. Where resettlement has benefited a few landless Namibians, the government failure to provide the necessary infrastructure, agricultural training, and capital to support the new farmers has led to the collapse of these farms. Real restorative justice in Namibia, the author states, necessitates land restitution go to those who were truly and historically dispossessed and should be financed by Germany.

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  • Ndhlovu, Emmanuel. “Relevance of Sustainable Livelihood Approach in Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme.” Africa Insight 47.4 (2018): 72–87.

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    The author employs the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to evaluate the results of the Fast-Track Land Reform Program in Zimbabwe and finds that farmers often lack the human, physical, social, financial, and natural capital to improve their livelihoods. Compounding the challenges to generate sustainable livelihoods, farmers have been pressured by the Zimbabwe government to grow commercial crops (mainly tobacco) in a region that experiences inadequate rainfall levels and high temperatures.

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  • Peters, Pauline E., and Daimon Kambewa. “Whose Security? Deepening Social Conflict over ‘Customary’ Land in the Shadow of Land Tenure Reform in Malawi.” Journal of Modern African Studies 45.3 (2007): 447–472.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X07002704Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors suggest that the competition and conflict over land raises the question of the impact of Malawi’s land reform policy, and they predict there will be winners and losers as a result of land reform. Losers are likely to be women, migrants, the younger, and the poor.

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  • Richardson, Craig. “The Loss of Property Rights and the Collapse of Zimbabwe.” Cato Journal 25.3 (2005): 541–565.

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    The author is highly critical of the Zimbabwe Fast-Track Land Reform policy because of its damage to property rights, which contributes to a loss of investor trust in the government, a loss of land equity, and a loss of entrepreneurial knowledge and incentives.

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  • Walker, Cherryl. “Misplaced Agrarianization? Reflections on Ten Years of Land Restitution.” Social Research 72.3 (Fall 2005): 647–670.

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    An important work that raises the question of whether land restitution is too narrowly focused on rural land restitution, ignoring the urban dimension of land restitution and whether other types of government policies could better redress social and economic dispossession.

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HIV/AIDS and COVID-19

Health crises provide a recurring theme to the challenges facing the lives of Southern Africans. In the past four decades, Southern African has faced the scourge of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. No region in Africa—or in the world—has been more affected by HIV/AIDS than Southern Africa. As of 2019, over 14.8 million people living in Southern Africa were HIV positive. Southern Africa accounts for 39 percent of all HIV cases worldwide. Botswana, Eswatini, and Lesotho have the highest AIDS prevalence rates of any country in the world. HIV/AIDS affects every aspect and every sector of society throughout the region. At the micro level, HIV has lowered life expectancy, impoverished families, and led to the breakup of families, so that many have to struggle to cope with the loss of one or both parents and AIDS orphans. The gendered dimension of HIV/AIDS poses challenges for women as they strive to take care of their needs and those of their families. At the macro level, employers must cope with the loss of worker productivity from the impact of rising mortality and morbidity among workers. The disease impacts the military services and security and peacekeeping operations. States need to allocate more resources to the prevention and control of the disease. In 2020, COVID-19 emerged as a global pandemic and has affected the region of Southern Africa as well.

HIV/AIDS

Bauer and Taylor 2011 discusses the spread of AIDS, the impact on families and societies, and national and international responses to the AIDS crisis. The AIDS crisis has created a tremendous burden on African families as they have developed strategies for coping with the impact of the disease. Scholars focus on different aspects of the impact of the AIDS crisis. Brugha, et al. 2010 looks at the different ways in which Malawi and Zambia have utilized external funding to combat HIV/AIDS. Ansell and van Blerk 2004 explores the creative solutions families cobble together to take care of dependent children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The question of whether child-only households in rural Zimbabwe reinforce or create traditional gender roles is addressed in Francis-Chizororo 2010. A discussion of the impact of the burden of HIV/AIDS on women is explored in Peters, et al. 2008, which focuses on matrilineal/matrilocal societies in Malawi and how they cope with caring for sick family members. Urdang 2006 argues for the importance of viewing the crisis using a gendered perspective in order to achieve better results.

  • Ansell, Nicola, and Lorraine van Blerk. “Children’s Migration as a Household/Family Strategy: Coping with AIDS in Lesotho and Malawi.” Journal of Southern African Studies 30.3 (September 2004): 673–690.

    DOI: 10.1080/0305707042000254155Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine the growth of youth migration due to AIDS and the choices made by extended family members to provide financially, emotionally, and physically for their young kin who are AIDS orphans.

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  • Bauer, Gretchen, and Scott D. Taylor. “Living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.” In Politics in Southern Africa: Transition and Transformation. 2d ed. By Gretchen Bauer and Scott D. Taylor, 301–325. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2011.

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    The authors look at the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Southern Africa region, the factors that contribute to the HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, and how national and international actors respond to the AIDS crisis.

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  • Brugha, Ruairí, John Kadzandira, Joseph Simbaya, Patrick Dicker, Victor Mwapasa, and Aisling Walsh. “Health Workforce Responses to Global Health Initiatives Funding: A Comparison of Malawi and Zambia.” Human Resources for Health 8.19 (August 2010): 1–13.

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    A comparison of the Malawian and Zambian utilization of resources received from the Global Health Initiative (GHI). Malawi increased health-care staff throughout the entire country, while Zambia did not effectively use its funding to improve health care in rural areas.

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  • Francis-Chizororo, Monica. “Growing Up without Parents: Socialisation and Gender Relations in Orphaned-Child-Headed Households in Rural Zimbabwe.” Journal of Southern African Studies 36.3 (September 2010): 711–727.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2010.507578Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines how child-only households organize themselves in terms of work, domestic work, and gender roles, and the differences between all-male versus mixed gender households in challenging or reinforcing traditional gender behavioral norms.

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  • Peters, Pauline E., Peter A. Walker, and Daimon Kambewa. “Striving for Normality in a Time of AIDS in Malawi.” Journal of Modern African Studies 46.4 (2008): 659–687.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X08003522Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Through a study of villagers in Malawi, the authors document how families in this matrilineal/matrilocal society cope with AIDS. Though the extended family network serves as a safety net, lowering the likelihood of household dissolution, more should be done to help alleviate the burden on the most vulnerable families.

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  • Urdang, Stephanie. “The Care Economy: Gender and the Silent AIDS Crisis in Southern Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (March 2006): 165–177.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493886Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of the AIDS crisis in Southern Africa from a gendered perspective. The author posits that without a focus on women’s roles and responsibilities in family and society and a gendered perspective concerning all aspects of AIDs policies and programs, results will be less than optimal.

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COVID-19

As of the end of 2020, COVID-19 affected some 1 million inhabitants of Southern Africa, no doubt, a fraction of the 75.2 million people affected worldwide. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has the potential to inflict major impacts on the region. Melber 2020 explores the impact of COVID-19 on the Southern African region. Tom and Chipenda 2021 discusses the devastating impact of COVID-19 on families and communities in Zimbabwe. The authors of Carlitz and Makhura 2021 use mobile phone data to highlight the difficulties of adhering to lockdown for some South African groups. Seekings and Nattrass 2020 explains the failure of South Africa’s response to COVID.

  • Carlitz, Ruth D. and Moraka N. Makhura. “Life under Lockdown: Illustrating Tradeoffs in South Africa’s Response to COVID-19.” World Development 137 (2021): 1–8.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105168Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using mobile phone data, the authors in this innovative study document the difficulty of rural dwellers and those with the most precarious livelihoods to comply with the South African government’s lockdown orders.

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  • Melber, Henning. “COVID-19 and Southern Africa.” The Round Table 109.4 (2020): 476–477.

    DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2020.1790776Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    A brief discussion of COVID-19’s impact on Namibia and South Africa. Both countries imposed very strict lockdowns that failed to take into account the lived situations of their inhabitants, with the result that the political and economic elite fared better. For the poor, already weighed down by the legacy of apartheid, the struggle to survive grew more precarious. Basic hygiene is difficult to maintain in the townships, incomes declined as people could not work due to the lockdowns imposed, and the social grants handed out were too small to meet needs. What the poor did experience was repressive violence at the hands of the security forces when they failed to comply with the extended lockdowns.

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  • Seekings, Jeremy and Nicoli Nattrass. “COVID vs. Democracy: South Africa’s Lockdown Misfire.” Journal of Democracy 31.4 (2020): 106–121.

    DOI: 10.1353/jod.2020.0059Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors discuss South Africa’s heavy-handed lockdown orders that exacerbated poverty, hunger, and loss of income while subjecting the population to enforcement measures brutally carried out by the police. COVID-19 highlights South Africa’s ongoing challenges: weak state institutions and their limited capacity to deliver needed services to the population, weak presidential leadership, divisions within the ruling ANC, weak legislative branch and opposition parties, and the limits of South Africa’s civil society.

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  • Tom, Tom, and Clement Chipenda. “COVID-19, Lockdown and the Family in Zimbabwe.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies 51.3–4 (2021): 288–300.

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    The authors examine the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on families and communities. Beyond being a biomedical problem, COVID-19 has severe socioeconomic impacts, such as the loss of work and income in both the formal and the informal sectors, family insecurity, widening class differences, the rejection of some cultural values, exploding domestic violence, and declines in formal education.

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Identity Politics

Colonial and postcolonial states shaped and influenced ethnic and racial identity. During the period of colonialism, missionaries and colonial authorities categorized, separated, and invented ethnic groups and cultural traditions. Postcolonial leaders have used ethnic identity to unite and divide ethnic groups. Social cleavages in African countries are more likely to emerge from ethnic divisions than class or ideological differences. But ethnic divisions may or may not lead to cleavages and conflicts, as Posner 2004 argues in a comparison of Zambia and Malawi. With the end of the Cold War and the transition to democratic governance, ethnic and racial identity emerged as important issues in democratic politics, according to Berman, et al. 2004. Ruigrok 2010 finds political liberalization opens a space for some ethnic groups to assert their cultural identity to mobilize and make demands upon the state, as in Malawi and Angola. Durham 2020 examines how the accumulation of cars and houses by the middle class in Botswana depends on their identity and connections to family and friends. The implementation of democratic rule has also transformed ethnic identity among South Africans, as argued in Jung 2000 and Maré 2005. Steyn and Foster 2008 explores attitudes of white South Africans who are resistant to the political and economic changes, and notes they find hope in making connections to international discourses of whiteness. While colonialism and apartheid have ended, there are new contestations over identity and the creation of insiders and outsiders. White identity in Zimbabwe, according to Pilossof and Boersema 2017, is viewed differently depending upon whether whites live in rural or urban areas. Though apartheid South Africa welcomed strangers to work in its mines, factories, and farms, post-apartheid South Africa and the unfulfilled expectations of the poor, according to Landau 2010, explain the rise in xenophobic attacks against Africans from neighboring countries and South Africans married to foreigners.

  • Berman, Bruce, Dickson Eyoh, and Will Kymlicka, eds. Ethnicity & Democracy in Africa. Oxford: James Currey, 2004.

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    A collection of essays examining ethnic identity formation, ethnic conflict, and democracy in multiethnic African societies. The book covers sub-Saharan Africa and includes essays on Botswana and South Africa. Published in conjunction with Ohio University Press.

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  • Durham, Deborah. “Morality in the middle: choosing cars or houses in Botswana.” Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 90.3 (May 2020): 489–508.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0001972020000042Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines how the accumulation of cars and houses, desired by middle class Batswana, impact their identity as self-developing or as a means to continue social connectivity to family and friends.

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  • Jung, Courtney. Then I Was Black: South African Political Identities in Transition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.

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    The author challenges the prevailing wisdom that Western political institutions cannot develop in non-Western societies due to racial and ethnic divisions. Analyzes the changing shape of ethnic identity among South African Zulus, Afrikaners, and Coloureds.

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  • Landau, Loren B. “Loving the Alien? Citizenship, Law, and the Future in South Africa’s Demonic Society.” African Affairs 109.435 (2010): 213–230.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adq002Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author locates the origins of xenophobic attacks in the policies of the apartheid and post-apartheid governments and the frustrations of South Africans who feel abandoned by the ANC government.

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  • Maré, Gerhard. “Race, Nation, Democracy: Questioning Patriotism in the New South Africa.” Social Research 72.3 (Fall 2005): 501–530.

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    The author examines how South Africans should address issues of identity, race, and nation in the post-apartheid era.

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  • Pilossof, Rory and Jacob Boersema. “Not All Whites Are Farmers: Privilege, the Politics of Representation and the Urban-Rural Divide in Zimbabwe.” Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 87.4 (2017): 702–719.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0001972017000328Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors challenge the media portrayal of white Zimbabweans after the 2000 land seizures took place, and they argue that such representations ignore the divisions between rural and urban Zimbabweans and how each group defends white privilege differently.

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  • Posner, Daniel. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi.” American Political Science Review 98.4 (2004): 529–545.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0003055404041334Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Comparison of the cultural divisions between Chewas and Tumbukas in Malawi and Zambia reveals that ethnic divisions do not necessarily lead to political and social cleavages. Rather, it is the relative size of the groups in each country that determines whether politicians view ethnic mobilization as a viable political strategy.

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  • Ruigrok, Inge. “Facing Up to the Centre: The Emergence of Regional Elite Associations in Angola’s Political Transition Process.” Development and Change 41.4 (2010): 637–658.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01657.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of two regional elite associations in Angola and their attempts to use cultural identity to gain greater recognition, autonomy, and resources from the Angolan state.

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  • Steyn, Melissa, and Don Foster. “Repertoires for Talking White: Resistant Whiteness in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 31.1 (January 2008): 25–51.

    DOI: 10.1080/01419870701538851Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Through discourse analysis of two newspaper columns the authors examine the reworking of race talk and racial identities by whites resistant to the political and economic transformation in the new South Africa and, in so doing, connect to the international discourses of whiteness.

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Social Policies

The end of colonialism and apartheid raised hopes among the poor and working class that their governments would provide basic public services long denied them. With the exception of a tiny segment of the population, colonial rulers and apartheid leaders ignored the needs of Africans for basic social needs, such as education, health care, transportation, clean water, sanitation, and a living wage. Postcolonial African governments and the post-apartheid ANC government have certainly used their limited resources to improve the lives of the population, especially in the areas of education and health care. Today, children complete more years of education than the previous generations. Infant and maternal mortality rates have declined. Still, many challenges remain, and efforts to improve basic social needs lag in the rural areas, especially for women. Additionally, in recent years, neoliberal policies imposed by the international community have reduced government expenditures on social welfare.

Health, Water, Housing and Sanitation

Throughout Southern Africa, governments have done much to provide housing, electrification, water, health, and education to the poor, but there have been challenges in meeting the needs of the population (see Butler 2017, cited under Historical Background: South Africa). Kon and Lackan 2008 explores the continued inequalities in basic health care in post-apartheid South Africa. Additional problems concern the provision of water in South Africa after the government’s introduction of prepaid water meters, according to Schnitzler 2008. Maharaj, et al. 2011, a collection of essays, focuses on the Zuma government’s attempts to fight poverty. Health-care policy in Lesotho is the subject of Akinkugbe and Mohanoe 2009, which addresses the best ways to improve health care in that country. Taking a different approach, Mathauer, et al. 2011 analyzes the feasibility of social health insurance to provide for basic health needs in Lesotho. Mueller, et al. 2011 explores the challenges to Malawi’s goal to provide minimal health care for its citizens. Carolini 2012 examines the impact of the lack of access to clean water and sanitation in a peri-urban area of the capital of Mozambique. Tallio 2015 looks at the role of international oil companies as providers of public health care in Angola. Croese 2017 analyzes how the construction and distribution of housing in Angola contributes to development and stability.

  • Akinkugbe, Oluyele, and Mamotlohi Mohanoe. “Public Health Expenditure as a Determinant of Health Status in Lesotho.” Social Work in Public Health 24.1–2 (2009): 131–147.

    DOI: 10.1080/19371910802569716Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    According to the authors, higher per capita income does not improve health status. To improve health, they advocate an increase in public spending on health care, improvements in women’s literacy rates, the hiring of more physicians, and an increase in the number of children receiving immunizations each year.

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  • Carolini, Gabriella Y. “Framing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Needs among Female-Headed Households in Periurban Maputo, Mozambique.” American Journal of Public Health 102.2 (February 2012): 256–261.

    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300399Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author challenges the tendency to assume a rural-urban divide in access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in her study of a peri-urban area of Maputo, Mozambique. The lack of clean water, sanitation, and trash removal renders residents vulnerable to debilitating health problems, such as cholera, diarrhea, and stomach viruses.

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  • Croese, Sylvia. “State-Led Housing Delivery as an Instrument of Developmental Patrimonialism: The Case of Post-war Angola.” African Affairs 116.462 (2017): 80–100.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adw070Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    While many scholars argue that neopatrimonial rule and development are at cross purposes, the author makes the case for developmental patrimonialism in contributing to postwar stability in Angola. Through the construction and distribution of housing, the Dos Santos regime distributed rents to both allies and opponents, in ways that contributed to both economic development and political stability.

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  • Kon, Zeida R., and Nuha Lackan. “Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” American Journal of Public Health 98.12 (December 2008): 2272–2277.

    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.127829Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using survey methods, the authors discuss the inequalities in the South African health-care system in which the poor (mostly African and Coloured) must rely on an inadequate and poorly funded public health-care system while the more advantaged (white and Asian) use the private health-care system.

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  • Maharaj, Brij, Ashwin Desai, and Patrick Bond, eds. Zuma’s Own Goal: Losing South Africa’s “War on Poverty.” Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2011.

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    A collection of essays examining South Africa’s attempts to eradicate poverty under the Zuma government.

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  • Mathauer, Inke, Ole Doetinchem, Joses Kirigia, and Guy Carrin. “Reaching Universal Coverage by Means of Social Health Insurance in Lesotho? Results and Implications from a Financial Feasibility Assessment.” International Social Security Review 64.2 (February 2011): 45–63.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-246X.2011.01392.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Through the use of qualitative and quantitative analysis, the authors find support for universal health-care coverage provided through social health insurance (SHI), which would allow the government to provide health care for all and would enhance citizen’s equity in access to health care and financing.

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  • Mueller, Dirk H., Douglas Lungu, Arnab Acharya, and Natasha Palmer. “Constraints to Implementing the Essential Health Package in Malawi.” PLoS One 6.6 (June 2011): 1–9.

    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020741Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine the constraints affecting Malawi’s plan to provide minimal health care to the population. The supply side constraints involve a lack of health-care staff, effective training and supervision of the staff, and an adequate supply of drugs, which undermine improvements in the health-care system.

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  • Schnitzler, Antina von. “Citizenship Prepaid: Water, Calculability, and Techno-politics in South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.4 (December 2008): 899–917.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070802456821Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Prepaid water meters alter the social contract between (primarily) black South Africans and the state. The citizen is enmeshed in a market exchange relationship with the state over the use of water, and a basic human right, water, is no longer guaranteed by the state.

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  • Tallio, Virginie. “The Corporate Social Responsibility Projects of the Oil Companies in Angola: Anecdotal Fact or Significant New Trend in Public Health Development Intervention?” Journal of Southern African Studies 41.2 (2015): 389–404.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2015.1015790Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author explores the role of oil companies in providing for Angola’s health care and how their intervention (the “angolanization” process) undermines the role of the NGOs and the state in providing for the social welfare of Angolans.

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Poverty, Inequality, and Development

Manyati and Mutsau 2019 documents the positive impact of Zimbabwean innovators and entrepreneurs on rural development and food security in rural Zimbabwe. Mashinini 2019 explores Lesotho’s implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Addressing Malawi’s efforts to reduce poverty in rural areas, Peters 2006 advocates for more appropriate policies on the part of the government. An edited book, Soudien, et al. 2019 examines poverty and inequality in South Africa.

  • Manyati, Tarisai Kudakwashe and Morgen Mutsau. “Solving Local Needs through Innovation: Small and Medium Enterprises in Harare, Zimbabwe.” Africa Insight 49.1 (2019): 1–16.

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    According to the authors, informal innovators and entrepreneurs engage in discussions with rural farmers about their technological needs that have resulted in the creation and production of farm machinery products that are more efficient and cheaper. These innovations have provided income and social mobility for local innovators and entrepreneurs as well as contributed to rural development. In addition, farmers’ use of farm machinery tailored to their specific needs has boosted production, increased income, and contributed to food security in their local areas.

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  • Mashinini, Vusi. “Sustainable Development Goals in Lesotho: Prospects and Constraints.” Africa Insight 49.2 (2019): 89–106.

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    An analysis of Lesotho’s successes and challenges in implementing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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  • Peters, Pauline E. “Rural Income and Poverty in a Time of Radical Change in Malawi.” Journal of Development Studies 42.2 (February 2006): 322–345.

    DOI: 10.1080/00220380500405568Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author discusses the failures of Malawi’s previous policies to improve rural incomes and reduce poverty, and she suggests more appropriate policies will enable the government to meet its social goals.

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  • Soudien, Crain, Vasu Reddy, and Ingrid Woolard, eds. Poverty & Inequality: Diagnosis Prognosis Responses. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2019.

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    A unique volume of essays that approaches poverty and inequality in South Africa from various points of view: historical, philosophical, human rights, economic, and sociological as well as in the context of national, regional, continental, and international perspectives.

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Education and Transportation

The challenges in providing basic needs, such as improved transportation and education, in democratizing societies are explored by several authors. Lopes 2010 looks at the competing efforts of the Angolan government and the informal transportation operators to manage the growing informal urban transportation sector. Lemon 2004 finds evidence of continued inequalities in the South African educational system. DuPlessis 2020 analyzes the weaknesses of South Africa’s implementation of inclusive decision making at the local school board level. Habib 2016, Hodes 2016, and Lebakeng 2018 look at the state of transformation of South African higher educational institutions.

  • Du Plessis, André. “The Emergence of Decentralised Centralism in the South African Education Governance System.” Journal of Southern African Studies 46.1 (2020): 165–183.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2020.1705618Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Despite the South African Schools Act 84 of 2006 that promised the inclusion of all stakeholders in school decision making at the local level, the reality has been to marginalize local stakeholders and the enactment of “decentralized centralism,” whereby local school governing boards are subjected to centralizing governance structures, leaving them with the task of implementing policies and the loss of their decision-making authority.

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  • Habib, Adam. “Transcending the Past and Reimagining the Future of the South African University.” Journal of Southern African Studies 42.1 (2016): 35–48.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2016.1121716Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author, the former vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, discusses the challenges of post-apartheid, post-secondary education in South Africa. While acknowledging the gains made thus far, he lays out the ways in which the South African post-secondary education system falls short compared to its peers in the developing world and that twenty years after the end of apartheid, South African universities are neither de-racialized nor transformed. He offers suggestions for making post-secondary education institutes more responsive to the needs of the country and globally competitive.

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  • Hodes, Rebecca. “Questioning ‘Fees Must Fall.’” African Affairs 116.462 (2016): 140–150.

    DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adw072Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Based on her teaching and research experiences at five South African universities, the author examines the origins of the Fees Must Fall movement, the role played by social media in the movement, its violence and oppression, and its criticisms of South Africa’s failure to finish the task of transformation, especially within the academy.

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  • Lebakeng, Teboho Josiah. “The Rhetoric of Transformation in South African Higher Education: Realities, Myths and Contestations.” Africa Insight 47.4 (2018): 88–98.

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    The author argues that South Africa must move beyond the limited changes made so far in higher education (inclusivity, massification, and symbolism) and to institute a more thoroughgoing de-Westernization and pan-Africanization of higher educational institutions.

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  • Lemon, Anthony. “Redressing School Inequalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 30.2 (2004): 269–290.

    DOI: 10.1080/0305707042000215392Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Inequalities in the South African educational system continue due to the ability of the middle class to use its resources and influence to maintain high-quality schools while poor school districts lack the resources to ensure high-quality education for poor students.

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  • Lopes, Carlos M. “Dinâmicas do associativismo na economia informal: Os transportes de passageiros em Angola.” Analise Social`45.195 (2010): 367–391.

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    Examines the growth of the informal urban transportation systems in two Angolan cities that operate under parallel and competing models: one based on top-down government efforts to regulate moto-taxis, and the other a bottom-up system based on an informal association of minibus operators that seeks to promote and protect its members

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Women’s Progress and Challenges

Traditionally, women’s status and lives varied across the region of Southern Africa. In addition, colonialism and postcolonial practices have added additional layers of complexity to women’s lives. For a good introduction to women in Southern Africa, Bauer and Taylor 2011 provides a succinct description of the subject matter. Politically, women in Southern Africa register some of the highest percentages of women in political office (Bauer 2008). Ahmed and Mzimela 2018 use intersectionality to explore climate change and its impact on South African rural women and find that there are different vulnerabilities and opportunities for women depending upon their marital status. Hart 2002 looks at the role of Asian businesses in South Africa and finds that the extremely low wages and oppressive working conditions imposed upon (mostly) female labor generate intense conflicts. Thebe and Maombera 2019 document the challenges facing female migrants from Zimbabwe who leave their children behind, but who finds ways of bringing them to South Africa to visit.

  • Ahmed, Fathima, and Jabulile Mzimela. “An Intersectional Lens on the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: On Rural Women’s Livelihood Vulnerabilities; Reflection from Ndwedwe-Cibane, KwaZulu, Natal.” Africa Insight 48.3 (2018): 73–87.

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    The authors study rural women’s vulnerability to climate change in South Africa and find that marital status provides different opportunities and constraints. Because single women rely more on agriculture for their livelihoods, they face greater challenges from climate change compared to their married peers, who tend to have more diversified assets to manage their vulnerability to climate change.

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  • Bauer, Gretchen. “Electoral Gender Quotas for Parliament in East and Southern Africa.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10.3 (September 2008): 348–368.

    DOI: 10.1080/14616740802185668Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines the factors that contribute to the increased percentage of women in parliament in these regions. The result of greater political representation by women has been to increase the number of laws and public policies that support women’s rights.

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  • Bauer, Gretchen, and Scott D. Taylor. “Women Remaking Politics in Southern Africa.” In Politics in Southern Africa: Transition and Transformation. 2d ed. By Gretchen Bauer and Scott D. Taylor, 327–351. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2011.

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    An overview of women in precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial Southern Africa and their political achievements and challenges.

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  • Hart, Gillian. Reworking Apartheid Legacies: Global Competition, Gender and Social Wages in South Africa, 1980–2000. Geneva, Switzerland: UN Research Institute for Social Development, 2002.

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    The foreign direct investment (FDI) policy of the ANC government has encouraged Asian businesses to set up shop in South Africa, hiring local women to produce goods for the export market. The low wages and oppressive working conditions experienced by workers result in intense labor conflicts.

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  • Thebe, Vusilizwe, and Pamela Maombera. “‘Negotiating the Border’: Zimbabwe Migrant Mothers and Shifting Immigration Policy and Law in South Africa.” African Studies Review 62.4 (2019): 134–153.

    DOI: 10.1017/asr.2018.120Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors document the impact of changes to South African immigration laws that force Zimbabwean female migrant workers who are mothers with children living in Zimbabwe to find creative ways to bring their children into South Africa for visits.

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Human Rights, Law, and Economic Empowerment

Women have organized to push for changes to women’s status and conditions within their countries. National governments have enacted laws and policies to improve the lives of women (see Banda 2006, Scribner and Lambert 2010, and Seidman 1999). But many challenges remain. Zimbabwe women have experienced a decline in their government’s support of women’s rights in recent years as the Mugabe regime has increasingly aligned with traditional authorities in order to hold onto power (Ranchod-Nilsson 2006). Moffett 2006 explores how the structures of patriarchy explain the high levels of sexual violence and rape experienced by women. Robins 2008 looks at the outcome of the Zuma rape trial in South Africa. Despite the current political and social realities women face, women’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) struggle to improve women’s lives (Britton 2006). Hassim 2005 finds women’s access to social welfare assistance is negatively affected by government bureaucrats, whose ideas of the deserving and nondeserving poor tend to exclude many poor women from receiving welfare benefits. Wael 2019 finds that human rights for women in South Africa advance when there is collaboration between state institutions and nongovernmental organizations. The author of Johnson 2018 uses the concept of gender justice to analyze women’s lives in Malawi.

  • Banda, Fareda. “Women, Law and Human Rights in Southern Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (March 2006): 13–27.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493720Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of legal efforts nationally and regionally to eliminate gender discrimination within the members of the Southern African Development Community. According to the author, laws alone cannot change behavior without the concomitant socioeconomic and cultural transformations to improve women’s daily lives.

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  • Britton, Hannah. “Organising against Gender Violence in South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (March 2006): 145–163.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493852Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Looks at women’s NGOs in South Africa and the challenges they have faced since the end of apartheid and the implementation of democracy. Women’s NGOs have had to evolve and transform in order to face new challenges presented by the post-apartheid political and social realities.

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  • Hassim, Shireen. “Turning Gender Rights into Entitlements: Women and Welfare Provision in Postapartheid South Africa.” Social Research 72.3 (Fall 2005): 621–646.

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    The transition to democracy has provided women with constitutional rights in the civil, political, and social domains. Women’s entitlement to social welfare assistance, guaranteed by the constitution, has lagged due to the fact that the welfare system provides assistance to groups considered to be “deserving,” excluding many poor women.

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  • Johnson, Jessica. In Search of Gender Justice: Rights and Relationships in Matrilineal Malawi. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

    DOI: 10.1017/9781108563031Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author emphasizes the role that gender justice can play in a Malawian matrilineal society to achieve success in improving gender and marital relations.

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  • Moffett, Helen. “‘These Women, They Force Us to Rape Them’: Rape as Narrative of Social Control in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (March 2006): 129–144.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493845Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The crisis of rape and sexual violence in South Africa is analyzed in terms of the “Othering” of women, in which violence is the method by which men maintain the patriarchal order against subordinate groups—women and children.

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  • Ranchod-Nilsson, Sita. “Gender Politics and the Pendulum of Political and Social Transformation in Zimbabwe.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (2006): 49–67.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493761Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    As the Zimbabwe government has shifted from supporting women’s rights after independence to supporting customary law, women have turned to domestic and international civil society organizations for help. Ultimately, however, improving women’s lives necessitates economic stability and an environment conducive to political participation.

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  • Robins, Steven. “Sexual Politics and the Zuma Rape Trial.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.2 (June 2008): 411–427.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070802038066Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Robins uses the sexual politics of the rape trial of Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s former deputy president, to highlight the conflict between liberal democrats and patriarchal and traditional conservatives over issues of sexual and gender equality in post-apartheid South Africa.

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  • Scribner, Druscilla, and Priscilla A. Lambert. “Constitutionalizing Difference: A Case Study Analysis of Gender Provisions in Botswana and South Africa.” Politics & Gender 6.1 (2010): 37–61.

    DOI: 10.1017/S1743923X0999050XSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Comparing the advancement of women’s rights on family and customary law, workplace equality, and violence against women, South Africa has made significant progress on these issues compared to Botswana, in part due to the presence of constitutional gender protections in South Africa but not in Botswana.

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  • Seidman, Gay W. “Gendered Citizenship: South Africa’s Democratic Transition and the Construction of a Gendered State.” Gender and Society 13.3 (1999): 287–307.

    DOI: 10.1177/089124399013003002Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Democracy in South Africa provided an opening to get women’s concerns on the agenda during the negotiation process and in the establishment of post-apartheid state institutions created to address the concerns of women. By mobilizing collective identities, activists insisted upon expanding the meaning of citizenship to include women’s’ concerns.

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  • Wael, Reem. Negotiating the Power of NGOs: Women’s Legal Rights in South Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

    DOI: 10.1017/9781108566339Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author argues that the collaboration between the government of South African and nongovernmental organizations helps to advance the human rights of women in that country.

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Traditional Authorities and Customary Law

Throughout Southern Africa, traditional culture and traditional authority continue to hold legitimacy, especially at the local level. How do states in the region reconcile modern political institutions with traditional political institutions? Southern African states have used various methods, including co-optation and marginalization. Attempts by Frelimo (the Mozambique Liberation Front) to end traditional authoritarian rule drove many supporters of traditional leaders into the arms of the Renamo opposition. After 1994 the Frelimo government worked to forge a more cooperative relationship with traditional authorities. By taking steps to formally recognize traditional authorities in rural areas, Frelimo aims to project its own authority and power in the rural areas. Just as the state uses traditional leaders to advance the interests of the state, Mozambican traditional authorities were eager to be recognized by the state. But recognition sometimes entails disputes over who is the legitimate traditional authority in a locale. In Mozambique, such disputes over traditional authorities’ legitimacy were reconciled through both traditional and modern administrative methods (Buur and Kyed 2006). Botswana’s attempts to reduce the power of traditional authorities (Morapedi 2010) have not always worked in the government’s favor, such as when it tried to replace (unsuccessfully) a popular traditional leader. South Africa, understanding the importance of traditional leaders for most rural dwellers, enshrined a role for traditional leaders in its 2003 Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act (Williams 2010). Legislating a role for traditional leadership has engendered numerous conflicts over individual human rights and the right to culture and tradition. This is explored in Vincent 2008, an examination of the regulation of traditional circumcision, which pitted the state against traditional authorities in South Africa. In South Africa, Ainslie and Kepe 2016 looks at the resurgence of traditional authorities in post-apartheid South Africa and the implications for democratic governance. Rangan and Gilmartin 2002, a case study of poor rural women’s access to land rights, documents how traditional authorities sacrificed women’s rights to land. On a more positive note, Becker 2006 finds that women and men in postcolonial Namibia endeavor to incorporate global and national ideas of gender rights to transform traditional institutions. Krämer 2020 explores the activist challenge of traditional authority in Namibia.

  • Ainslie, Andrew, and Thembela Kepe. “Understanding the Resurgence of Traditional Authorities in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 42.1 (2016): 19–33.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2016.1121714Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine the resurgence of traditional authorities in post-apartheid South Africa and the political parties’ reliance upon customary authorities to win support in the rural areas, often at the expense of democracy itself.

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  • Becker, Heike. “‘New Things after Independence’: Gender and Traditional Authorities in Postcolonial Namibia.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32.1 (March 2006): 29–48.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070500493753Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An examination of how women and men make use of global and national gender ideas and practices and integrate them into a variety of local settings and, in the process, transform traditional institutions in postcolonial Namibia.

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  • Buur, Lars, and Helene Maria Kyed. “Contested Sources of Authority: Re-claiming State Sovereignty by Formalizing Traditional Authority in Mozambique.” Development and Change 37.4 (2006): 847–869.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2006.00504.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using the concept of twilight political institutions, the authors examine the process of recognizing traditional authorities in rural Mozambique, in which disputes over the legitimization and recognition of traditional authorities were resolved by drawing upon both traditional rules and modern administrative methods.

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  • Krämer, Mario. “Neotraditional Authority Contested: The Corporatization of Tradition and the Quest for Democracy in the Topnaar Traditional Authority, Namibia.” Africa 90.2 (2020): 318–338.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0001972019001062Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An account of activists who challenge the traditional authority of the Topnaar, a small and marginalized group in Namibia. The activists seek to make the traditional leadership more democratic and accountable to the population, not by abolishing traditional authority altogether, but by removing the current officeholders.

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  • Morapedi, Wazha G. “Demise or Resilience? Customary Law and Chieftaincy in Twenty-First Century Botswana.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28.2 (April 2010): 215–230.

    DOI: 10.1080/02589001003736843Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The concept of traditional authorities continues to hold immense appeal for many Batswana, and chiefs continue to play an important role in politics in Botswana, despite the government’s attempt to reduce their power as a political institution.

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  • Rangan, Haripriya, and Mary Gilmartin. “Gender, Traditional Authority, and the Politics of Rural Reform in South Africa.” Development and Change 33.4 (2002): 633–658.

    DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00273Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Though the South African Constitution and the ANC government are committed to gender rights, when a group of rural women sought to claim their rights regarding access to communal land, traditional authorities and local government officials undermined their constitutional right to plots of land.

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  • Vincent, Louise. “Cutting Tradition: The Political Regulation of Traditional Circumcision Rites in South Africa’s Liberal Democratic Order.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.1 (March 2008): 77–91.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057070701832890Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The South African constitution recognizes the rights of individuals and cultural rights. The tension between these two sets of rights has emerged over male circumcision, pitting the government’s desire to regulate the practice against traditional authorities who resist the state’s intrusion into a matter of cultural rights.

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  • Williams, J. Michael. Chieftaincy, the State and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

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    Looks at how traditional authority and the state negotiate and maintain political legitimacy in post-apartheid South Africa.

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