Party Functions and Capabilities: The Lower-Level UNIP (United National Independence Party) Organization during the First Zambian Republic (1964-1973)

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Periodical article

Title:	Party Functions and Capabilities: The Lower-Level UNIP (United National Independence Party) Organization during the First Zambian Republic (1964-1973)
Author:	Scott, Ian
Year:	1976
Periodical:	African Social Research
Issue:	22
Period:	December
Pages:	107-129
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zambia
Subjects:	party structure Politics and Government
Abstract:	Referring to the interpretations of S.P. Huntington (1968) and I. Wallerstein (1966) of the post-independence organisation of African parties, the author argues that these interpretations require some modification if they are to be applied to the United National Independence Party in Zambia. While the party organisation as a whole may have been unable to respond to new challenges, it is not necessarily true that every local organisation has suffered from the same deficiency. It is at least questionable whether the attainment of independence was ever the sole objective of African parties. Many parties have their origins in welfare and tribal societies and, for considerable periods, were engaged in a diffuse range of activities long before independence was a feasible goal. While some parties may have lost this function with the adaptation of the organisation to new objectives, in others, such as UNIP, the local organisations in some areas have retained the ability to perform a variety of functions, albeit in a considerably different manner from the pre-independence period. Ref. notes.