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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Multiparty Promise Betrayed: The Failure of Neo-Liberalism in Malawi
Author:Khembo, Nixon S.ISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907)
Volume:29
Issue:2
Pages:80-105
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Malawi
Central Africa
Subjects:authoritarianism
multiparty systems
Politics and Government
politics
Political pluralism
democracy
political participation
Political leadership
Political rights
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24484530
Abstract:The advent of multiparty politics in Malawi in June 1993 was not immediately perceived as the harbinger of the myriad of political twists and turns that later confounded many. Emerging from the grip of a 30-year old totalitarian regime, Malawians had every reason to jubilate when the pro-multiparty politics movement triumphed after the June 14, 1993, national referendum results were announced and the movement was awarded a 64 percent victory of the vote cast. The author argues that the new multiparty system of government in the country is caught up in neoliberal and neopatrimonial puzzles that undermine the process of democratization. This state of affairs is rooted in the failure of neoliberalism in Malawi; thus, the Malawian case has demonstrated that when neoliberalism flounders, despotism recurs in a cycle of regime change. The author further argues that the selective application and the strange interpretation of constitutional law in Malawian politics is a clear indication of the existence of this despotism. He concludes that liberal ideology, by its very nature, is a major drawback to the creation of a just State in Malawi. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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