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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Dilemmas of Opposition Political Parties in Southern Africa
Author:Chiroro, BerthaISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:Journal of African Elections
Volume:5
Issue:1
Pages:100-125
Language:English
Geographic term:Southern Africa
Subjects:opposition parties
Politics and Government
Abstract:Opposition political parties in southern Africa face a dilemma as they grapple with the double roles of democratizing State and society and attempting to capture State power in an environment that has been ideologically hostile to the existence of opposition political parties. The supremacy of the liberation parties in the region makes it very difficult for the opposition political parties to rise to the challenge of offering alternative policy positions. The legitimacy enjoyed by the liberation parties causes ideological dilemmas for the opposition in its competing claims about the shape of economic and political governance. In extreme cases the opposition has to find strategies for responding to harassment, attacks on their supporters, media bias, misuse of State resources and the constraints of the dominant party system. Drawing on examples in southern Africa, the author highlights the contradictions inherent in the perceptions of opposition parties in governance, their relative electoral weakness and the expectation that they should be the guardians of democracy in a multiparty system. The author contends that the opposition in southern Africa has been neglected in the governance debate. If Barrington Moore's maxim 'No opposition no democracy' is used to measure the levels of democratization in southern Africa it needs to be changed to 'No viable opposition no democracy'. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]
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