New Trends in Democracy and Development: Democratic Capitalism in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya

Abstract

This article examines the complex relationship between capitalism and democracy in contemporary democratic regimes in Africa from the perspective of current trends in economic globalisation. It does so by underscoring the complexity of the prospects for democracy as is illustrated by some controversial trends in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. These trends include the ‘fractured’ executives, as well as the dominant incumbent parties the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria, and the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) in Kenya, that have all been embroiled in scandals recently. Using political economy theoretical themes and frameworks to illustrate the contentious effects that global regimes of capital are having on contemporary national democratic politics, the article shows how a democratic crisis in each country is associated with an economic crisis. It presents South Africa's French Connection Scandal, Nigeria's Globacom Affair, and Kenya's Anglo-Leasing Finance Scandal as iconic archetypes illustrating the thorny relationship between development and democracy in contemporary Africa.

Notes

1. Laswell (1935).

2. Almond (1991).

3. Rueschemeyer et al. (1992).

4. O'Donnell (1996).

5. Rueschemeyer et al. (1992, p. 5).

6. Moore (1969).

7. Crozier (1975).

8. Pharr et al. (2001).

9. Pinkney (2003).

10. Schmitter (1996).

11. Block (1987).

12. Condon and Stein (2007).

13. Schmitter regards extrinsic challenges of democracy to include (a) problems of boundaries and identities, (b) capitalists production, accumulation and distribution, (c) overload and un-governability, (d) corruption and decay, (e) external security and internal insecurity.

14. Pzreworski (1992).

15. Mohan and Zack-Williams (2002).

16. Schatz (1977).

17. Ibid.

18. CIA World Fact Book (2006).

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Pharr et al. (2001).

22. Bond (2001).

23. Wines (2006).

24. La Franiere (2005).

25. Africa Analysis (2002), London, 13 December.

26. ‘Controversy May Threaten Stability, Say Analyst’ (2005).

27. Atiku and Babangida wanted Obasanjo to exercise the Mandela option of a one term ‘reconciler’ of the 12 June mandate.

28. ‘The Battle of the Political Zones’ (2004).

29. ‘Will Kibaki Cede Power to Raila?’ (2004).

30. Africa Analysis (2003), London, 19 March.

31. ‘Nigeria's Political Wars Escalate’ (2006).

32. Elendu (2006).

33. Kolawole (2006).

34. ‘Atiku Abubakar's Many Legal Battles’ (2007).

35. Adogamhe (2007).

36. Graff (1988).

37. Kolawole (2006).

38. This outfit was established by President Mbeki to investigate national priority crimes including organised crime and corruption.

39. Wines (2006).

40. Zuma (2006).

41. ‘South Africa: Waiting for the Barbarians’ (2005).

42. ‘South African Commentator Says Ruling ANC Split Down the Middle Over Zuma's Fate’ (2005).

43. ‘Corruption Case Ends for South Africa Politician’ (2006).

44. Gelb (2006).

45. Young (1966).

46. ‘Kenya's Future’ (2007).

47. Crilly (2005).

48. ‘Kenya: Corruption Continues to Plague Government and Economy’ (2006).

49. Mulama (2004).

50. ‘Is John Gitthongo Working with Raila Odinga?’ (2007).

51. Obonyo (2007).

52. Though it should be acknowledged that the phenomenon in these cases differs from the divided government characteristics of the policy-cycling experienced by advanced industrial nations. In the African cases, international factors and actors play a larger role in policy-cycling, especially where economic policy is concerned. International financial institutions (IFIs) crowd out national economic policy-making in many developing countries. Policy-cycling stalemates appear to occur as a function of the friction between IFI's and the democratic regimes.

53. See William Graff's The Nigerian State (1988) for a discussion on the ‘class-based state’.

54. See Abrahmsen (2000) for a discussion on the relationship between the African states and the new global economic clientilism of the IMF/WB, which renders African states as exclusionary democracies.

55. ‘Africa's Attitude to Democracy’ (2006).

56. Voice of the People, 20 March 2005.

57. e-Africa, ‘Psst…Mind the Sell by Date’, The South Africa Institute of International Affairs.

58. ‘Kenya: Unhappy with Wealth Sharing’ (2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rita Kiki Edozie

Assistant Professor of International Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. Email: [email protected]