The internal dynamics of power-sharing in Africa

Abstract

Given the increasing use of power-sharing arrangements to manage a wide range of political crises over the past five years it is more important than ever to turn a critical eye on the dynamics and outcomes of unity governments. This paper argues that two key factors shape the way that power-sharing functions in Africa: the distribution of violence (that is, whether any one party has a monopoly on victimhood or whether all parties have committed, and retain the capacity to commit, atrocities) and the level of elite cohesion (whether political leaders have developed norms of mutual accommodation that render it easier to find areas of common-ground). The first half of the paper identifies four main power-sharing dynamics in Africa based on different combinations of the distribution of violence and the level of elite cohesion: the politics of distrust, the politics of collusion, the politics of partisanship and the politics of pacting. The second-half of the paper then draws on evidence from Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe to illustrate how such variations in the practice of power-sharing shape the prospects for reform.

Keywords:

• power-sharing
• Africa
• democracy
• civil war
• Angola
• Burundi
• DRC
• Kenya
• South Africa
• Zimbabwe

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Devon Curtis, Andreas Mehler, Adrienne LeBas and Miles Tendi for extremely helpful discussions on power-sharing in Africa, and Alex Noyes for his valuable proof reading skills. I would like to extend particular thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive advice which significantly strengthened the manuscript.

Notes

Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’.

Mehler, ‘Peace and Powersharing in Africa’.

For more on the role of international mediators see Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation.

See Collier, The Bottom Billion; and International Crisis Group, Scramble for the Congo: Anatomy of an Ugly War, http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/dr-congo/026-scramble-for-the-congo-anatomy-of-an-ugly-war.aspx (accessed October 19, 2010).

For a helpful discussion of the attitudes of international mediators and their consequences see Spears, ‘The Limits of Power-sharing’; Roeder and Rothchild, ‘Powersharing as an Impediment to Peace and Democracy’.

See Roeder and Rothchild, ‘Powersharing as an Impediment to Peace and Democracy’, for an early dissenting voice.

Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’.

Curtis, ‘The South African Approach to Peacebuilding’.

Personal correspondence with senior Party of National Unity (PNU) political advisor; see also Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’; Roeder and Rothchild, ‘Powersharing as an Impediment to Peace and Democracy’; and Miles Tendi in The Guardian, ‘Power-sharing: The New Military Coup’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/ethiopia-africa-power-sharing (accessed December 6, 2010).

Ibid.

The Observer (Uganda), ‘Donors Plot Power-sharing Deal’, http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5809&Itemid=59 (accessed December 11, 2010).

For an impressive attempt to do this see Hartzell and Hoddie, ‘Institutionalizing Peace’ and ‘Civil War Settlements’.

George and Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development, 233.

Bekoe, ‘Mutual Vulnerability and the Implementation of Peace Agreements’; Hartzell and Hoddie, ‘Institutionalizing Peace’; Rothchild, ‘Reassuring Weaker Parties’; Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation; Sousa, ‘Power-sharing Negotiations’; Vandeginste, ‘Power-sharing, Conflict and Transition in Burundi’.

The centrality of these factors is brought out well in Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation.

Curtis, ‘Transitional Governance in Burundi and the DRC’.

Lijphart, ‘Democracy in Plural Societies’.

Spears, ‘The Limits of Power-sharing’.

Bekoe, ‘Mutual Vulnerability and the Implementation of Peace Agreements’; Hartzell and Hoddie, ‘Civil War Settlements’; Rothchild, ‘Reassuring Weaker Parties’.

Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’; Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation; Sousa, ‘Power-sharing Negotiations’; Vandeginste, ‘Power-sharing, Conflict and Transition in Burundi’.

Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation.

Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’.

Lemarchand, ‘Consociationalism and Power-sharing in Africa’.

Ibid.

For an interesting discussion of similar dynamics see Bekoe, ‘Mutual Vulnerability and the Implementation of Peace Agreements’.

Such a dynamic has at times played out in Burundi, see Vandeginste, ‘Power-sharing, Conflict and Transition in Burundi’.

Rothchild, ‘Reassuring Weaker Parties’.

I am grateful to Maja Bovcon for helpful discussions on this point.

The difficult nature of inter-elite in Cote d'Ivoire is discussed in Daddieh, ‘Elections and Ethnic Violence in Cote d'Ivoire’.

Uppsala Conflict Data Program, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/search.php (accessed November 20, 2010).

I am grateful to Andreas Mehler for bringing this point to my attention.

Rustow, ‘Transition to Democracy’.

For good overviews of the fate of a range of Africa's power-sharing experiments see Bekoe, ‘Mutual Vulnerability’; Mehler, ‘Peace and Power Sharing in Africa’; Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation.

See Jarstad and Sisk, From War to Democracy, chapter four.

See Martin, A Political History of the Civil War in Angola.

Mair, Angola.

Martin, A Political History of the Civil War in Angola.

Ibid.

Ottoway, ‘Angola's Failed Elections’.

Mair, Angola.

My understanding of Angola owes much to discussions with Ricardo Soares de Oliviera.

Sousa, ‘Power-sharing Negotiations’.

Ibid.

For a broader discussion of the impact of international mediators see Sisk, Power-sharing and International Mediation.

DfID, ‘Elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006’, http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications1/elections/elections-cd-2006.pdf (accessed November 17, 2010).

International Crisis Group, Congo: A Stalled Democratic Agenda, http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/dr-congo/b073-congo-a-stalled-democratic-agenda.aspx (accessed December 12, 2010).

This discussion draws heavily on conversations with Miles Tendi, and also on useful talks with Jocelyn Alexander and Charles Laurie.

Bratton and Masunungure, ‘Zimbabwe's Long Agony’.

Ranger, ‘Nationalist Historiography’.

Tendi, Making History.

Solidarity Peace Trust, ‘Punishing Dissent, Silencing Citizen: Zimbabwe Election 2008’, http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/reports/punish_and_silence.pdf (accessed October 18, 2010). Alexander and Tendi, ‘A Tale of Two Elections’.

Matyszak, Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe.

Cheeseman and Tendi, ‘Power-sharing in Comparative Perspective’.

Amnesty International, ‘Zimbabwe Progress on Human Rights Woefully Slow’, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/zimbabwe-progress-human-rights-woefully-slow-20090618 (accessed October 11, 2010).

UK Guardian, ‘Zimbabwe Minister Receives Bullet Threat in Post’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/27/zimbabwe-finance-minister-death-threat (accessed October 12, 2010).

Matyszak, Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Zimbabwe: Violence, Intimidation Mar Constitutional Outreach’, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/27/zimbabwe-violence-intimidation-mar-constitutional-outreach (accessed October 3, 2010).

Branch, Cheeseman and Gardner, Our Turn to Eat.

Cheeseman, ‘The Kenyan Election of 2007’.

Branch and Cheeseman, ‘Democratization, State Failure, and Sequencing’.

See Transparency International, ‘The Proposed Constitution of Kenya’, http://www.tikenya.org/documents/final_draft_constitution2010.pdf (accessed November 1, 2010).

See Nairobi Star, ‘Raila Dismisses Fall in Yes Support’, http://allafrica.com/stories/201006080520.html (accessed October 20, 2010).

Personal correspondence with senior PNU political advisor; International Business Times, ‘al-Bashir Presence at Kenyan New Constitution Signing Sparks Controversy’, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/46980/20100828/al-bashir-presence-at-kenyan-new-constitution-signing-sparks-controversy.htm (accessed October 27, 2010).

Oxford Analytica, ‘Kenya: Unity Government Faces Serious Strains’, http://www.oxan.com/display.aspx?ItemID=DB150950 (accessed October 16, 2010).

‘Kenya: Mutual Security Pact’, Africa Confidential 50, no. 4, http://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/2980/No-Title (accessed October 4, 2010).

BBC News, ‘Kenyans “Rearming for Poll”’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8293745.stm (accessed October 2, 2010).

Personal communication, Maina Kiai, founding Chairman of the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

Daily Nation, ‘Excitement Over Annan Move to Hand Over Envelope’, http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/621810/-/ukvy1w/-/index.html (accessed December 12, 2010).

The Standard, ‘Ruto, Muthaura, Kenyatta among the Big Six for the Hague’, http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/InsidePage.php?id=2000024716&cid=4& (accessed December 12, 2010).

Kibaki will be ineligible to stand having served two terms, but will play an important role in the selection of his successor within the PNU, and determining the coalition the PNU constructs to contest the polls. See BBC News, ‘Kenya Leaders Kibaki and Odinga Try to Heal the Rift’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8530113.stm (accessed December 6, 2010).

The Act stipulates that those facing corruption charges should step down from the Cabinet until they are proved innocent. At the time of writing, Ruto stands accused of receiving over $1 million in a corrupt land deal.

For the opinions of Maina Kiai and John Githongo see the New York Times, ‘International Court Seeks Indictments in Kenya Vote Violence’, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/world/africa/15kenya.html (accessed December 18, 2010).

For a full discussion of pacting see Bratton and van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa.

See Herbst, ‘Prospects for Elite-driven Democracy in South Africa’.

For an excellent history of this period see Beinart, Twentieth Century South Africa.

Gumede, Thabo Mbeki.

See Bratton and van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa.

For more on the Kenyan case, see Branch and Cheeseman, ‘Democratization, State Failure, and Sequencing’.

Mueller, ‘The Political Economy’.

For a useful discussion of this process in South Africa see Herbst, ‘Prospects for Elite-driven Democracy in South Africa’.

Beinart, Twentieth Century South Africa.

Southall, ‘The State of Party Politics’, 71.

Quoted in Beinart, Twentieth Century South Africa, 342.

Ibid., 283–4.

Ibid.

Steinberg, Thin Blue.

Mehler, ‘Peace and Power-Sharing’. Tull and Mehler, ‘The Hidden Costs of Power-Sharing’.

Sullivan, ‘The Missing Pillars’.

Personal communication with Devon Curtis; Vandeginste, ‘Power-sharing, Conflict and Transition in Burundi’.

Bradbury, Becoming Somaliland.