Political Transformation and Governance II

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Political Transformation and Governance II

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The development in non-settler colonies

• Gained independence in the 20th century
• incorporated into the international state system
• Adopted a worldwide model of statehood

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Two dominant governance paradigms in the post-WW2
era

• 1. National development 1950s-1970
• 2. Good governance - 1990s

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Common characteristics of the post-colonial polity

• Resource-dependencies
• Extremely skewed distribution of resources
• Institutions Informal security regimes
• Identities Particularistic ethnic identities

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• Most human activities not under democratic
  control
• Weak states not sustained by formal rules

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India and South Asia

• British East India company 1764.
• British imperialism unified South Asia
• Multiple political, cultural, religious and
  ethnic groupings and forms of government.
• Introduction of modern political institutions

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India after independence

• A British parliamentary model and a secular
  foundation of the state
• Rule of law, liberal rights and protection of
  minorities.
• Strong central government directing the economy
  An indian middle way - not socialism, not
  capitalism

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Indias democratic record mixed tendencies

• Huge inequalities in terms of land ownership and
  control of political and economic resources
• Consolidation of democracy and growing political
  competition
• Still, weakly established democratic institutions

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Latin America

• Colonized by the authoritarian Spanish state
• Gave away land as rewards to loyalists
• Huge social divides

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Liberation from Spain

• Latin America independent during the Napoleonic
  wars in Europe.
• The rule of law not fully institutionalized
• Arbitrary political power - instrument of the
  ruling class
• Revolutions in the 20th century Mexican 1917.
  Bolivia 1952, Cuba in 1959, Nicaragua 1979.
• Rights collective and abstract rather than
  universal and individual

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• National development Government dominated the
  economy.
• Protectionism
• No effective system of checks and balances.
• Merging of economic and political power
• Borders between politics, the economy and the
  administration unclear

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Democratization and structural adjustments

• Military dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s in
  Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile
• A wave of democratization since late 1970s
• Fiscal collapse and stagnation in the 1980s
• Reforms in the 1990s Privatizations of state
  companies fiscal and monetary stabilization  

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Clientelismo

• Democratic and admininstrative practices weakly
  established
• Rent-seeking
• Crony capitalism
• Privatization favoured vested interest
• Widespread culture distrust

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Africas liberation after 1950

• European conquest enormous economic, political
  and demographic consequences
• De-colonialization characterized by haste and
  idealism
• Nationalists exaggerated the power of African
  governments

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• Big gap between formal models and actual
  practices
• Formal politics weakly established
• Ethnic, kinship or personal loyalties.
• Politics dominated by one party exercising
  patronage
• Democracy abandoned in practice
• The cold war

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Obstacles to successful adoption

• 1. Locally based politics
• 2. Poor communications, limited literacy and
  resistance to taxing
• 3. Arbitrary international boundaries
• 4. Ethnic rivalry

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Why democratization?

• Democratization and structural adjustment in the
  1990s
• Structural adjustments deprived regimes of
  resources
• The fall of communism enabled western donors to
  put pressure on African leaders.

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• Democratization was limited but important.
• One party state still dominated
• Discontented groups and regions where free to
  create a minor parties
• Collapse of democracy in some countries such as
  Burundi and Rwanda
• The rise of China- implications for African
  democracy?