Browsing by Author "Parkin, Annemie"

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    Parties of pressure: Opposition parties in the dominant-party systems of Botswana and South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Parkin, Annemie; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Democracy requires the participation of political parties to afford voters choice in terms of their representatives and to provide effective opposition. Opposition parties play an important role in keeping the ruling incumbents accountable, providing legitimacy to the system, encouraging political participation, and offering an alternative to the electorate. However, in many African multi-party democracies, opposition parties have been weak and, in some instances, weakened. In Southern Africa, the emergence of dominant-party systems has posed unique challenges to democratic competition and consolidation. It was therefore important to understand the functions opposition parties fulfil, the conditions they operate in, and the challenges they face in the dominant-party system context. Two Southern African case studies – Botswana and South Africa – were selected to investigate this. The study thus focused on how opposition parties remain relevant and the challenges they face in dominant-party systems. The concept of ‘remaining relevant’ was linked to democracy-supporting functions which included legitimising, electoral participation, and accountability functions. The study was a comparative case study and used key-informant interviews as well as a desktop literature review to conduct the research. The key-informant interviews were with prominent members of opposition parties. The interviews’ data were analysed using computer-assisted data analysis software (Atlas.ti) and thematic content analysis was used to identify themes in the data. The main findings were linked to the identified democracy-supporting functions and the challenges opposition parties experience in relation to these functions. In terms of legitimising functions, opposition parties attempt to educate people about democracy and provide an alternative to the ruling party. A challenge in relation to this was the delegitimisation of and the lack of trust in opposition parties. In relation to electoral participation functions, opposition parties were intent on providing viable alternatives to the electorate and the most important strategy that was identified was the mobilisation of the electorate. A challenge in the Botswanan case was the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system which has favoured the ruling party. In the South African case, the electoral system was not identified as a challenge, but poor voter turnout and apathy were the key identified issues. Accountability functions were identified as central to opposition parties’ role in dominant-party systems. They also collaborate with one another and other civil society organisations to keep the ruling party accountable. A big challenge in Botswana is the discrepancies in resources between the ruling and opposition parties. In South Africa, negative perceptions about opposition parties were a big challenge. The study is significant because it sheds light on how opposition parties remain relevant in dominant-party systems. Opposition parties in the two cases are intent on providing viable alternatives and seek to win more power. For now, they operate as parties of pressure and are focused on a) contributing to the legitimacy of the democratic system; b) mobilizing the electorate and encouraging conventional participation; and c) holding the ruling party and government accountable. Thus, while constrained by the unlikely alternation in power, characteristic of dominant-party systems, these opposition parties still fulfil important democracy-supporting functions.