Answer to Question #242578 in Economics for Mlindo

Question

Factors that serve to weaken opposition political parties in Africa

Answer 1

The unity of traditional and modern political elements makes such an organization quite effective in the social life of African countries. According to some researchers, such ethnopolitical formations, which are formed by professional politicians, are closely linked by the unity of ethnic, religious, group or business interests and are united by a system of personal ties around the leader. These entities represent "political clans", which are expressed in categories borrowed from the political vocabulary of developed countries. The political culture of African society is directly reflected in the activities of political parties and government structures. In defining the essence of African political parties, their goals, objectives, and means of achieving them play a key role. Any party sets itself the task of conquering political power or influencing it. To do this, it must win the support of the population, especially its lower strata. To this end, the parties put forward attractive slogans, which provide for the solution of specific problems of the economic and social order. Each party seeks to form its own stable party electorate.

In the years immediately preceding the conquest of independence, the main thing that determined the creation of parties was to give organizational forms to the struggle against colonial rule. A similar task was served by their cooperation with the trade unions, which played an important role in the achievement of independence.

However, already at this stage of party building, the intervention of the metropolises in this process became obvious.

In many African countries, under their influence, parties arose, whose task was to slow down the liberation struggle, and subsequently, after gaining independence, to ensure close relations with the metropolises, to preserve their maximum influence on the development of new states. In addition, the colonial authorities tried to use the multi-party system, outwardly copied from Western models, to split the united front of the struggle against colonialism.

They were counterbalanced by the parties that advocated deepening anti-colonial reforms, pursuing a course of national revival and genuine independence.

In the first years of independence, parties also emerged that proclaimed socialist slogans that reflected the desire of the masses for social justice and promoted its various forms, from “lyric” to Marxist socialism (see: [8]).

In the 1960s and 1970s, the demarcation of African parties, and then of the states of the continent, was greatly influenced by the Cold War and the struggle of rival blocs for spheres of influence. Each side in this struggle sought to have its adherents in Africa, its own showcase countries. The parties that ruled them became the bearers of the corresponding ideology, in which criticism of the ideological enemy-occupied an important place. Thus, with the support of external forces, the pro-bourgeois parties, on the one hand, and the revolutionary-democratic (varying degrees of radicalism), on the other, were strengthened. Receiving this or that support from the outside, they had the opportunity to strengthen their positions and became the dominant political structure.