The Party System and Democratic Consolidation: An African Perspective

Abstract

For many years democracy has revolved around party politics so that it is now hardly conceivable to talk about democracy without political parties. Political analysts have identified a number of benefits associated with political parties. In spite of all the benefits of political parties in establishing democracy and fostering democratic culture in a polity, this paper argues that in many African countries, party system functions differently and subverts democracy in a number of ways. Some political thinkers have compared the relationship between political parties with that between enemy armies, a truism with many empirical manifestations in different African states where political parties function as instruments of violence. The long-lasting nature of the unhealthy political situation in Africa calls for a democratic paradigm shift. This paper, therefore, recommends for African societies and any multi-ethnic society a cooperative, instead of a competitive method of government formation - a Cooperative Collegial Democracy - apolitical system which would effectively resolve national questions that continue to afflict different African states and so make it difficult to institute a healthy democracy