Competition and Participation, but No Democracy: The Politics of Elections in Africa ́s Feckless Regimes

Abstract

Competition and Participation, but No Democracy. The Politics of Elections in Africa ́s Feckless Regimes
The majority of African regimes combine autocratic practices with formal democratic contestation and the electoral cycle – from the setting of the electoral rules through campaigns and actual voting – has become part of the mechanics by which political leaders remain in power. In this article the focus is placed on “feckless pluralist regimes”, in which power is contested, yet the political systems cannot be characterized as democracies. Questioning approaches that equate electoral victories with democratization and the belief that repeated elections over time will lead to democratization, the paper argues that, in feckless pluralist regimes, competitive elections and power alternation have not induced political leaders to carry out programs for development and change. The concept of feckless pluralism is illustrated by a case study of electoral politics in Malawi where, in a never-ending process, the next electoral cycle begins as the votes are counted in the previous one.