School of Politics and International Studies

Democratization in Africa: Retrospective and Future Prospects

Below is the full conference programme for the two days. Please note at this stage it still maybe subject to change.

FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER

8.30 – 9.30 Registration and Introduction

Session 1: 9.30-11.00

Panel 1a: Electoral Authoritarianism in Africa

• Wale Adebanwi (University of California) and Ebenezer Obadare (University of Kansas): 'The Abrogation of the Electorate: An Emerging African Phenomenon'
• Shadrack Nasong'o (Rhodes College, Memphis): 'Multiparty Electoral Contests and Democratization in Africa: Change and Continuity in Kenya and Tanzania'
• Justin Willis (Durham University): '"We changed the laws": practice and malpractice in Sudan's elections' 

Panel 1b: Local politics and democracy in Southern Africa

• Thomas Koelble (University of Capetown) and Edward Lipuma (University of Miami): 'The Politics of Service Delivery in South Africa'
• Charlotte Lemanski (University College London): 'The voices of the poor in urban governance: overlapping and competing spaces of community-level political participation in Cape Town'
• Eddy Mazembo Mavungu (University of the Witwatersrand): 'People's democracy versus government's democracy: lessons from provincial boundary disputes in the post-apartheid South Africa' 

Panel 2b: Decentralisation and democracy in Africa

• Asiyati Chiweza (University of Malawi): 'Decentralisation and state formation in rural Malawi'
• I. W. Katono (Uganda Christian University) and Terrell Manyak (Uganda Christian University): 'Impact of Multiparty Politics on Local Government in Uganda'
• Blessings Chinsinga (University of Malawi): 'The Interface between Local Level Politics, Constitutionalism and State Formation in Malawi through the Lens of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF)'

11.00-11.30 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session 2: 11.30-1.00

Panel 2a: Imperialism and Democracy [ROAPE panel]

• Yao Graham: ‘Democracy and Imperialism in Africa’
• David Williams: 'Good Governance and the Liberal Project'

Panel 2b: The state of democracy in Southern and Eastern Africa

• Greg Cameron (University of Edinburgh) and Sara Rich Dorman (University of Edinburgh): 'Problems of nationalism and democracy in Zimbabwe and Tanzania'
• Anthony Lemon (University of Oxford): 'The implications for opposition parties of South Africa's 2009 general election'
• Hermann Wasserman (University of Sheffield): 'Deepening democracy or widening the rift? The political role of media in South Africa and Namibia'

Panel 2c: Traditional authority and democracy in Africa

• Henry Chingaipe (University of York & University of Malawi): 'State Formation, Traditional Leadership and Multiparty Democracy in Malawi'
• Wolfram Laube (University of Bonn): 'Democratisation of Polycentric Governance Structures: Dynamics of local political arenas in northern Ghana'
• Aslak Orre (CMI Bergen): 'Democracy and traditional authority: compatible or mutually exclusive?' 

Panel 2d: Neo-patrimonialism, corruption and democratic politics

• Lillian Cherotich (St. Anthony's College, Oxford University): 'Corruption and Democracy in Kenya'
• Mufunanji Magalasi (University of Malawi): 'Malawian stage drama and post 1994 Democracy: From Du Chisiza's "Democracy Boulevard" to Nadzikambe's "Accidental death of Democracy"'
• Stephanie Matti (La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia): 'An analysis of Congolese democratic institutions'

1.00-2.00 LUNCH

Session 3: 2.00 – 3.30

Panel 3a: Power sharing and democracy

• Nic Cheeseman (University of Oxford): 'Power Sharing in Comparative Perspective: The Origins and Consequences of 'Unity Government' in Africa'
• Lionel Cliffe (University of Leeds): 'Power-sharing in Kenya and Zimbabwe'
• Christof Hartmann (University of Duisburg-Essen): 'Vertical Power-Sharing and Democratization in Africa'

Panel 3b: Religion and Democracy in Africa

• Julia Leininger (German Development Institute, Bonn): 'Religion and Democracy in Africa: The Ban of Religious Parties and the Role of Islamic Actors in Mali’s and Senegal’s Democratizations'
• Insa Nolte (University of Birmingham): 'No longer secular: Religion, democracy and the state in Nigeria'

Panel 3c: Traditional authority and democracy in modern Somaliland

• Karl Sandstrom (University of St Andrews) 'Somaliland – Traditional Authority in Democracy'
• Michael Walls (University College London) and Steve Kibble (Progressio): 'Somaliland: beyond the hybrid of 'traditional' and representative democratic systems'

3.30-4.00 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session 4: 4.00 – 5.30

Panel 4a: Power sharing in practice

• George Omondi (African Research and Resource Forum (ARRF), Nairobi, Kenya): 'The challenges and prospects of coalition governments in Africa: examining the attempts by Kenya and Zimbabwe'
• Philani Moyo (University of Fort Hare, South Africa): 'Zimbabwe’s Negotiated Inclusive Government: Is It a Messy Power-Sharing Experiment or a Positive Step Towards Democratisation?'

Panel 4b: Political institutions and democracy in West Africa

• Francesca Dau (University of Rome 1, Sapienza): 'On African Parliaments: Constitutional and Electoral engineering in Plural Societies. (The case of Francophone African countries)'
• David Enweremadu (Univerity of Ibadan, Nigeria): 'Judicial Reforms and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: 1999-2009'
• Stephen Akinyemi Lafenwa (University of Ibardan, Nigeria): 'The Legislature and the challenges of democratic governance in Africa: The Nigerian Case'

Panel 4c: Democracy and Local Power I [ROAPE Panel]

• Janet Bujra: 'The Politics of the queue: PLHA Politicisation and AIDS activism in Tanzania'
• Chambi Chachage: 'A Tale of Two Laws: Dual Democratization of Land Governance in Tanzania'
• Giuliano Martiniello: 'Democratisation, traditional authorities and land rights in South Africa'

6.00 – 7.30 Keynote Lecture: Prof. Patrick Bond – 'African democratic currents during extreme economic crisis'

8.00 CONFERENCE DINNER