Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2235657
O’Brien Kaaba, M. Hinfelaar, Koffi Sawyer
ABSTRACT In this paper, we focus on the role of the institution of external and domestic observers in electoral turnovers. Observers have come under scrutiny in recent years, particularly following their assessments of the Kenya and Malawi elections, for which they raised no serious concerns, but the polls were subsequently annulled by courts on the basis of serious irregularities. By comparing and contrasting the role played by international and domestic observers in Zambia’s general elections in 2016 with those of 2021, it can be shown that observer groups can contribute to positive electoral outcomes and, while not under their remit, can be in a position to facilitate peaceful transitions. While acknowledging that the biggest factor of the smooth transition in Zambia was the huge turnout of voters and the wide margin of the opposition’s victory, election observers played a key role in aiding the democratic transition. This paper contributes to the literature on the role of domestic and international observers by examining key areas of their engagement in Zambia’s last two general elections. The research was carried out through participant observation, a panel survey conducted before and after the 2021 elections and interviews with stakeholders.
{"title":"A comparison of the role of domestic and international election observers in Zambia’s 2016 and 2021 general elections","authors":"O’Brien Kaaba, M. Hinfelaar, Koffi Sawyer","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2235657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2235657","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this paper, we focus on the role of the institution of external and domestic observers in electoral turnovers. Observers have come under scrutiny in recent years, particularly following their assessments of the Kenya and Malawi elections, for which they raised no serious concerns, but the polls were subsequently annulled by courts on the basis of serious irregularities. By comparing and contrasting the role played by international and domestic observers in Zambia’s general elections in 2016 with those of 2021, it can be shown that observer groups can contribute to positive electoral outcomes and, while not under their remit, can be in a position to facilitate peaceful transitions. While acknowledging that the biggest factor of the smooth transition in Zambia was the huge turnout of voters and the wide margin of the opposition’s victory, election observers played a key role in aiding the democratic transition. This paper contributes to the literature on the role of domestic and international observers by examining key areas of their engagement in Zambia’s last two general elections. The research was carried out through participant observation, a panel survey conducted before and after the 2021 elections and interviews with stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"643 - 658"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48699908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2023.2232241
Gabrielle Lynch, Elena Gadjanovaa
ABSTRACT President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front used a range of incumbency advantages to tilt the playing field in their favour in the run-up to Zambia’s 2021 elections and, as a result, were more visible offline than the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and its flagbearer, Hakainde Hichilema. In this paper, we draw on an original survey of party officials and activists and semi-structured interviews to consider the role of social media in the UPND’s victory. We show how the two dominant political parties invested heavily in social media, but how the UPND’s online messaging proved more persuasive and spread offline, and how social media facilitated the UPND’s political mobilisation and vote protection efforts in the face of a highly uneven playing field. Social media thus played an important role in unseating the incumbent, but not because the election was won online, or because social media provided a uniquely “social” form of communication. Instead, social media helped to facilitate the flow of information across a heavily controlled media ecosystem in which face-to-face communication remained key. In making this argument, we highlight the significant impact of social media on users and non-users alike, even in a context of relatively low internet penetration.
{"title":"Overcoming incumbency advantage: the importance of social media on- and offline in Zambia’s 2021 elections","authors":"Gabrielle Lynch, Elena Gadjanovaa","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2023.2232241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2023.2232241","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front used a range of incumbency advantages to tilt the playing field in their favour in the run-up to Zambia’s 2021 elections and, as a result, were more visible offline than the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and its flagbearer, Hakainde Hichilema. In this paper, we draw on an original survey of party officials and activists and semi-structured interviews to consider the role of social media in the UPND’s victory. We show how the two dominant political parties invested heavily in social media, but how the UPND’s online messaging proved more persuasive and spread offline, and how social media facilitated the UPND’s political mobilisation and vote protection efforts in the face of a highly uneven playing field. Social media thus played an important role in unseating the incumbent, but not because the election was won online, or because social media provided a uniquely “social” form of communication. Instead, social media helped to facilitate the flow of information across a heavily controlled media ecosystem in which face-to-face communication remained key. In making this argument, we highlight the significant impact of social media on users and non-users alike, even in a context of relatively low internet penetration.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"536 - 557"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43382746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658
M. Hinfelaar, L. Rakner, Sishuwa Sishuwa, Nicolas van de Walle
ABSTRACT Zambia experienced an episode of distinct democratic backsliding between 2011 and 2021. Autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power. Tracing key legal changes through legal documents, press reports and informant interviews, the article examines this recent episode of autocratisation as a consequence of a poorly institutionalised party system in a fledgling and unconsolidated presidential democracy. We show that under PF rule, autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power, stifle the opposition, muzzle the press and undermine civil society forces. The election of opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema in August 2021 may have ended this episode of backsliding as for the third time in the country´s history, power changed peacefully through the ballot box. But, to what extent the 2021 elections will move Zambia away from this authoritarian trend is uncertain as the state of the country’s political institutions, hereunder a poorly institutionalised party system in an unconsolidated presidential democracy, may leave it vulnerable to further episodes of backsliding. The main contribution of this paper is the documentation of the role of lawfare in processes of autocratisation, and how integral it has been to the decline of democracy in Zambia.
{"title":"Legal autocratisation ahead of the 2021 Zambian elections","authors":"M. Hinfelaar, L. Rakner, Sishuwa Sishuwa, Nicolas van de Walle","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Zambia experienced an episode of distinct democratic backsliding between 2011 and 2021. Autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power. Tracing key legal changes through legal documents, press reports and informant interviews, the article examines this recent episode of autocratisation as a consequence of a poorly institutionalised party system in a fledgling and unconsolidated presidential democracy. We show that under PF rule, autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power, stifle the opposition, muzzle the press and undermine civil society forces. The election of opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema in August 2021 may have ended this episode of backsliding as for the third time in the country´s history, power changed peacefully through the ballot box. But, to what extent the 2021 elections will move Zambia away from this authoritarian trend is uncertain as the state of the country’s political institutions, hereunder a poorly institutionalised party system in an unconsolidated presidential democracy, may leave it vulnerable to further episodes of backsliding. The main contribution of this paper is the documentation of the role of lawfare in processes of autocratisation, and how integral it has been to the decline of democracy in Zambia.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"558 - 575"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45861765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2023.2233728
J. Seekings
ABSTRACT Might incumbency entail disadvantages as well as advantages? This article examines the performance of incumbent president Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front (PF) in Zambia's Eastern Province in the 2021 election. Eastern Province was a ‘swing’ region in that neither of the two major national political parties had deep-rooted support, despite Lungu's and the PF's strong performance in 2015-16. Survey data shows that voters punished the incumbent government in 2021 for its poor management of the economy (and, to a lesser extent, corruption). Interviews with provincial politicians and documentary sources reveal the challenges facing the incumbent in maintaining the coalition that had brought it electoral success in 2015-16. The case of Eastern Province illustrates how, in such swing regions, incumbency can be a disadvantage as well as an advantage, as the incumbent president is held responsible for the state of the economy and the opportunities to local elites. In countries where national electoral success requires winning decisively in such swing regions, even incumbent presidents and parties face a significant possibility of electoral defeat.
{"title":"Incumbent disadvantage in a swing province: Eastern Province in Zambia’s 2021 general election","authors":"J. Seekings","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2023.2233728","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2023.2233728","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Might incumbency entail disadvantages as well as advantages? This article examines the performance of incumbent president Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front (PF) in Zambia's Eastern Province in the 2021 election. Eastern Province was a ‘swing’ region in that neither of the two major national political parties had deep-rooted support, despite Lungu's and the PF's strong performance in 2015-16. Survey data shows that voters punished the incumbent government in 2021 for its poor management of the economy (and, to a lesser extent, corruption). Interviews with provincial politicians and documentary sources reveal the challenges facing the incumbent in maintaining the coalition that had brought it electoral success in 2015-16. The case of Eastern Province illustrates how, in such swing regions, incumbency can be a disadvantage as well as an advantage, as the incumbent president is held responsible for the state of the economy and the opportunities to local elites. In countries where national electoral success requires winning decisively in such swing regions, even incumbent presidents and parties face a significant possibility of electoral defeat.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"576 - 599"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46775074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2236474
Hangala Siachiwena
ABSTRACT This article analyses Afrobarometer survey data to understand popular attitudes toward the economy of Zambia amongst residents in the ruling party strongholds. The Patriotic Front (PF) won the most votes in urban provinces from 2006 to 2016 but crucially lost to the opposition in 2021 while retaining majorities in its rural base. Historically, opposition parties have won the most votes in urban regions on every occasion that Zambia has experienced an electoral turnover, demonstrating the significance of the urban vote. The evidence presented in this article reveals that respondents in the two urban provinces, Copperbelt and Lusaka, were better educated, had more access to essential services, and had higher levels of access to Information relative to their compatriots in the PF’s rural strongholds. While both urban and rural residents were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the economy, the PF’s urban base was more likely to punish the ruling party at the polls. Drawing on survey evidence and literature on voting in urban Africa, this article shows that the divergent geographic, social, and economic characteristics of urban and rural areas produce distinct grievances which have implications for policy expectations, political mobilization, and how voters evaluate candidates.
{"title":"The urban vote in Zambia’s 2021 elections: popular attitudes towards the economy in Copperbelt and Lusaka","authors":"Hangala Siachiwena","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2236474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2236474","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article analyses Afrobarometer survey data to understand popular attitudes toward the economy of Zambia amongst residents in the ruling party strongholds. The Patriotic Front (PF) won the most votes in urban provinces from 2006 to 2016 but crucially lost to the opposition in 2021 while retaining majorities in its rural base. Historically, opposition parties have won the most votes in urban regions on every occasion that Zambia has experienced an electoral turnover, demonstrating the significance of the urban vote. The evidence presented in this article reveals that respondents in the two urban provinces, Copperbelt and Lusaka, were better educated, had more access to essential services, and had higher levels of access to Information relative to their compatriots in the PF’s rural strongholds. While both urban and rural residents were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the economy, the PF’s urban base was more likely to punish the ruling party at the polls. Drawing on survey evidence and literature on voting in urban Africa, this article shows that the divergent geographic, social, and economic characteristics of urban and rural areas produce distinct grievances which have implications for policy expectations, political mobilization, and how voters evaluate candidates.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"600 - 618"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44888736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2236850
Sishuwa Sishuwa
ABSTRACT This article uses a longitudinal comparative perspective to analyse Zambia's 2021 transfer of power. The article takes the previous elections since the transition to multi-party democracy in 1991 as a body in which patterns of incumbency failure can be seen. It identifies five pervasive patterns that seem present in all polls that have resulted in leadership change or turnovers: a struggling economy with a clear blame orientation, a unified opposition, a depoliticised military, a rather impartial electoral commission, and collective memory of incumbent defeat. The importance of each of these factors varies over time, but collectively they shape election outcomes in decisive ways. Drawing on interviews and newspaper sources, I apply these variables to the 2021 election that resulted in the defeat of President Edgar Lungu and the victory of the opposition candidate. I argue that the repeated failure of incumbency advantage in Zambia reflects the institutionalisation of democratic processes, notably embodied in competitive elections, an increasingly independent electoral commission, effective opposition parties that can devise robust campaign strategies, and a military that continues to choose non- intervention whenever an incumbent is defeated. More broadly, I demonstrate why alternation is becoming routine while the power of incumbency is in decline.
{"title":"‘The outcome of a historical process set in motion in 1991’: explaining the failure of incumbency advantage in Zambia’s 2021 election","authors":"Sishuwa Sishuwa","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2236850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2236850","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article uses a longitudinal comparative perspective to analyse Zambia's 2021 transfer of power. The article takes the previous elections since the transition to multi-party democracy in 1991 as a body in which patterns of incumbency failure can be seen. It identifies five pervasive patterns that seem present in all polls that have resulted in leadership change or turnovers: a struggling economy with a clear blame orientation, a unified opposition, a depoliticised military, a rather impartial electoral commission, and collective memory of incumbent defeat. The importance of each of these factors varies over time, but collectively they shape election outcomes in decisive ways. Drawing on interviews and newspaper sources, I apply these variables to the 2021 election that resulted in the defeat of President Edgar Lungu and the victory of the opposition candidate. I argue that the repeated failure of incumbency advantage in Zambia reflects the institutionalisation of democratic processes, notably embodied in competitive elections, an increasingly independent electoral commission, effective opposition parties that can devise robust campaign strategies, and a military that continues to choose non- intervention whenever an incumbent is defeated. More broadly, I demonstrate why alternation is becoming routine while the power of incumbency is in decline.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"659 - 680"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46860934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2023.2193780
C. Pellerin, J. Söderström
ABSTRACT Taxation practices are embedded in a complex web of institutional and social factors, norms and values, some of which encourage, some of which depress tax compliance. Rather than simply constituting a revenue generating practice, taxation also represents a powerful tool to govern citizens. Studying the everyday practices of paying taxes means analysing how tax rules are applied, respected, contested and subverted in real life. Contributing to a growing canon on the social practices of taxation, this article asks: How do small- and medium-sized business owners navigate their relationship with tax authorities and attempt to make sense of their compliance and non-compliance? Through an in-depth study of the everyday practices of taxpaying in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa using interviews with business owners, this article demonstrates that taxpayers apply two different forms of reasoning to describe their taxation practices, a business logic and an emotional response. Taxation practices are governed by the double aim of reducing the financial, as well as the emotional burden associated with paying taxes.
{"title":"‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s’? Making sense of tax non-compliance among small business owners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia","authors":"C. Pellerin, J. Söderström","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2023.2193780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2023.2193780","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Taxation practices are embedded in a complex web of institutional and social factors, norms and values, some of which encourage, some of which depress tax compliance. Rather than simply constituting a revenue generating practice, taxation also represents a powerful tool to govern citizens. Studying the everyday practices of paying taxes means analysing how tax rules are applied, respected, contested and subverted in real life. Contributing to a growing canon on the social practices of taxation, this article asks: How do small- and medium-sized business owners navigate their relationship with tax authorities and attempt to make sense of their compliance and non-compliance? Through an in-depth study of the everyday practices of taxpaying in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa using interviews with business owners, this article demonstrates that taxpayers apply two different forms of reasoning to describe their taxation practices, a business logic and an emotional response. Taxation practices are governed by the double aim of reducing the financial, as well as the emotional burden associated with paying taxes.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"395 - 414"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49591599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2162191
Bethelihem Gebre Alwab, Els Lecoutere, N. Jones
ABSTRACT Insights into the role of changing historical-political-cultural contexts and social norms in shaping adolescent girls’ and boys’ futures contributes to an understanding of human development at the intersection of gender and youth in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigates the capabilities and aspirations of adolescent girls and boys and their evolution in Amhara against the background of three successive political regimes that governed Ethiopia over the last 90 years, the Haile-Selassie imperial regime (1930–1974), the socialist military Derg regime (1974–1991), and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (1991–2019), each with their own institutions, structures and infrastructure, and gender- and age-related relations and norms. The study adopts a capability approach with a gender and generationing development lens as a framework and relies on qualitative data collected through community- and mixed-generation group discussions. The study illustrates that, even if institutional and structural barriers became less stringent over time, cumulative gender- and age-related obstacles – some rooted in beliefs, norms, traditions and relations – hindered the expansion of adolescents’ capability success, consistently more so for girls than boys. (The threat of) gender-based violence pervasively constrains girls’ capabilities success and aspirations in spite of more formal protective institutions.
{"title":"Adolescents’ capabilities and aspirations across gender and generations in Amhara, Ethiopia","authors":"Bethelihem Gebre Alwab, Els Lecoutere, N. Jones","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2162191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2162191","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Insights into the role of changing historical-political-cultural contexts and social norms in shaping adolescent girls’ and boys’ futures contributes to an understanding of human development at the intersection of gender and youth in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigates the capabilities and aspirations of adolescent girls and boys and their evolution in Amhara against the background of three successive political regimes that governed Ethiopia over the last 90 years, the Haile-Selassie imperial regime (1930–1974), the socialist military Derg regime (1974–1991), and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (1991–2019), each with their own institutions, structures and infrastructure, and gender- and age-related relations and norms. The study adopts a capability approach with a gender and generationing development lens as a framework and relies on qualitative data collected through community- and mixed-generation group discussions. The study illustrates that, even if institutional and structural barriers became less stringent over time, cumulative gender- and age-related obstacles – some rooted in beliefs, norms, traditions and relations – hindered the expansion of adolescents’ capability success, consistently more so for girls than boys. (The threat of) gender-based violence pervasively constrains girls’ capabilities success and aspirations in spite of more formal protective institutions.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"472 - 494"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42676981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2164428
Wolelaw Getahun Derso, Brightman Gebremichael
ABSTRACT In Ethiopia, informal land transactions are proliferating in urban centers and triggering wider socio-economic and environmental challenges in the sustainable development of cities. Taking the case of Bahir Dar city, this paper examines informal land transactions in Ethiopia in terms of its rule-structuring processes, roles of actors in the transaction, and factors for its emergence and continued proliferation. Empirical evidence collected through key informant interviews, participant observation, and from secondary sources were analyzed qualitatively. The study reveals that the lease system in Ethiopia is ill-suited to the interests and reality of many urban dwellers and is unable to meet their needs. As a response to the failures of the lease system, residents are increasingly turning to informal land transactions. The success of informal land markets in Bahir Dar is reinforced by the possibility of formalization of land holdings through corrupt practices in local land administration. Moreover, the processes of the informal markets have provided adaptive and responsive alternatives for urban dwellers to access land. Unless land administration shifts to adapt to these realities, informal markets will likely continue to thrive.
{"title":"The leasehold system and drivers of informal land transactions in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia","authors":"Wolelaw Getahun Derso, Brightman Gebremichael","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2164428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2164428","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 In Ethiopia, informal land transactions are proliferating in urban centers and triggering wider socio-economic and environmental challenges in the sustainable development of cities. Taking the case of Bahir Dar city, this paper examines informal land transactions in Ethiopia in terms of its rule-structuring processes, roles of actors in the transaction, and factors for its emergence and continued proliferation. Empirical evidence collected through key informant interviews, participant observation, and from secondary sources were analyzed qualitatively. The study reveals that the lease system in Ethiopia is ill-suited to the interests and reality of many urban dwellers and is unable to meet their needs. As a response to the failures of the lease system, residents are increasingly turning to informal land transactions. The success of informal land markets in Bahir Dar is reinforced by the possibility of formalization of land holdings through corrupt practices in local land administration. Moreover, the processes of the informal markets have provided adaptive and responsive alternatives for urban dwellers to access land. Unless land administration shifts to adapt to these realities, informal markets will likely continue to thrive.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"415 - 433"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48511657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2162838
E. Gobbers
ABSTRACT The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) held multi-party elections in 2006, 2011 and 2018. This paper highlights that ethnic socio-cultural associations in former Katanga province have been politically involved in the DRC’s electoral process. Such associations were originally founded in cities to organise mutual aid among migrants hailing from the same region. The attractiveness of ethnicity as a frame of reference for the electorate seems to increase in the context of a weak state failing to deliver public goods. Ethnicity potentially influences voting behaviour in the DRC, as it is assumed that in return for votes, elected elites will prioritise their ethnic community. The ruling PPRD party has instrumentalised ethnic associations in Katanga to support Joseph Kabila’s presidential candidacy, as well as legislative candidates of the presidential majority. These ethnic associations have in turn tried to influence the outcome of elections in favour of their communities, e.g. by limiting the number of co-ethnic candidates per constituency to avoid ethnic vote splitting and thereby maximising the chances of success for candidates from their own group. Their efforts have not always been successful; elections enable voters to hold elites accountable for not keeping their promises once elected.
{"title":"The electoral strategies of ethnic socio-cultural associations in former Katanga province, the Democratic Republic of Congo (2006–2019)","authors":"E. Gobbers","doi":"10.1080/17531055.2022.2162838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2022.2162838","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) held multi-party elections in 2006, 2011 and 2018. This paper highlights that ethnic socio-cultural associations in former Katanga province have been politically involved in the DRC’s electoral process. Such associations were originally founded in cities to organise mutual aid among migrants hailing from the same region. The attractiveness of ethnicity as a frame of reference for the electorate seems to increase in the context of a weak state failing to deliver public goods. Ethnicity potentially influences voting behaviour in the DRC, as it is assumed that in return for votes, elected elites will prioritise their ethnic community. The ruling PPRD party has instrumentalised ethnic associations in Katanga to support Joseph Kabila’s presidential candidacy, as well as legislative candidates of the presidential majority. These ethnic associations have in turn tried to influence the outcome of elections in favour of their communities, e.g. by limiting the number of co-ethnic candidates per constituency to avoid ethnic vote splitting and thereby maximising the chances of success for candidates from their own group. Their efforts have not always been successful; elections enable voters to hold elites accountable for not keeping their promises once elected.","PeriodicalId":46968,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Eastern African Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"495 - 514"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49343406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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