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Roger Southall - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Liberation Movements in Power in Africa
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, 2019Co-Authors: Roger SouthallAbstract:Liberation Movements in Africa are nationalist Movements that have resorted to armed struggle to overthrow colonialism, white minority rule, or oppressive postcolonial governments. Claiming to represent the national will, some are intolerant of opposition, others dubious of the legitimacy of multiparty democracy: this difference is a reflection of whether the military wing of the Liberation movement dominates the political movement or whether the reverse situation applies. In the post–Cold War era, Liberation Movements espouse notions of the “developmental state,” continuing to ascribe the state a primary role in economic development event though they may simultaneously embrace the market. The extent to which they subordinate political considerations and freedoms to the pursuit of economic growth dictates whether they pursue paths of authoritarian development or developmental stagnation
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Presidential transitions and generational change in Southern African Liberation Movements
Review of African Political Economy, 2018Co-Authors: Roger SouthallAbstract:SUMMARYRecent presidential transitions in Southern Africa have prompted suggestions that the region is moving towards a new generational politics which is more responsive to the need for economic reform and holds significant democratic possibilities. While this analysis concedes that this analysis has some considerable purchase, it argues that the evidence suggests that Liberation Movements are likely to remain mired in a morass of patronage and corruption, and that there will be as much continuity as change.
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Threats to Constitutionalism by Liberation Movements in Southern Africa
Africa Spectrum, 2014Co-Authors: Roger SouthallAbstract:Constribution to the Debate on the Political Culture in (Southern) African States in Africa Spectrum .
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Liberation Movements in power party and state in southern africa
2013Co-Authors: Roger SouthallAbstract:The Liberation Movements of Southern Africa arose to combat racism, colonialism and settler capitalism and engaged in armed struggle to establish democracy. After victory over colonial and white minority regimes, they moved into government embodying the hopes and aspirations of their mass of supporters and of widespread international solidarity Movements. Even with the difficult legacies they inherited, their performance in power has been deeply disappointing. Roger Southall tracks the experiences in government of ZANU-PF, SWAPO and the ANC, arguing that such Movements are characterised by paradoxical qualities, both emancipatory and authoritarian. Analysis is offered of their evolution into political machines through comparative review of their electoral performance, their relation to state and society, their policies regarding economic transformation, and their evolution as vehicles of class formation and predatory behaviour. The author concludes that, while they will survive organizationally, their essence as progressive forces is dying, and that hopes of a genuine Liberation throughout the region will depend upon political realignments alongside moral and intellectual regeneration. ANC South Africa SWAPO Namibia Zanu-PF Zimbabwe Roger Southall is Professor Emeritus in Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand and a Research Associate of the Society, Work and Development Institute. Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Swaziland): University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
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Between Competing Paradigms: Post-Colonial Legitimacy in Lesotho
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2003Co-Authors: Roger SouthallAbstract:The “liberated” states of southern Africa have typically assumed liberal democratic forms, yet the underlying reality is one of authoritarianism exercised by national Liberation Movements which have transformed themselves into dominant political parties (Good 2002:1–19). To be sure, the contradictions are far more pronounced in some states (such as Zimbabwe) than others, notably South Africa, where a higher state of industrialisation and societal complexity than elsewhere in the region may serve to counter potentially authoritarian trends displayed by the now ruling African National Congress (ANC). Even so, whilst the Liberation Movements have quite clearly left numerous emancipatory hopes unfulfilled, the Liberation Movements themselves remain overwhelmingly unselfcritical and also acutely reluctant to criticise the obvious failings of their fellow Movements, which are viewed as historically progressive organisations which successfully fought colonialism and oppression. Hence it is that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is dominated by a core group of countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania) whose current ruling parties are deemed to have been integrally involved in the struggle for Liberation. In contrast, there are other countries where the original “progressive”Movements have been defeated at the polls (Zambia) or where the present rulers played a more ambiguous role during “the struggle” (for example, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland).
Henning Melber - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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No Rainbow yet in Sight: Southern Africa under Liberation Movements as Governments
The Round Table, 2019Co-Authors: Henning MelberAbstract:ABSTRACTThis article engages with the limits to Liberation in Southern African societies under former Liberation Movements. It argues that the policies executed in the new societies are still infec...
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Populism in Southern Africa under Liberation Movements as governments
Review of African Political Economy, 2018Co-Authors: Henning MelberAbstract:Anti-colonial Movements secured political power as governments in countries of Southern Africa. Populist discourses, which reinforce the patriotic history and heroic narratives of a ‘big men’ syndr...
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‘Othering’ and Structural Violence in Former Settler Colonies: Liberation Movements as Governments in Southern Africa
Africa insight, 2014Co-Authors: Henning MelberAbstract:This article revisits the mental legacies of settler-colonial rule in Southern African societies under Liberation-Movements-as-governments. It critically assesses the limits to Liberation as mirrored in the dominant mindsets manifested in the exclusivist national discourse and its effects. It is argued that the 'we-they' divide under postcolonial governance is putting control and the absolute power of definition over and above a tolerant democracy, which would have allowed space for dissenting views without intimidation and marginalisation. Rather, structural violence in combination with 'othering' is among the common means for eliminating challenges to the dominance of the erstwhile Liberation movement now in power. In the context of a comparative perspective, the article draws on various examples, with a special focus on Namibia, which is widely considered to be a success story in terms of democratic governance.
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Namibia: From Liberation to Domination
Party Systems and Democracy in Africa, 2014Co-Authors: Henning MelberAbstract:As a result of the sobering socio-political realities in the former settler colonies of Southern Africa Saul (1999: 167) argues that decolonization turned out to be ‘Liberation without democracy’. The track records of Liberation Movements such as the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO)2 in Namibia are indeed reason for disappointment among many who supported the social emancipation of the colonized. Not only were the Movements’ internal practices during the wars of Liberation often far from democratic, but also Liberation Movements displayed a similar lack of democratic virtues and disregard for human rights once they gained power.
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Liberation Movements as goverments in Southern Africa - on the limits to emancipation
The Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 2011Co-Authors: Henning MelberAbstract:ABSTRACT As Liberation Movements rise up and overthrow existing powers of imperialism and oppression, a sense of promise and hope is felt that is all too often lost in the years to follow. The role that these Liberation Movements must fulfil shift from agencies of transformation to effective governments that uphold the democratic principles they strived for. However, as this article explains, this role change is rarely realised as ruling parties become a new elite replacing the former oppressors. These parallels between colonial rulers and Liberation-Movements-turned-dominant-parties are drawn by the author by exploring many trends. Namely, analysing decolonisation as a method of consolidating rule that is maintained through processes of rhetoric and national unification is addressed. This is followed by a discussion of how the state is subordinated both politically and economically to serve the interests of the ruling party, using examples from Southern Africa. Finally, the discussion concludes with the issue of identity within Liberation Movements pre- and post- independence, and the limitations this places on true democratisation. ********** "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton) "We can easily become like that which we oppose or hate most." (Desmond Tutu) 1. INTRODUCTION This article explores some aspects of the narrow translation of a Liberation movement--an agency of transformation--into an exclusivist apparatus claiming to represent the interest of all people and a total monopoly in advocating the public interest. It thereby tries to explain to some extent the dominant party syndrome under Southern African Liberation Movements, which have been in power since independence. Sobering post-colonial realities have not met the expectations of those who considered the fight against colonialism as a fight for the implementation of positive values and norms linked to enhanced socio-economic equality, civil and human rights, democracy and other individual freedoms (Saul 2010a). Instead, the post-colonial reality reflects the contradictions and challenges of revolutionary optimism turned into the self-righteous entitlement culture of a new elite: a 'predatory elite', for that matter, as the former trade union leader and member of South Africa's Cabinet, Jay Naidoo, qualifies it for his own country from his current perspective. (ii)) Some far-sighted scholars and writers on the continent had seen this coming. Among them is Artur Carlos Mauricio Pestana. He published the notes he collected in 1971 during his participation in the guerrilla war of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the rainforest (the mayombe) of the Cabinda front under his nom de guerre as a groundbreaking novel. It offers a remarkable degree of sensitivity and insight into the complexity (and limits) of social transformation subsequent to a situation of armed resistance against foreign occupation under colonial rule. In a revealing dialogue, the commander of the guerrilla unit ('Fearless') explains to the political commissar ('New World'), for whom he ultimately sacrifices his life in battle: We don't share the same ideals.... You are the machine type, one of those who are going to set up the unique, all-powerful Party in Angola. I am the type who could never belong to the machine.... One day, in Angola, there will no longer be any need for rigid machines, and that is my aim.... what I want you to understand, is that the revolution we are making is half the revolution I want. But it is the possible. I know my limits and the country's limits. My role is to contribute to this half-revolution.... I am, in your terminology, adventurist. I should like the discipline of war to be established in terms of man and not the political objective. My guerrillas are not a group of men deployed to destroy the enemy, but a gathering of different, individual beings, each with his subjective reasons to struggle and who, moreover, behave as such. …
Konstantinos Katsakioris - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Students from Portuguese Africa in the Soviet Union, 1960-1974: Anti-colonialism, Education, and the Socialist Alliance
Journal of Contemporary History, 2020Co-Authors: Konstantinos KatsakiorisAbstract:A major ally of the Marxist-inspired Liberation Movements, which fought against Portuguese colonialism in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, the Soviet Union provided them with not ...
Matteo Grilli - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Southern African Liberation Movements in Nkrumah’s Ghana
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2020Co-Authors: Matteo GrilliAbstract:The first sub-Saharan colony to obtain independence in 1957, Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana offered shelter and aid to Liberation Movements from all over the continent. Between 1957 and 1966, hundreds of political activists, refugees, and leaders were hosted in the country. The Ghanaian government offered them financial and political assistance and also provided military training for those involved in armed struggles. As one of the key figures of pan-Africanism, Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) actively campaigned for African unity while supporting the independence struggles of African Liberation Movements. A crucial goal for Nkrumah’s government was to influence African nationalist parties ideologically in order to create a coalition of pan-Africanist Movements through which to give birth to the United States of Africa. This political work served to spread Nkrumaism, the ideology crafted by Nkrumah with the aid of the Trinidadian pan-Africanist George Padmore (1903–1959), from Ghana to the rest of the continent. Nkrumah considered the assistance to Southern African Liberation Movements crucial, especially when, after 1960, the front of African Liberation shifted increasingly toward the south. Activists and political refugees from Angola, Mozambique, Nyasaland (Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Swaziland (eSwatini), Basutoland (Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana), South West Africa (Namibia), and South Africa visited and resided in Ghana between 1957 and 1966, using Accra as one of their headquarters for their independence struggles. There, many Liberation Movements could intermingle, create synergies, exchange ideas, and absorb the knowledge that Ghana could offer. The impact of Nkrumah’s influence was often profound and, even if no Liberation movement defined itself as Nkrumaist, many adopted and adapted solutions taken from Nkrumah’s Ghana.
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Shifting to the Left (1961–1962)
Nkrumaism and African Nationalism, 2018Co-Authors: Matteo GrilliAbstract:This chapter describes a period of radicalization (1961–1962). Nkrumah’s measures included the establishment of the African Affairs Secretariat, the strengthening of propaganda and the development of training facilities (including military) for freedom fighters, intending to influence them ideologically. In 1961 the Ideological Institute was opened to both Ghanaians and freedom fighters. The outcome of Barden’s work in 1961–1962 was double-edged. On the one side, the BAA succeeded in creating important connections with African Liberation Movements, as proven by the testimonies of the eye-witnesses interviewed. On the other side, African Liberation Movements also began to suffer Barden’s interference with the internal affairs of the parties. As a result, by mid-1962, the first cracks in Ghana’s leadership of the Liberation struggle began to show.
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Between Diplomacy and Revolution (1963–1966)
Nkrumaism and African Nationalism, 2018Co-Authors: Matteo GrilliAbstract:This chapter outlines the period between 1963 and 1966, when Ghana’s Pan-African policy reached its peak of radicalism. This, in turn, caused a harsh confrontation between Ghana and other independent African states backed by Western powers. The chapter details the BAA’s work with Liberation Movements involved in armed struggle and those who were not. As documents and oral testimonies demonstrate, despite its shortcomings, the Bureau succeeded in spreading Nkrumah’s ideology on the continent. However, Nkrumah did not succeed in relaunching the project for a political union. Many in Africa, including several Liberation Movements, proved lukewarm to Nkrumah’s accelerated plans towards African unity. Nevertheless, at the time of the coup (February 1966), the Ghanaian president still had a significant following amongst African freedom fighters.
John Young - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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sudan Liberation Movements regional armies ethnic militias peace
Review of African Political Economy, 2003Co-Authors: John YoungAbstract:At the time this article was written - autumn 2002 - peace talks were underway between the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Government of Sudan (GoS) in Machakos, Kenya. For the first time since the outbreak of the conflict nineteen years ago, the July 20th Protocol reached between the belligerents under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) at Machakos raised the possibility of a negotiated resolution of the conflict. Sudan's civil war has been part of the political landscape of Africa for so long, that most people believe it to be intractable. Even more difficult to envisage is an effective government, autonomous or independent, in Southern Sudan. Therefore, it is time to consider the issue of governance in the South, taking into account the administrative and political capacity of the SPLM/A, as well as the challenge posed by a host of rival armed Movements loosely grouped under the umbrella of the South Sudan Democratic Front (SSDF), plus a dozen or more tribal militias